Brain-Computer Interconnectivity

The Economist recently featured an article called “Mind-goggling” that described how far we’ve come in brain-computer interactivity over the last few years. The article cites a study by Bin He and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota created a system that enabled volunteers to successfully fly a virtual helicopter just by thinking about it. Indeed, signals from electrodes provided enough guidance for computers to work how the user intended.

What exactly does this mean for our increasing dependence on search and technology? While we’ve adapted our language to communicate with search engines, it seems that computers, mobile devices, and tablets have a good chance of reading our minds to complete tasks without the effort of typing. Could we fill out a calendar just by thinking about an event on a Saturday, and have Siri (or similar) remind us to go? Time will tell, but the future looks bright.