Surfing the Web With Brainwaves

Posted on September 8, 2006

Business 2.0 reports that new technology similar to technology that lets a quadriplegic man play video games could allow people to surf the Internet with their mind.

Two years ago, a quadriplegic man started playing video games using his brain as a controller. That may just sound like fun and games for the unfortunate, but really, it spells the beginning of a radical change in how we interact with computers - and business will never be the same.
Someday, keyboards and computer mice will be remembered only as medieval-style torture devices for the wrists. All work - emails, spreadsheets, and Google searches - will be performed by mind control.
If you think that's mind-blowing, try to wrap your head around the sensational research that's been done on the brain of one Matthew Nagle by scientists at Brown University and three other institutions, in collaboration with Foxborough, Mass.-based company Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems. The research was published for the first time last week in the British science journal Nature.
Nagle, a 26-year-old quadriplegic, was hooked up to a computer via an implant smaller than an aspirin that sits on top of his brain and reads electrical patterns. Using that technology, he learned how to move a cursor around a screen, play simple games, control a robotic arm, and even - couch potatoes, prepare to gasp in awe - turn his brain into a TV remote control. All while chatting amiably with the researchers. He even learned how to perform these tasks in less time than the average PC owner spends installing Microsoft Windows.

The Business 2.0 article says the Neurodevices industry is already a $3.4 billion industry. These companies continue to look for new ways to help people compensate for brain, nerve and spinal column damage. Eventually they will have a device that makes it easy to surf the Internet using your mind. It will probably come with Internet Explorer and/or a Google toolbar pre-installed.