Tan Le's astonishing new computer interface reads its user's brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.

Here some interesting the comments;- "

doug lucchetti (+14)

1 hour ago: Having just read the previous comments, I was a little surprised to find that nobody had directly addressed the issue of human eroticism/sexuality with this latest extension of our mental abilities. Without even getting too 'naughty' one could think of any number of scenarios where human interactions with these, either alone or with partner(s), might add a new dimension, or at the very least a new level of novelty if nothing else, and that alone has historically been a factor in the widespread dissemination and acceptance of other ancestral media...from symbolic sacred vulvas at Lascaux to the Venus of Willendorf , from Boccaccio's Decamaron, to Lady Chatterly, from Salvadore Dali's 'sewing machine' to Stag Films, from Hefner to Cybersex...and beyond. Hold on to your headset.

Skylar Dunn-Lubin (0)

1 hour ago: This was quite fascinating. The example of its use that disturbed me was the facade of happiness used to cause movement. I imagined a torrent of wheelchair bound humans donning superficial smile on a future advertisement., terrifying. All jokes aside, this seems like technology that will inevitably become as common place as touch screens and will forever change culture and society alike. My only major concern is it's military applications, will wars be fought by mind controls machines, thus saving millions of lives, or will those with the bigger banks steam roll the competition without difficulty?

Ben Jarvis (+270)

4 days ago: ok that was freaking cool! if last mile problems such as manufacture, distribution and standardisation can be overcome, the implications are amazing.

go from controlling a wheelchair to controlling an exoskeleton to not even needing your body inside the skeleton anymore, and from manipulating a virtual world to manipulating the real world through devices that enact your imaginings (but will have to be careful to take the thing off before we go to sleep or start daydreaming!).

further on from this then, our brains will become our only limiting factor. we'll need to find ways to keep our brain functioning much longer as our new replaceable bodies will be able to, or grow a new brain or analogous device to transfer 'ourselves' to when the old one wears out.

as a side effect that will wipe out almost all biological diseases, but provide more targets for technological viruses...

doug lucchetti (+14)

1 hour ago: I am wondering if eroticism, or maybe in this case 'cyber-eroticism' might be an avenue upon which much of that last mile will be travelling. It would be hard to deny that sexual content has been a factor in the dissemination of other ancestral information technology: moveable print, photo, cinema,videotape and now the digitally on the web.

The Kurgan In Disguise (-309)

4 days ago: I was seduced by the front page photo of Tan offering an orgasmatron for my head. Then she placed the other one on Evan's head?! Gahhh..... next time select the cameraman.

For the full article go to: http://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_a_headset_that_reads_your_brainwaves.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-07-27&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email 

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