Mind and matter

Last summer I read an interesting article (and it's been gathering dust ever since - so finally digging down a bit and getting some thoughts out there again) about Matt Nagle and the Braingate system. [he was also featured in Wired back in issue 13.03] Really fascinating to see how we are, slowly albeit, moving towards taking control and interaction a step further. Not to mention the expression on his face in the image - the pure joy as he get the pointer moving with nothing but his mind.


Another take on interfacing our ideas, is the "brain map" being developed by Gratton and Fabiani [original noted in SciAm Mind, but their site seems to be down] - which uses fiber cables to detect which parts of the brain "lights up" during different kinds of thoughts, giving a huge increase in time-resolution compared to fMRI - enabling differentiation on the millisecond level rather than full seconds.

Sure, it might take away some of the "magic" over time, but so far all experience seems to indicate that insight usually gives a huge increase in the number of questions (like quantum mechanics, dna and genes, nano level, ...) - and even if we enable the mind to control outside forces directly, there is still a huge gap to the motivation... why do we select one link over the other, or spend time online rather than with a book or working out ... that will take another couple of huge steps forward

...and the sun is probably out - but well hidden by another minor blizzard, making everything into a true winter wonderland ...