<h2>Drift Compatible</h2>
A new brain-computer interface can connect three people&#8217;s brains, allowing them to play a &#8220;Tetris&#8221;-like video game together using something resembling telepathy.
Companies like <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-brain-computer-interface-coming-soon">Elon Musk&#8217;s Neuralink</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-brain-computer-interface-zuckerberg">Facebook</a> are working on mind-reading devices designed to connect people&#8217;s brains to machines. While details on those projects have been sparse, this new <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-computer-interface-vr-headsets">gamified version</a> of a brain-computer interface out of the University of Washington shows that the technology could be ready in the near future.
<h2>Multiplayer</h2>
In the game, three people collaborate to solve rudimentary &#8220;Tetris&#8221;-like puzzles in which they rearrange blocks to fill a complete row in a virtual grid. In a video featuring <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/07/716410633/mind-machine-meld-how-computer-assisted-telepathy-helps-humans-communicate">NPR&#8217;s </a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/07/716410633/mind-machine-meld-how-computer-assisted-telepathy-helps-humans-communicate">Elise Hu</a>, two players are each presented with the puzzle and asked whether or not they should rotate a block before it drops to the bottom of the screen.
The device monitors the players&#8217; brain activity to determine whether they want to rotate the block or not. The two players&#8217; decisions are then transmitted into the brain of a third player, who hasn&#8217;t seen the puzzle, and must then decide whether or not to rotate the block. In the video, Hu and her teammate successfully recommended against rotating the block.
For now, the system isn&#8217;t sophisticated enough to handle a full version of &#8220;Tetris&#8221; — rather, it broke the puzzles down into yes or no questions which each took several seconds, meaning that until the technology improves, we&#8217;re stuck controlling <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMy1zO8m8sM">games with our hands</a> like animals.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/07/716410633/mind-machine-meld-how-computer-assisted-telepathy-helps-humans-communicate">How Computer-Assisted Telepathy Helps Humans Communicate</a> [NPR]
More on brain-computer interface: <a href="https://futurism.com/noninvasive-neural-implant-clinical-trials">This Neural Implant Accesses Your Brain Through the Jugular Vein</a>

Players' thoughts were transmitted to each other to solve a collaborative puzzle.

This machine lets you play "Tetris" with your brain

High Score

A brain-computer interface can connect three people's brains, letting them transmit thoughts to each other to collaborate in a game of Tetris.

This Machine Lets You Play “Tetris” With Your Brain

Three players' brains were connected in a version of the game.

<h2>Brain-To-Speech</h2>
A new brain-computer interface device decodes brain activity to figure out what someone is trying to say, and uses that data to synthesize full, audible sentences.
The device is far from perfect and the research is still in its early stages, but the device is the first to recreate a full sentence in a way that was understandable to someone else, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-take-a-step-toward-decoding-thoughts/">according to Scientific American</a> — a ray of hope for people who who&#8217;ve lost their ability to communicate from strokes or other conditions.
<h2>No Mindreading</h2>
The University of California, San Francisco researchers behind the device found that trying to directly translate the brain&#8217;s behavior into audible speech was too complex, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1119-1">according to research</a> published in the journal Nature on Thursday.
Instead, they used artificial intelligence to correlate signals that the brain sent to participants&#8217; vocal tracts that corresponded with specific vocabulary, ultimately simulating the vocal tract&#8217;s behavior to generate realistic-sounding words. In a test run, the device was able to synthesize speech while people were silently mouthing words.
<h2>Still Buggy</h2>
People who listened to and tried to transcribe the machine-generated sentences misunderstood at least one word more than half the time, but the fact that they ever got it right represents <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci">progress over existing systems</a>.
&#8220;For someone who’s locked in and can’t communicate at all, a few minor errors would be acceptable,&#8221; Northwestern University neuroengineer Marc Slutzky, who has pursued similar projects, told SciAm. &#8220;Obviously you’d want to [be able to] say any word you’d want to, but it would still be a lot better than having to type out words one letter at a time, which is the [current] state of the art.”
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-take-a-step-toward-decoding-thoughts/">Scientists Take a Step Toward Decoding Thoughts</a> [Scientific American]
More on brain-computer interfaces: <a href="https://futurism.com/noninvasive-neural-implant-clinical-trials">This Neural Implant Accesses Your Brain Through the Jugular Vein</a>

It's the first brain-computer interface to synthesize an entire sentence.

Amazing device turns thoughts into audible sentences

Decoder Ring

A new brain-computer interface device can translate the neural signals controlling someone's vocal tract into full sentences of audible speech.

Amazing Device Turns Thoughts Into Audible Sentences

It's far from perfect, but it's an important step.

