1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Other than a very vocal minority, most people agree that a mouse and keyboard 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,200 is the superior way to play games. But what if you're unable to use a mouse and keyboard? 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,520 Well, there are many accessibility-focused products out there, 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,160 like Microsoft's Adaptive Controller. But what if you're unable to use even those? 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,520 Well, you could always just control the computer 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,280 using your mind. But hold your horses, X-Men fans. 7 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:29,360 No one's going full Professor X anytime soon. But the future is looking bright 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,400 and we have BCIs or Brain Computer Interfaces to thank. 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,440 And of course, yes, our body is sort of already 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:44,360 a brain-to-computer interface. But the problem is that our fleshy meat bags 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:50,120 can be somewhat unreliable. If someone doesn't have full control of their arms or legs, 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:55,720 using a computer can be very difficult, more so if you also have difficulty speaking. 13 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:01,880 So that's why the work that scientists are doing on building hardware to allow people with physical impairments 14 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:06,880 to control computer devices with their minds is so important. 15 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,640 But how on earth does that work? Well, here's the thing. 16 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,640 The human brain already communicates with the body 17 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,680 via nerve impulses, which are electrical impulses 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:22,080 that travel all throughout your body so that your hands can crack open a can of Mountain Dew 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,480 to quench your thirst during a late night frag sash 20 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:30,680 or whatever else it is that you do in your spare time. These electrical impulses can be measured 21 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,000 by numerous different types of specialized technology, 22 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,440 but the most common due to its low cost and ease of use 23 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,080 is electroencephalography or EEG. 24 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:45,360 Now EEG uses multiple tiny electrodes placed on your scalp 25 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,720 to measure the small amount of voltage that your neurons output. 26 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:54,400 These readings are unique to the parts of your brain that are activated during a given task. 27 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,960 So let's say that you're speaking. That uses different parts of the brain 28 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,520 than visualizing an image or moving a body part or reading. 29 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,040 These thoughts and actions have unique activity signatures 30 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,280 that can be identified by the EEG. So with a little bit of help 31 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:17,400 from our good friend, machine learning, we can train a computer to recognize a particular signature 32 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,920 and then have it correspond to a specific function on a device. 33 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:26,560 A great example of this was an early BCI called the P300 Speller, 34 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,160 which allowed patients to type messages using their minds 35 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:35,800 so they could better communicate with others. It worked by flashing the rows and columns 36 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,400 of a matrix of letters while the user focused on the letter they wanted to type. 37 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:46,240 When the letter the user wanted to type flashed, a unique pattern of brain activity called the P300, 38 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,920 hence the name, occurred, which would then be detected by the EEG, 39 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:55,640 prompting the computer to type the letter. Nowadays, those very same concepts are being used 40 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,880 to do things as complex as flying drones 41 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:03,960 or controlling prosthetic limbs, but the really exciting stuff is yet to come. 42 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:08,200 I mean, imagine being able to access information on the internet with just a thought, 43 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:12,160 no more shouting, hey, G-O-O-G-L-E, 44 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:15,720 only to have your phone or your Google Home ignore you. 45 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,680 Instead, the information could be at your brain tips 46 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,960 instead of your fingertips. Or imagine being able to write out your thoughts 47 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:31,320 exactly the way that you envision them on the page or even create images from ideas that you have in your head 48 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:36,360 without ever needing to draw them. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. 49 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,400 Tech entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk has even taken notice of BCIs 50 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,680 and has founded a company called Neuralink with the goal of augmenting human intelligence 51 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,280 with machines so that humans don't become completely obsolete 52 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:53,960 in the face of the artificial intelligence future. Wow, Mr. Musk, that sounds great. 53 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,680 He wants to use a technology called Neuralace that would actually wrap around the brain 54 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,720 and allow it to send and receive data from a computer. 55 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,400 Now, obviously something like that is a long way 56 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:11,040 from hitting the mass market, but it may not also be as far away as you might think. 57 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,880 There are already commercial products on the market that you, yes you, can purchase. 58 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,800 Companies like NeuroSky have released some relatively cheap BCI products 59 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:24,240 that you can use to manipulate apps on your phone or your tablet, and they also manufactured 60 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,280 a popular Star Wars force trainer toy 61 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:30,280 that allows you to be able to approximate using the force 62 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:34,360 without any pesky midichlorians. There's also the Emotive Epoch, 63 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,400 a more prosumer grade option that can track your brain with even morphinus, 64 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,760 and that one's been used in the drone races that we mentioned earlier. 65 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,800 There's finally a mind-controllable VR game and development right now being created 66 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,120 by the company NeuroBull, and it actually uses the P300 signature 67 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,920 just like the old spelling machine. Oh, P300s, they grow up so fast. 68 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:59,280 So while brain-computer interface technology is still in its infancy, 69 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:04,680 this could be the next massive paradigm shift in how we interact with technology and each other. 70 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:09,240 Or with that said, it could also just be another hyped up disappointment like Fallout 76. 71 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,600 So thanks for watching, guys. 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