Using the brain as a computer input device

[hot_pastrami]

From a Yahoo! News article:

A 25-year-old quadriplegic sits in a wheelchair with wires coming out of a bottle-cap-size connector stuck in his skull.

The wires run from 100 tiny sensors implanted in his brain and out to a computer. Using just his thoughts, this former high school football player is playing the computer game Pong.

It is part of a breakthrough trial, the first of its kind, with far-reaching implications. Friday, early results were revealed at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation annual conference. Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, the Foxborough-based company behind the technology, told attendees the man can use his thoughts to control a computer well enough to operate a TV, open e-mail and play Pong with 70% accuracy.

True, the technology is still young and bulky, but just think how much computers have been miniaturized in the past 30 years, while gaining enormously in speed. 30 years from now, brain-implant-controlled artifical limbs could be a common remedy for limb loss, or paralyzation. But that also raises some interesting questions, such as, how does one prevent the wrong person(s) from controlling or influencing these mechanical upgrades?

What an amazing modern age we live in.