<h2>Neuralink</h2>
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted at what could be the announcement of a brain-machine interface that could one day hook human brains up to computers on Sunday. In response to a question asking for an update on <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-launched-a-company-to-merge-your-brain-with-a-computer">Neuralink</a>, a neurotechnology startup he founded in 2016, Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1119883893392334848">replied that new information would be &#8220;coming soon&#8221;</a>.
A &#8220;direct cortical interface,&#8221; according to Musk, could allow humans to reach higher levels of cognition —and give humans a better shot at competing with artificial intelligence, the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-launches-neuralink-to-connect-brains-with-computers-1490642652">reported in 2017</a>. It&#8217;s unclear, though, whether Neuralink&#8217;s main objective is to do just that or to connect human brains to computers for consumer applications.
<h2>AI Overlords</h2>
Musk has repeatedly <a href="https://futurism.com/grimes-musk-rococo-basilisk">warned of evil AI overlords</a> in the past, saying that AI could become &#8220;an immortal dictator from which we could never escape&#8221; in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdguhIzftH4">2018 documentary</a> called &#8220;Do You Trust This Computer?&#8221;
Most of what Neuralink is working on, including any plans for a brain computer interface, are still tightly under wraps. In one tantalizing clue, Bloomberg recently <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-11/team-linked-to-elon-musk-neuralink-outline-brain-monitor-system">reported on</a> a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/sewing-machine-implant-brain-electrodes">still unpublished academic paper</a> by five authors who have been employed by or associated with Neuralink — though it&#8217;s unclear whether Musk&#8217;s tweet referred to their work.
<h2>Sewing Machine for the Brain</h2>
The paper describes a &#8220;sewing machine&#8221; for the brain in the form of a needle-like device that is inserted into a rat&#8217;s skull to implant a bendable polymer electrode in the brain that would read the brain&#8217;s electrical signals.
Of course, human trials are still a long time out. Neuralink has yet to comment on any possible timelines or announcements.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/elon-musk-twitter-neuralink-brain-machine-interface-computer-ai-a8880911.html">Elon Musk says machine to connect human brain to computers is &#8216;coming soon&#8217;</a> [The Independent]
More on Neuralink: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-launched-a-company-to-merge-your-brain-with-a-computer">Elon Musk Just Launched A Company To Merge Your Brain With A Computer</a>

Musk has repeatedly warned of evil AI overlords in the past, saying that AI could become "an immortal dictator from which we could never escape."

Elon Musk: brain computer interface update "coming soon"

Neuralink

Elon Musk hinted at the announcement by his startup Neuralink, possibly of a brain-machine interface that could one day hook human brains up to computers.

Elon Musk: Brain-Computer Interface Update “Coming Soon”

We might soon get an update from Musk's mysterious neurotech startup.

<h2>Brain-Computer Interface</h2>
For the first time, doctors are preparing to test a brain-computer interface that can be implanted onto a human brain, no open surgery required.
The Stentrode, a neural implant that can let paralyzed people communicate, can be delivered to a patient&#8217;s brain through the jugular vein — and the company that developed it, Synchron, just got approval to begin human experimentation.
By <a href="https://futurism.com/neural-jelly-drill-brain">leaving the skull sealed shut</a>, patients could receive their neural implants without <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-stick-needles-brains-curious-what-needles-brains/">running as great a risk</a> of seizures, strokes, or permanent neural impairments, all of which <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/awake-brain-surgery/about/pac-20384913">can be caused</a> by open-brain surgery.
In the coming months, five participants with paralyzed hands or mouths that prevent them from communicating will have Stentrodes implanted into their brains.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve commenced recruitment over the last several weeks,&#8221; Synchron founder and CEO Thomas Oxley, a physician in New York City, told Futurism. &#8220;We&#8217;ve identified some potential patients so that&#8217;s very exciting, but there&#8217;s a several-month recruitment process once they come in.&#8221;
<h2>Ongoing Process</h2>
As potentially game-changing as a neural implant that circumvents open brain surgery could be, Synchron is taking things slowly.
The work of building a functional device and showing that it&#8217;s safe in animal models is done; now it comes down to collecting and making sense of clinical data.
Before trials can begin, potential participants will need to undergo several brain scans. After that comes an evaluation from a neurologist to make sure that they would actually benefit from the Stentrode&#8217;s neural interface and that their blood vessels are in good enough shape to have the device — which looks like a standard medical stent with built-in circuitry — travel through them on its path to the brain.
But once the trial begins, Oxley said that the patients will start training to use the device and its software to generate text with their thoughts.
&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to help patients who have been paralyzed due to stroke or ALS or spinal cord injury, and who cannot communicate in the way they need to perform their work activities or their social activities,&#8221; Oxley said. &#8220;We&#8217;re working to generate text at a rate that&#8217;s comparable to texting speeds on a smartphone. That&#8217;s the goal.&#8221;
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<h2>One Step At A Time</h2>
A permanent neural implant that reads brain activity and churns out text could prove to be a valuable medical tool, but it also could provide doctors with an unprecedented 24/7 stream of neural data.
Oxley recognizes that an <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-brain-computer-interface-zuckerberg">endless feed of brain activity</a> could be invaluable to medical researchers, but he doesn&#8217;t have plans to tap into that yet.
&#8220;[The Stentrode is] going to show us information that we hadn&#8217;t had before. Whether that helps us understand other things is not what we&#8217;re trying to do here,&#8221; he said, clarifying that Synchron&#8217;s primary goal is to get the new brain-computer interface working so that it can help paralyzed patients. &#8220;This is a novel data set, but this raises questions around privacy and security. That&#8217;s the patient&#8217;s data, and we can&#8217;t be mining that.&#8221;
Oxley told Futurism that they&#8217;ve already built in security protocols to make sure the study participants&#8217; brain data, which will be stored locally, is future-proofed, and added that he doesn&#8217;t have plans — or regulatory approval — to analyze or study that data for other purposes in the future. In a follow-up email, he clarified that study participants are being asked to give consent for this particular experiment, but not to hand over their neural data for future research.
<h2>Distant Future</h2>
But that doesn&#8217;t mean other developments aren&#8217;t coming. Oxley said that he could envision a future in which brain-computer interface neural implants do more than just restore the ability to communicate. Though this vision of the future is fairly speculative, it&#8217;s not hard to imagine that as neural implants — from Synchron or anywhere else — grow increasingly sophisticated, they allow people to do more and more things.
&#8220;What&#8217;s behind paralysis? The intention to move. So we&#8217;re digitizing intention,&#8221; said Oxley. &#8220;Ultimately, if those signals are really fast, those patients or people are now controlling technologies with a level of superiority may not be possible with a regular human body.&#8221;
Synchron isn&#8217;t working on it now, but Oxley said that devices like the Stentrode could feasibly be used someday to control robotic limbs, exoskeletons, or other devices that improve human senses. Before Oxley or anyone else works towards those devices, he said that there&#8217;s an ethical minefield to navigate.
&#8220;When you start building software that controls devices that move — vehicles, robotic limbs, exoskeletons — what we&#8217;re doing is digitizing intent,&#8221; said Oxley. &#8220;If we can capture intent of the patient, we run our algorithm that spits out intent into mechanical use. Let&#8217;s say a robotic limb does the wrong thing: it picks up the wrong thing or pushes and hurts someone, who is responsible? It raises a lot of ethical considerations about how this technology moves forward.&#8221;
More on Brain-Computer Interface: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/brain-implant-read-paralyzed-minds-speak-bci">New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People&#8217;s Thoughts Into Speech</a>

