Who is the most famous wish granter in the history of reality and lore put together? Arguably Alladin’s genie. Even to wish fulfilling genies or djinns, one needs to verbalise the wish articulately. Whatever wish is uttered will be considered as the command. Sort of like gen AI. That you go! Another fragment of fiction has turned into reality. But our scientists and technologists have taken things a step further than that. To include people who may be speech impaired and disabled in other ways. BCI or Brain-Computer Interface is a technology that allows us to give a computer a command just by thinking it. This has existed for decades but has now reached the sophistication for Elon Musk to invest in it. Nolan Arbaugh, the recipient of the first brain chip implant by Neuralink, co-founded by Elon Musk, says as he plays music on the computer using just his thought to control it, “I think it(the technology) is amazing and I think it’s’ not as far away as people think”.
One of the key challenges concerning the use of the technology was that it required a chip inserted in the brain which meant an invasive brain surgery. Synchron, a company dedicated to building this technology, led by Dr. Tom Oxley changed that. They created Stentrode – a form of brain-computer interface that can travel through the patient’s blood vessels to reach the right spot in the brain for non-invasive chip-implantation.
There are many videos on youtube demonstrating early trialists using the technology successfully. They seem to just be staring at the screen and making things happen. This technology holds a lot of life altering possibilities for those with paralysis, blindness or speech impairment. Learning to use the technology is “a little like learning to ride a bike”, say Dr. Oxley. But also for all of humanity.
Those of us who were grown adults in the early early 90s will remember that the internet was such a technology back then. Something a few had started using and was very slow. Required a lot of hardware to be installed to be used. And it was also expensive. Brain-Computer Interface holds the potential to grow in the same way the internet did, in similar timelines.
Even the fully able often struggle with articulating their thoughts and feelings. Their life will get a lot less complicated. We will no longer be able to say, “ I can’t read your mind, can I?” Because the answer to that would be, “ you most certainly can, now!”. Imagine client feedback on creative designs will be easier to understand. Alignment on briefs may become a lot quicker. I remember reading comic books as a kid that featured aliens visiting earth who could communicate with each other through thought. We are yet to come across aliens but we have nearly almost turned into the aliens we couldn’t find.
Jokes aside, this technology promises to improve communications. Which could mean minimised miscommunications and greater transparency. All we need is to communicate better with one another to solve half the world’s problems – the half that has good intent. I recall the phenomenal airtel ‘no boundaries’ campaign. It elevated the mundane concept of ‘communications’ to thought-provoking levels by bringing out the unsung power of talking to one another. The ad continues to be moving even today. Now, I am imagining a campaign for a technology like Brain-Computer Interface in the context of understanding each other better – it is giving me goosebumps.
Here’s hoping for a world where we all understand each other better despite our differences. As they say there is nothing that a conversation over a cup of tea and a chip in the brain can’t fix.
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