Using the Mind to Control

In the movie, The Matrix, the machines allowed humans to live in a simulated world where people controlled their actions using their mind. Well, this is still a far away prospect, but currently a simpler and more beneficial use of such technology has emerged. Control technology is currently under research to help paralyzed people move, or at least interact with others. This is done by placing a chip or an interface within the brain to pick up inter-neuron signals. These signals are then passed on to a computer which does the processing and amplification and gets trained as to what exactly the person is thinking of doing.

So far the technology has been promising. But researchers are still worried about the long term effects of the chip in the mind of the test subject. At the end of the day, I think that as long as the person is willing to take the risk, and the results are good, the research should be conducted. This technology could prove very useful in the curing thousands of diabled people in the very near future, and it would be a shame if research into it were stopped or slowed.

Matthew Nagle is beating me at Pong. "O, baby," he mutters. The creases in his forehead deepen as he moves the onscreen paddle to block the ball. "C'mon - here you go," he says, sending a wicked angle shot ricocheting down the screen and past my defense. "Yes!" he says in triumph, his voice hoarse from the ventilator that helps him breathe. "Let's go again, dude."

The remarkable thing about Nagle is not that he plays skillfully; it's that he can play at all. Nagle is a C4 quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down in a stabbing three years ago. He pilots a motorized wheelchair by blowing into a sip-and-puff tube, his pale hands strapped to the armrests. He's playing Pong with his thoughts alone.

A bundle of wires as thick as a coaxial cable runs from a connector in Nagle's scalp to a refrigerator-sized cart of electronic gear. Inside his brain, a tiny array of microelectrodes picks up the cacophony of his neural activity; processors recognize the patterns associated with arm motions and translate them into signals that control the Pong paddle, draw with a cursor, operate a TV, and open email.

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