George Rebane

Synthetic Telepathy is around the corner.  We will soon have user interfaces that let our thoughts direct the actions of machines.  Imagine the possibilities both near and far term.  In the near-term we will wear cranial sensors (buttons on the noggins) that will transmit EEG (electro-encephalogram) signals to a processor that decodes the simple words we think, translates them into actionable commands, and transmits them on to a machine to be controlled – e.g. like your cell phone, ‘Call home.’ or car, ‘Turn right.’ 

In the farther-term we may forsake our physical bodies and lie in energy-efficient cocoons, there enjoying an extremely rich and stimulating virtual environment that interfaces with other similarly ‘encapsulated’ critters, and, of course, the more primitive people still walking around in their earthly mantles.  And the far-term may see us becoming actual starships on voyages too fantastic to now contemplate.  Of course, progress in a few additional technologies will have to pitch in to make this all happen, but you get the idea.

Specifically, things have been kicked off by the Army Research Office awarding a $4M contract to UC Irvine to start this work.  (My company and I were privileged to be ARO research contractors in the 1970s.)  Physorg.com quotes Dr. M. D’Zmura, head of Irvine’s Dept of Cognitive Sciences, saying

“The brain-computer interface would use a noninvasive brain imaging technology like electroencephalography to let people communicate thoughts to each other. For example, a soldier would “think” a message to be transmitted and a computer-based speech recognition system would decode the EEG signals. The decoded thoughts, in essence translated brain waves, are transmitted using a system that points in the direction of the intended target.”

“Such a system would require extensive training for anyone using it to send and receive messages,” D’Zmura says. “Initially, communication would be based on a limited set of words or phrases that are recognized by the system; it would involve more complex language and speech as the technology is developed further.”

Commercial enterprises like Emotiv Systems are also developing similar technology for gaming markets.  The competition between the capitalist and government researcher will be helpful.  It’s all coming much sooner than we think.  And in the interval we should think twice before supporting statist social policies that simplistically extrapolate the present – it ain’t gonna be that way.