"It's going to show us information that we hadn't had before."

The first non-invasive neural implant is about to begin clinical trials

Plug-And-Play

The Stentrode, the first neural implant that doesn't require open surgery, is poised to begin clinical trials to help paralyzed people communicate.

This Neural Implant Accesses Your Brain Through the Jugular Vein

The brain-computer interface lets paralyzed people type using their thoughts.

<h2>Mind Control</h2>
Virtual reality headsets are already pretty good at fooling our eyes and ears into thinking we&#8217;re in another world. And soon, we might be able to navigate that world with our thoughts alone.
Speaking at this year&#8217;s Game Developer&#8217;s Conference in San Francisco, Mike Abinder, in-house psychologist and researcher for game developer and distributor Valve, <a href="https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-brain-computer-interfaces-vr-ar-gdc-2019/">gave a talk</a> on the exciting possibilities of adding brain-computer interfaces to VR headsets.
<h2>Personalized Gaming</h2>
The idea is to add non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors to the insides of existing VR headsets. EEG readers detect the electrical signals firing in the brain and turn them into data points. And by analyzing that data, according to Abinder, game designers could make games that respond differently depending on whether you&#8217;re excited, happy, sad or bored.
&#8220;So think about adaptive enemies. What kinds of animals do you like playing against in gaming?&#8221; Ambinder said, as <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/24/valve-psychologist-explores-controlling-games-directly-with-your-brain/">quoted by VentureBeat</a>. &#8220;If we knew the answers to these questions, you could have the game give you more of a challenging time and less of the boring time.&#8221;
Game design could become almost perfectly tailored to the person wearing the VR headset — or even recreate a perfect representation of you inside a virtual world. Your avatar could perfectly mimic your current state of mind or mood.
&#8220;All of a sudden, we start becoming able to assess how you’re responding to various elements in game,&#8221; Ambinder continued. &#8220;We can make small changes to make big changes.&#8221;
<h2>Brain Extensions</h2>
There are a handful of companies already trying to harness brain signals for enhancing gaming experiences. A startup called Neurable is already testing out BCIs built into off-the-shelf VR headsets &#8220;to create a natural extension of our brains, creating new possibilities for human empowerment,&#8221; according to its website.
Of course, Abinder&#8217;s vision of the future of gaming is mostly a fun thought experiment at this stage. Even hospital-grade EEGs have to deal with a huge amount of noise — and that&#8217;s especially the case for consumer-grade, non-invasive scanners that are not planted to the scalp or surgically implanted.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-brain-computer-interfaces-vr-ar-gdc-2019/">Valve Psychologist: Brain-computer Interfaces Are Coming &amp; Could Be Built into VR Headsets</a> [Road to VR]
More on VR: <a href="https://futurism.com/army-soldiers-vr-combat-training">The U.S. Army Is Using Virtual Reality Combat to Train Soldiers</a>

"We can make small changes to make big changes."

Expert: VR headsets should have brain interfaces

VR Gaming

Mike Abinder, in-house psychologist and researcher for Valve, talked about exciting possibilities of adding brain-computer interfaces to VR headsets.

Expert: VR Headsets Should Have Brain Interfaces

Brain-computer interfaces could make VR gaming way more immersive.

<h2>Facebook Mind Reader</h2>
According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook aims to access information about its users not just through their smartphones and computers, but directly from their brains as well.
In a recent interview at Harvard University with Harvard law school professor Jonathan Zittrain, Zuckerberg bragged about technology the social giant is working on that could one day allow users to navigate menus or even type using their minds alone, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/zuckerberg-wants-facebook-to-build-mind-reading-machine/">Wired reports</a>.
When Zittrain challenged Zuckerberg on the invasiveness and ethical implications of a Facebook mind-reading machine, the Silicon Valley CEO had a simple answer: &#8220;presumably, this would be something that someone would choose to use as a product.&#8221;
<h2>&#8220;Brain Mouse&#8221;</h2>
The concept is relatively simple: smart objects can communicate with each other, but your brain is closed off from them. The solution, according to Zuckerberg, is a &#8220;shower-cap-looking device&#8221; that will read the signals in your brain and use them to unlock the data streams of your thoughts.
Facebook has been testing such a &#8220;brain-computer interface&#8221; for a number of years. At its F8 developer&#8217;s conference in 2017, the company showed off what Facebook&#8217;s VP of Building Regina Dugan referred to as <a href="https://mashable.com/2017/04/19/facebook-brain-interface/#PHPRn6s5NaqZ">a &#8220;brain mouse&#8221;</a> — a non-invasive brain interface that could one day allow users to control AR applications.
<h2>Assuming Control</h2>
Zuckerberg&#8217;s enthusiasm about that work is ironic, because the company has lost a lot of trust among its users after <a href="https://futurism.com/tags/facebook">years of bad press</a> and repeated reports of <a href="https://futurism.com/health-apps-send-data-facebook">privacy violations</a>. <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2019/03/06/tech/exclusive-look-numbers-showing-users-leaving-facebook-by-the-millions">Millions of Americans</a> have left the social network in 2018.
Facebook&#8217;s future plans for a brain computer interface seem oddly disconnected from that reality.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/zuckerberg-wants-facebook-to-build-mind-reading-machine/">Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Build a Mind-Reading Machine</a> [Wired] 

More on Facebook: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-content-moderators-lawsuit-ptsd">Former Content Moderators Are Suing Facebook Over PTSD and Trauma</a>

The promise: navigating augmented reality interfaces without any distractions.

Zuckerberg: Facebook is building a machine to read your thoughts

Brain Machine

In an interview, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked about a device that could one day allow users to navigate menus or even type using their minds alone.

Zuckerberg: Facebook is Building a Machine to Read Your Thoughts

Would you let Facebook read your brain?

<h2>Plugging In</h2>
A new brain implant out of the <a href="https://www.feinsteininstitute.org/laboratory-for-multimodal-human-brain-mapping/">Feinstein Institute for Medical Research</a> in New York might someday be able to read people’s thoughts and — for those who can’t speak on their own — say them out loud.
The brain-computer interface (BCI) system sits on the surface of the brain — an array of electrodes detects the neural signals sent out by brain regions responsible for perceiving and generating speech, which are then decoded by a computer in the lab, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/15/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech/">reports STAT News</a>.
<h2>Baby Steps</h2>
Current-generation BCI can’t create a perfect brain signal-to-speech pathway; people using this new system wouldn’t be able to generate eloquent speeches. But according to STAT, doctors believe they may be able to let people who are paralyzed or otherwise can’t speak inform their caregivers that they are hungry, thirsty, in pain, or other things that are relatively simple but crucial to get across.
It could also — potentially — help doctors determine <a href="https://www.popsci.com/new-test-could-tell-whether-comatose-patients-will-awake">whether comatose people are awake</a> and responsive or asleep at any given time.
<h2>We Can’t Rebuild Him</h2>
But STAT is quick to point out that medical brain-computer interfaces such as this one, which is being tested on volunteers who are <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/jets-pilots-mind-control-darpa">already undergoing brain surgery</a> for severe epilepsy, are far from being available outside of a research lab.
Brain implants have a bitter history of <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-stick-needles-brains-curious-what-needles-brains">damaging the brain</a> or being <a href="https://futurism.com/neural-jelly-drill-brain">rejected by the nervous system</a>, and because the devices don’t last forever, multiple brain surgeries over the years would become necessary. But someday, if the questions of brain compatibility are resolved, it looks like the assistive powers of BCI implants will be ready and waiting.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/11/15/brain-computer-interface-translate-thoughts-speech/">With brain implants, scientists hope to translate paralyzed patients’ thoughts into speech</a> [STAT News]
More on brain-computer interface technology: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/human-brain-neural-network">A Neural Network, Connected to a Human Brain, Could Mean More Advanced Prosthetics</a>

Already, it could help people express hunger or pain.

New brain implant could translate paralyzed people's thoughts into speech

Mind Reading

A new brain-computer interface neural implant being tested by neurosurgeons could restore some people's ability to speak by translating their brain signals.

New Brain Implant Could Translate Paralyzed People’s Thoughts Into Speech

Or at least it will get the important stuff across.

BEYOND HUMAN. Prosthetic limbs have come a long way in recent years. From primitive designs that were little more than useless placeholders for the real thing, we now have high-tech devices that wearers can <a href="https://futurism.com/new-thought-controlled-prosthetics-restore-sensation-touch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">control with their thoughts</a>. These prostheses can help people with missing limbs feel &#8220;<a href="https://singularityhub.com/2017/11/27/thought-controlled-prosthetic-hand-delivers-100-realistic-sensations/#sm.0000041g67zztze6czb43xdhulzbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whole</a>&#8221; again. But in a new study, researchers set out to see if such devices could make humans more than whole.
Specifically, a pair of researchers from the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute in Japan wanted to know if giving someone a supernumerary robotic limb (SRL), a mind-controlled robotic limb that worked alongside the person&#8217;s two biological ones, could give that person multitasking abilities beyond those of the average human.
They published their <a href="http://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/3/20/eaat1228" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> in the journal Science Robotics on July 25.
TWO TASKS, THREE HANDS. For their study, the researchers asked 15 volunteers to sit in a chair with an SRL positioned as if it were a third arm coming from their own body. On the head of each volunteer, the researchers placed special cap that tracked the brain&#8217;s electrical activity. The cap transmitted that data to a computer that then translated it into movement in the SRL.
The result: all a volunteer had to do to control the SRL was think about an action.
Next, they asked the volunteers to complete two tasks. To accomplish one — balancing a ball on a board — they used their natural limbs. For the other (grasping and releasing a bottle), they used the SRL system. The researchers asked the volunteers to complete the tasks sometimes separately, sometimes simultaneously.
In 20 trials, the volunteers successfully completed both tasks using the three limbs about 75 percent of the time. In other words, they were able to complete two tasks simultaneously that would have been essentially impossible with just two limbs.
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TRAINING THE BRAIN. When you think you&#8217;re &#8220;multitasking,&#8221; you aren&#8217;t actually paying attention to two things at once — your brain just switches rapidly between the two tasks. Past SRL systems required the user to concentrate on just the task at <del>fake</del> hand — this system is the first that could &#8220;read&#8221; a multitasking mind, sifting out the user&#8217;s intentions for the SRL. It can do this simply because it&#8217;s more advanced than previous versions.
The researchers even believe their system could essentially help humans become better at multitasking even when they don&#8217;t have a third limb helping out. “By operating this brain-machine interface, we have an idea that we may be able to train the brain itself,” researcher Shuichi Nishio <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/25/17611812/brain-controlled-robot-arm-supernumerary-bmi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Verge</a>.
Future research will endeavor to figure out whether that&#8217;s true or not. If it is, we might be able to enhance our minds by temporarily enhancing our bodies.
READ MORE: <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2018/07/31/this-prosthesis-lets-you-multitask-with-three-arms/#sm.0000041g67zztze6czb43xdhulzbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This Mind-Controlled Robotic Limb Lets You Multitask With Three Arms</a> [Singularity Hub]
More on prosthetics: <a href="https://futurism.com/new-thought-controlled-prosthetics-restore-sensation-touch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Thought-Controlled Prosthetics Restore the Sensation of Touch</a>

Researchers hooked volunteers up to robotic limb, then saw how well they could multitask.

Think you could do more if you just had an extra hand? You’re probably right.

Enhanced Humans

Researchers tested volunteers' ability to control a robotic limb at the same time as they used their two natural limbs to complete a task.

Think You Could Do More if You Just Had an Extra Hand? You’re Probably Right.

Training with this robotic limb could improve your ability to multitask.

Hey you! Ever wish your technology was more invasive? You love voice-to-text, but it&#8217;s just too public?
Some researchers at MIT Media Lab have come up with the perfect gadget for you. And it looks like a Bane mask crossed with a squid. Or, if you prefer: like a horror movie monster slowly encompassing your jaw before crawling into your mouth.
The researchers <a href="http://fluid.media.mit.edu/sites/default/files/p43-kapur.pdf">presented their work</a> at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (yes such a thing exists) in March in Tokyo.
Whenever you think of words, they&#8217;re silently, imperceptibly, transmitted to your mouth. More specifically, signals arrive at the muscles that control your mouth. And those signals aren&#8217;t imperceptible to a highly sensitive computer.
The researchers call this device the AlterEgo. It&#8217;s got seven electrodes positioned around the mouth to pick up these signals. The data that the electrodes pick up goes through several rounds of processing before being transmitted wirelessly to a device awaiting instruction nearby. Oh, and it&#8217;s got bone-conduction headphones so that devices can respond.
<figure id="attachment_128624" style="width: 775px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-128624 size-full" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-04-at-6.55.27-PM.png" alt="" width="775" height="226" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">AlterEgo in use. <a href="http://fluid.media.mit.edu/sites/default/files/p43-kapur.pdf">Kapur et al, 2018</a></figcaption></figure>
The scientists tested their prototype on a few people who trained the software to recognize the data that corresponded to different commands (&#8220;call,&#8221; &#8220;reply,&#8221; &#8220;add,&#8221;), then on a few more to see how accurate it was. The results were promising, though it&#8217;s not exactly ready to go into mass production.
The closest comparison to this system is a device you can address in your normal speech, like Siri or Alexa. But, terrifyingly, this is not scientists&#8217; first attempt at creating a more direct way to transmit our thoughts to computers. Most earlier versions have relied directly on brain signals (from devices laid over or implanted in the brain. No thank you).
AlterEgo has the following advantages, according to the researchers:
<ul>
<li>It&#8217;s not invasive (seems like kind of a low bar but ok)</li>
<li>It&#8217;s 92 percent accurate (probably marginally better than your average autocorrect, about the same as Siri or Alexa)</li>
<li>It&#8217;s portable (and about as sexy as one of those Bluetooth earpieces)</li>
<li>Unlike direct brain readings, it can&#8217;t read your private thoughts (except for the ones you quietly mouth to yourself)</li>
</ul>
I admit, in some situations a device like this might be useful. Particular movements could tell your phone to turn on music, or use a calculator, or text your friend. It could control your &#8220;smart home,&#8221; turning off the oven or starting the coffeepot with a mere twitch. Heck, in 10 years, I could be thinking this article into existence. This goes double for people with disabilities or vision problems that might make controlling a digital device challenging otherwise.
BUT. But. There are a few things that might make AlterEgo less than ideal. The electrodes can&#8217;t shift when a person is using them, for example, or the reading will get all messed up. It&#8217;s hard to imagine that people would be comfortable hanging out with a device covering half their mouths. And there&#8217;s no telling how the system would do in real-world settings — that&#8217;s what the researchers have to test out next. And, of course, there&#8217;s the issue of crossed signals, like when Alexa thought <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-assistant-amazon-alexa-laugh/">random sounds were telling it to laugh</a>. And — just thinking big for a second — if it were hacked, could the hacker use the electrodes to physically control your mouth?
Might we have a future in which our faces butt-dial for us? Who&#8217;s to say. But you can bet all the people in my nightmares of a dystopian future are equipped with one of these bad boys.

