A Different Kind of IT

If you can control your fingers, you can type using a keyboard, and control a computer. If you can control your eyes, you can aim in a game using an eye-tracking device. If you have control over any function, it can also be used to control the computer.

It is the same thing with brain-computer interface (BCI) devices. If you can control your thoughts, you can control a computer. These devices are especially useful if you have some kind of disability which affects your life, and how you control a computer. There are lots of applications for such a device but in this post, I will be talking about some medical and some everyday applications, as I have already written about them in my academic essay.

Medical Applications

There are millions of people who are paralysed, disabled because they have no control over a part of their bodies caused by a neural connection problem. By using BCI, these people can have control over computers, electro-mechanical prosthetic limbs, and much more. Even with a BCI device that has only 10 microelectrodes, people are able to control a mouse cursor after some extent of training, enabling them to communicate, or do everyday tasks even if they are physically uncapable. People who have lost one of their limbs, especially their arm, or their hand, are able to control each joint on their electro-mechanical prosthetics just by thinking about it. Some people with Parkinson’s disease, and some people who are suffering from frequent seizures are currently using BCI devices to decrease the magnitude of their illness. In the future, scientists are planning on using BCI devices to resurface forgotten memories that used to be impossible to remember, millions of people who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease can benefit from this type of application.

Everyday Applications

By utilizing BCI devices, everyone can type, read, learn, watch and communicate without moving a single muscle. You don’t need to type using your fingers; you just need to think of what you want to write. Being able to learn in an instant would cause a paradigm shift in the educational system or being able to communicate remotely without making any sound, or movement would cause a paradigm shift in the whole world. In gaming industry, people can compete using their willpower, their victory is based on how good they can focus on a specific task. Even in offices, or digital production companies, people will be faster as all the things they think of are done by the computer in an instant, people can edit hours of footage in minutes, without the need of moving a finger. The borders between human, and maybe animal communication will be removed as BCI will allow us to communicate using not a language, but thoughts themselves.