In article <3AF6CCA2.52603619 at cicei.ulpgc.es>, Enrique <ecastro at cicei.ulpgc.es> wrote:
>In a previous post Ron Blue claimed the Air Force has a
>system to control aircraft "by thoughts". I think this is an
>urban legend.
>The device was a virtual keyboard were a tetraplejic patient
>could write. He had an array of electrodes (something like
>16 or 24) inplanted permanently and conected to a
>radiotrasmitter under scalp skin.
>They just trained a neural network in the receiving computer
>to move a mouse pointer over the virtual keyboard. EEG had
>not enough bandwidth to do the work, but the array had more
>than needed.
>>This is just a bit towards the goal of non-touching control.
>But a very different task to try to know what a person is
>thinking. We don't even know what abstract thinking is!
Agreed completely. In the 80's you could buy a "mind reader" controller for
your atari. It was a head band with a cable that plugged into a joystick
port. It apparently worked (but not very well) by recording EMG activity
(muscle electrical activity) related to muscles directing your gaze. I can't
remember how the fire button was activated. There are lots of EEG training
systems now, reputed to help kids with ADHD, and to manage stress. Either of
these systems could provide enough control to potentially fly a plane, but
they are not really reading thoughts.
Cheers
Richard