The brain as an interface
Direct communication between the brain and machines seems to be an increasing obsession of Silicon Valley and some of its most emblematic gurus: devices capable of capturing the signals emitted by our brain activity, locating them within its topography, and then linking them with certain stimuli or behaviors to try to decipher their meaning and, possibly, to obtain ways to generate voluntary connections.
Using brain signals captured by simple scanners to drive game controls in virtual reality environments, for example, it is one of the applications being looked into as a way to extracting learning from that interface. Getting somebody to play in a virtual environment while a series of electrodes attached to their skull via a cap can link brain signals to certain behaviors and even to map involuntary answers to certain stimuli. With brain computer interfaces of this type becoming cheaper and simpler but capable of capturing precisely the location of certain signals, the possibilities of isolating signals that the user can generate and use in a conscious way point to increasingly ambitious uses.
Devices capable of scanning our brain activity in order to isolate responses and link them with certain sensations or behaviors have been used in the field of neuromarketing for many years to try to understand consumers’ responses to certain signals or patterns.
In fact, there are already companies that market the equivalent of focus groups or market studies to study consumer reactions to a particular product or pricing decisions. But what happens when we have devices capable of detecting those signals in a non-intrusive way, for example connecting our brains to the cloud? Could we send signals between each other, as has been done in some experiments, achieving practically telepathic communication systems? How about social networks where we share complete brain experiences rather than just photographs or videos? Or memory implants that can store and send memories to the brain? These are technologies that have, in some cases, been studied for some time, with less-than promising results so far, but a breakthrough could take place at any time.
Isolating signals emitted by the brain is one thing, measuring them properly and processing and understanding them is another, and to do so without having to be isolated in an anechoic chamber in an everyday setting without is quite another. But the distance between activating a game through brain stimuli and linking those same stimuli to other tasks is not necessarily so great, and everything indicates that there will be no shortage of entrepreneurs willing to give it a go.
Science fiction or reality?
(En español, aquí)