You think a command for your smartphone or coffeemaker, and this thing that looks like a Bane mask knows.

This crazy gadget helps you "talk" to your computer without words

Sci-Fi Visions

Researchers at MIT Media Lab created a device called the AlterEgo that picks up on imperceptible muscle movements to communicate with computers.

This Crazy Gadget Helps You “Talk” To Your Computer Without Words

It's like if Siri was stuck to your face. 

<h2>Learning From the Past</h2>
Humans are naturally inclined to think towards the future. We find ourselves wondering about the next steps in our lives, imaging the potential consequences of advances today, even fictionalizing them to their most extreme forms as a sort of sandbox for possible futures.
Scientists might be one of the few groups to actively suppress that desire to predict the future. Conservative and data-driven by nature, they might be uncomfortable making guesses about the future because that requires a leap of faith. Even if there&#8217;s a lot of data to support a prediction, there are also infinite variables that can change the ultimate outcome in the interim. Trying to predict what the world will be like in a century doesn&#8217;t do much to improve it today; if scientists are <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/02/scientists-wrong-time-thats-fantastic/">going to be wrong</a>, they&#8217;d rather do it constructively.
Indeed, the world has changed a lot in the past 100 years. In 1918, much of the world was embroiled in the first World War. 1918 was also the year the influenza pandemic began to rage, ultimately claiming somewhere between <a href="https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/">20-40 million lives</a> — more than the war during which it took place. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/65th-congress/session-2/c65s2ch24.pdf">Congress established time zones</a>, including Daylight Saving Time, and the first stamp for <a href="https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/current/airmail-in-america/us-aerial-mail-service/the-1918-flights.html">U.S. airmail</a> was issued.
Looking back, it&#8217;s clear that we&#8217;ve made remarkable strides. Today, it&#8217;s rare to die from the flu, or from a slew of other communicable diseases that were once fatal (such as smallpox, which was <a href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/smallpox/en/">eradicated in 1977</a>). That&#8217;s mostly due to the advent of prevention tactics such as vaccines, and treatments like antibiotics.
The pace at which technology is evolving can feel dizzying at times, but it&#8217;s not likely to slow down anytime soon. Here are some of the ways we suspect the technology of today will shape the world in the century to come.
<h2>Quantum Computing Will Come Of Age</h2>
As the internet transformed society over the past few decades, <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-breakthrough-in-quantum-computing-is-set-to-transform-our-world/">quantum computing will</a> forever alter our view of the world and our place in it. It will give us the capacity to process more data about ourselves, the planet we live on, and the universe than has ever before been possible.
No one is totally sure yet what we&#8217;ll do with that data. We&#8217;ll likely find some answers to longstanding questions about physics and the universe, but it&#8217;s also likely there are answers to be found that we don&#8217;t even have the ability to fathom.
<h2>We&#8217;ll Hack Our Brains</h2>
We may not even have to wait a century to have our brains fully integrated with our devices, as research into brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is now firmly out of the realm of science fiction. Early prototypes have already <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/mind-controlled-glove-teaches-stroke-patients-to-move-again/">helped patients recover from strokes</a> and given amputees the <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-unveil-first-portable-bionic-hand-with-sense-touch/">ability to experience touch again</a> with the help of a sensor-covered prosthesis. If and when they become commonplace, the human-machine mashup could irrevocably <a href="https://futurism.com/brain-implant-human-evolution/">alter the course of human evolution</a>. Prototypes for <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-wants-meld-human-brain-computers/">non-invasive BCIs</a> in which electrode arrays pick up brain signals through the skull are already in development, and may serve as stepping stones toward the full-on &#8220;brain mesh&#8221; <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-outlined-how-hell-merge-the-human-brain-and-ai/">proposed by Elon Musk</a>.
<h2>We&#8217;ll Zoom Around Our Revamped Cities in Autonomous Cars</h2>
The world of 2118 will have improved infrastructure and better ways of getting around. Our automobiles are becoming smarter and greener; by 2118, there&#8217;s a good chance that electric cars will be able to drive themselves, along with <a href="https://futurism.com/autonomous-vehicles-could-change-lives-people-most-need/">those most in need</a>. The current consensus in the automotive industry is that fully autonomous vehicles are still <a href="https://futurism.com/gm-expert-calls-elon-musk-full-of-crap-for-saying-teslas-can-achieve-level-5-autonomy/">theoretical at best</a> (and may not be possible at all), but Tesla alone <a href="https://electrek.co/2017/04/29/elon-musk-tesla-plan-level-5-full-autonomous-driving/">aims to achieve</a> so-called <a href="https://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/15478/Driverless-Cars--The-Race-to-Level-5-Autonomous-Vehicles.aspx">level 5 autonomy</a> — a world in which our cars would drive us — by about 2019.
In some parts of the world, cities themselves are also becoming more sophisticated. In China, a <a href="https://futurism.com/chinas-first-solar-highway-complete-soon-charge-electric-cars/">solar-powered highway</a> could one day charge electric cars as they drive. Cities of the future could also fix themselves — engineers today are busy designing <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/511911/self-healing-concrete-uses-sunlight-to-fix-its-own-cracks/">self-healing concrete</a> structures and <a href="https://futurism.com/next-revolution-transport-roads-heal-themselves/">potholes that fill themselves</a>.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P3REKYtI9J8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>AI Will Change How Humans Work 
</h2>
In the decades to come, technology that&#8217;s changing <a href="https://futurism.com/walmart-is-testing-a-new-service-that-brings-groceries-straight-to-your-fridge/">our homes</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/a-robot-that-will-replace-your-smartphone-is-already-in-the-works/">our devices</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/autonomous-cars-driving-our-streets-welcome-2018/">our vehicles</a> is also going to change our lives in other major ways. Artificial intelligence (AI) will almost certainly <a href="https://futurism.com/mark-cuban-we-need-to-prepare-for-when-robots-replace-human-workers/">automate some jobs</a>, particularly those that rely on assembly lines or data collection. To offset the unemployment of human workers that would result from automation, some nations may adopt a universal basic income (UBI), a system which regularly pays citizens a small stipend with no requirement to work.
Indeed, some places have already <a href="https://futurism.com/images/universal-basic-income-ubi-pilot-programs-around-the-world/">begun small-scale experiments</a> with UBI, and a <a href="https://futurism.com/experts-universal-basic-income-boost-us-economy-staggering-2-5-trillion/">report from the Roosevelt Institute</a> in November 2017 predicted the U.S. could see a $2.48 trillion increase in the nation&#8217;s GDP within just eight years if it implemented UBI.
In some fields, such as medicine, robots probably won&#8217;t completely replace humans. The more likely scenario, some experts predict, is that AI will continue to augment the work experience for humans — even augmenting us physically. AI technology has already been paired with <a href="https://futurism.com/ford-pilots-new-exoskeleton-lessen-worker-fatigue/">wearable exoskeletons</a>, giving factory workers superhuman strength — perfect for those whose jobs require heavy lifting, which could increase their risk of job-related accident or injury.
<h2>3D Printing the World</h2>
3D printers are already being used in labs around the world and, increasingly, by consumers. While the printers may be costly up front, they are often seen as a long-term investment, since they can often print their own replacement parts.
<figure id="attachment_116978" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-116978 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/12/222-1200x654.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="654" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image Credit: <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/546262579">Getty Images</a></figcaption></figure>
As 3D printers become capable of printing everything from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/30/will-3d-printing-solve-the-organ-transplant-shortage">viable organs</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparnadutt/2017/06/14/this-startup-is-ready-with-3d-printing-robots-to-build-your-house-fast-and-cheap/#554cacb76e8e">to buildings</a>, we&#8217;ll likely find use for them in different aspects of our lives, as well as many different fields of industry.
<h2>Medicine Gets a High-Tech Upgrade</h2>
New procedures, aided by technological advances, are poised to transform medicine. Using a <a href="https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/precisionmedicine/definition">precision medicine</a> approach (which uses a patient&#8217;s genetic data, lifestyle, and environmental surroundings to inform treatment), scientists are developing treatments for cancer that are tailored to an individual patient&#8217;s genes.
Oncology is not the only area with potentially life-saving (or in some cases, life-giving) applications; the evolution of reproductive medicine has already begun right before our very eyes. In 2017, researchers grew lamb fetuses in what could be the first <a href="https://futurism.com/further-research-into-artificial-wombs-brings-us-closer-to-a-future-where-babies-grow-outside-the-body/">prototype of an artificial womb</a>, one woman gave birth after a <a href="https://futurism.com/first-baby-born-uterus-transplant/">uterus transplant for the first time</a>, and another to a baby that began as an <a href="https://futurism.com/meet-baby-emma-frozen-embryo-23-years/">embryo frozen 24 years ago</a>. The much-hyped gene editing technology CRISPR could mean that by 2118, many genetic diseases could become a thing of the past: scientists used <a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-just-used-gene-editing-to-remove-a-fatal-blood-disorder-from-human-embryos/">CRISPR to edit the gene</a> for a fatal blood disorder out of human embryos. Stem cells continue to prove useful for developing novel treatments, even for conditions that were once <a href="https://futurism.com/human-embryonic-stem-cells-used-fix-leading-cause-blindness/">believed to be untreatable</a>.
A century from now, major diseases such as cancer, immune and inflammatory disorders, and genetic conditions &#8220;will very likely be long gone by either prevention or effective therapy,&#8221; Phil Gold, a professor at the McGill University Clinical Research Centre, told Futurism.
But that&#8217;s not to say we&#8217;ll live in a future of perfect health — external factors, from global warming to infectious diseases and even warfare, could depress the life expectancy of people in 2118.
The good news is, diagnostic technology is also dramatically improving. Shu Chien, bioengineer and winner of National Medal of Science at the University of California, San Diego, <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sdut-what-will-life-be-100-years-now-2012feb12-story.html">told the </a><a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sdut-what-will-life-be-100-years-now-2012feb12-story.html">San Diego Tribune</a> that he predicted that scientists would invent <a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Medical_tricorder">Star Trek&#8216;s </a><a href="http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Medical_tricorder">famous medical tricorder</a>, capable of &#8220;non-invasive early detection of cancer,&#8221; in the next century. He&#8217;s not the first to make the prediction over the last few decades, but this time could be different: Science and technology have <a href="https://futurism.com/sciencenonfiction/medicaltricorder/">delivered on some other sci-fi tech</a>, such as <a href="https://futurism.com/super-materials-are-leading-us-to-a-new-age-in-science/">super-materials</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/sciencenonfiction/madeinspace/?src=landingpage">object replicators</a>.
<h2>The Planet Will Get a Lot Hotter</h2>
Climate change is already transforming our world. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014MS000403/full">One 2015 study</a> predicted that Greenland&#8217;s usually cold summers could become completely ice-free by 2050. Extreme weather events are <a href="https://futurism.com/this-hurricane-season-has-been-exceptionally-bad-and-its-not-going-to-get-any-better/">becoming more frequent and fatal</a>. The world&#8217;s sea levels are on track to rise <a href="http://time.com/4257194/sea-level-rise-climate-change-miami/">2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) by 2100,</a> which could displace up to 4 million people worldwide.
Earth is in the midst of a climate crisis that will not improve without deliberate and sustained action.
Over the past few decades, that progress has been slow. When it was developed in 2015, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/global-warming-paris-climate-change-accords-earth-day-2016-4">Paris Climate Agreement</a> aimed to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius). Recent <a href="https://futurism.com/we-can-still-meet-ambitious-1-5c-paris-climate-target/">research from the University College of London</a> revealed that we could have a 66 percent chance of hitting the 1.5-degree C target in 2100 — but we&#8217;d need to limit our carbon pollution to 240 billion tons to pull it off. Hopefully we will be able to quit our carbon habit over a longer period of time instead of making drastic cuts immediately, which would not be an easy feat to achieve in either the technical or political sense.
In the U.S., one of the biggest carbon contributors in the world, some fear we&#8217;re not doing our part. In June, President Trump <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-trump-just-withdrew-the-u-s-from-the-paris-climate-agreement/">withdrew the United States</a> from the Paris Climate Agreement. In an <a href="https://futurism.com/writing-we-can-stop-climate-change-ourselves-and-this-is-how/">interview with Futurism</a> last year, Al Gore said the Trump administration&#8217;s environmental policies are &#8220;reckless and indefensible.&#8221;
But he is not devoid of hope. Gore told Futurism that he believes in the strength of the grassroots movement toward a more sustainable future, and that &#8220;we can and will win&#8221; the fight if we stay committed to the cause.
If humanity wants to remain on Earth, it&#8217;s a cause worth fighting for. We are beyond the point of preventing it from happening, but we can take steps to slow it down.
<h2>Humans Will Explore Our Solar System and Beyond</h2>
Although we&#8217;ve made monumental progress since 1918, we are still endlessly fascinated (and vaguely terrified) by the prospect of what might exist in space. Over the next century, perhaps nothing will thrill, challenge, and transform humanity more than the advances we make in space exploration.
Big-idea people, from Elon Musk to Donald Trump, are loudly planning to send humans to Mars and beyond, potentially setting up colonies on the Red Planet in the next century. One hundred years is not a long time to prepare for such a move, however, especially when we&#8217;re still not that sure what our living situation would be on Mars. While terraforming may <a href="https://futurism.com/images/terraforming-mars-practical-guide/">allow us to adapt the planet</a> to better suit our needs, we still have to get there first.
First, we&#8217;ll catch a better glimpse of distant celestial bodies through increasingly powerful <a href="https://futurism.com/ready-largest-picture-universe-taken/?src=featured">infrared telescopes</a> here on Earth. As space travel becomes more affordable (and even <a href="https://futurism.com/bezos-company-blue-origin-might-flying-people-space-2018/">a tourist destination</a>), we&#8217;ll be able to use what we see from down here on Earth to traverse the universe. The biggest question is, what — or who — might we meet when we do?
&#8220;By the year 2118, extraterrestrial life won&#8217;t be news but historical fact,&#8221; Jaymie Matthews, astrophysicist and professor at the University of British Columbia, told Futurism. &#8220;What&#8217;s harder to predict is how humanity will respond, and adapt, to knowing we are not alone in the Universe. Will it make us humbler? (&#8220;We are one of many.&#8221;) More arrogant? (&#8220;We are the peak of evolution in the Galaxy.&#8221;) More fearful? (&#8220;Microbes are just the tip of the alien iceberg. And Earth is the Titanic!&#8221;) Or will it help us to better understand and appreciate our own origins?&#8221;

What's cutting-edge today will be old news in a century.

Aliens, autonomous cars, and AI: This is the world of 2118

Road Intersection at Night

From brain-computer interfaces to rising seas, the lives of humans living a century from now might look a lot different than ours do today.

/Brain Computer Interface

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This Crazy Gadget Helps You “Talk” To Your Computer Without Words

Sci-Fi Visions

Aliens, Autonomous Cars, and AI: This Is the World of 2118

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