Mind Control In Virtual Reality, Circa 2013 35
New submitter chrisjz writes "What happens when you combine a virtual reality headset and a brainwave reading device? Here's a simulation showing off what's possible with current technology, using the Emotiv EPOC to read a person's brainwaves for movement in a virtual environment. Along with the Oculus Rift, a VR headset, and the Razer Hydra for hand tracking, this demonstrates another alternative to using omni-directional treadmills or full body tracking for movement and interaction in virtual reality. Consumer level brain computer interfaces are still primitive these days, but it doesn't seem too far off that we'll have virtual reality similar to what William Gibson envisioned in his novels or movies such as The Matrix has shown us."
*have shown us (Score:5, Insightful)
We have been able to fly planes up tens of thousands of feet for nearly a century, but we're a long way from flying passengers to even to the Moon, let alone another solar system.
A small step in one direction is rarely a sign that a great leap will be made.
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Interesting article in the NYT today about the future of education and on-line courses.
They use an analogy to the advent of steam powered shipping.
The first steam boats were very limited in range and capacity and could only operate on rivers.
The trans-Atlantic shipping companies scoffed at the idea.
12 years later steam ships were crossing the Atlantic.
All of the original trans-Atlantic companies went out of business within the next decade.
Disruptive technology is a bitch.
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We have been able to fly planes up tens of thousands of feet for nearly a century, but we're a long way from flying passengers to even to the Moon, let alone another solar system.
A small step in one direction is rarely a sign that a great leap will be made.
About 110 years ago (next month), powered flying for a distance of around 200 feet was the best we could do.
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That's my point yo. Flying passengers to the next solar system isn't just about making a series of optimsations to the Wright brothers' design, but about various separate technological leaps which need to be made.
Being able to detect crude changes with EEGs or fMRIs does not necessarily take us anywhere close to Science Fiction tier mind reading/control.
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It's important to note that the submitter of the story is the guy in the video. It never would have made the front page if he didn't know an editor here personally. Just dismiss it as another day of /. cronyism and move on.
I question the value (Score:3, Interesting)
For better immersion, we'd be better off if we could somehow intercept nerve signals to the body. Thinking "move forward" isn't the same as "getting up, balancing, and walking", which could theoretically be done completely virtually if we could intercept signals from the brain to the body.
If we did that, we could also feed the body movement commands separate from the brain. Imagine playing a video game for a couple hours while our body rides an exercise bicycle through computer control (at varying intensities based on lactic acid feedback). You could play a video game or work in a virtual environment while your body is essentially at the gym.
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Some of the necessary wetware already exists in the mechanism that manufactures fake sensory input and intercepts motor nerve outputs while dreaming.
The logical place to intercept that for VR, telepresence, operation of sensory/motor systems including cyborg systems might be right there.
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Or while you're awake, for that matter. Also, tapping into these systems should allowing fabrication of whole new senses and operational controls - there's no particular reason why using Slashdot should involve either optical or motor centers, when the actual content is communications.
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The benefit of decoupling avatar movement from physical motion is the ability to do both simultaneously for the most adept, but more generally to avoid issues where you need to 'turn off' signals to the
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This is exactly what I'm saying: You move as if moving your body. The same signals that would go to your limbs through your nervous system could simply be intercepted and interpreted by a computer.
Our bodies are not terribly different from a basic electronic circuit, wiring in a car, a bus in a computer, or even a network, aside from the mechanism of signalling (which is not actually that different). I wouldn't be surprised if nanotechnology reached a level where this would be possible within the next centu
deceptive headline >:( (Score:4, Informative)
seriously, "Mind Control"? yeah, i'm sure you were thinking "everyone will know i'm talking about man-machine-interfaces" when you wrote that headline. fear based headlines are NOT helpful.
Re:deceptive headline :( (Score:4, Funny)
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You seriously got scared of that headline? Tinfoil hat much?
You seriously didn't? Read the news headlines much?
Re:deceptive headline :( (Score:1)
We've had 'mind control' for over 90 years. It's called radio/TV...
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We've had mind control for a few thousand years. It's called "religion".
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"Religion" is content. I was talking about the medium.
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I think you can argue that religion is a medium, and one of the most effective and robustly self-reinforcing.
Sadly, for the same reasons as it is robust, it's not very flexible. The content is ideas of all sorts, both good and bad. "Brush your teeth" could be a religious cleanliness ritual. So can "throw rocks at unmarried pregnant women".
Some of the oddest things come out of the mouths of people who truly believe their religions in a literal sense. Not believing in a literal sense is tantamount to appl
SAO/Log Horizon here we come (Score:2)
hmmm (Score:2)
Mind/Computer interfaces alternatives? (Score:2)
I am interested in playing with mind/computer tech and I am curious,aside from the Emotiv Epoc, what is there? a quick search found neursky mindset... just wondering if someone had played with the alternatives and could provide some feedback?
Not "mind control" like zombies (Score:1)
Brain/computer interfaces don't equal "mind control."
Yes, it may make manipulation and brainwashing easier, but you can do that in the real world by feeding people false information and getting them to believe it.
Mind control in the "zombie" sense of the word would be directly stimulating the brain to move muscles around, or perhaps one level more abstract, to directly manipulate "the will" whatever that is. A further level up the abstraction ladder would be to directly manipulate memories and emotions.
As
Why I would be really happy about this (Score:1)
So, I recently got diagnosed with ALS. I'll lose function of all my muscles in a manner of years. To me this is promising as it means I might have a better hope of keeping in touch with the world than just using my eyes to point to letters on a virtual keyboard :)
woo hoo (Score:1)
Matrix (Score:3)
yup, not Gibson, but he came close (Score:2)
The summary seems to imply that Gibson made the Matrix. No it doesn't, there's an "or" in there.
However, William Gibson never envisioned mind control in Virtual Reality either. You jacked in to cyberspace, a consensual hallucination of a graphic representation of data (which never took off, there's no "representation" of the net at all when you jump from Slashdot to YouTube), but Gibson explicitly had his hackers typing commands while jacked in: "distant fingers caressing the deck", "whip moves on those key
Neuronal upgrade booths. (Score:1)
Confabulation of Term (Score:2)
OASIS or Neural Nanonics, please... (Score:1)