Imagine a world where your interactions with technology no longer require a physical effort or mechanical input, but you control your devices, from your smartphone, your laptop, to your smart TV solely with the power of your thoughts. No more mouse pointers and keyboard clicks, just think it, visualize it, and it is done.
The idea of controlling a machine with one’s thoughts might sound like a science fiction novel but is in fact a reality in 21stcentury and rapid progress is made to master and commercialize this technology. This interaction is described with the fancy acronym of BCI, namely Brain–Computer Interface. BCIs are systems that allow a combination of hardware and software technologies to control external devices through brain activity. This technology has been researched heavily in the past few years because of its promising use in providing assistance to disabled or paralyzed people. Although the focus of BCI-related technology has been in medical applications, nonmedical applications such as gaming and device control have also been developed for commercial use. While the current state BCIs is not quite at the level of the seamless interaction that we imagined previously, it is a fast-growing and promising area of technology being actively invested in by the likes of Elon Musk and other visionaries.
I would like to explore this technology not only as means of communication between man and device, but a revolutionary method of collective interaction between people and machines, and argue the possibilities that it can open for person to person communication either directly or via a shared device.
Some sources with further information on BCIs: