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BBC develops mind-controlled TV
The BBC sees potential in mind-controlled TV for improving accessibility and for developing a new type of user interface (Credit: BBC)
Mind-controlled prosthetics, drones and exoskeletons are all very forward-thinking, but what about a more mundane use for the technology? The BBC's "Mind Control TV" prototype hints at a future where couch potatoes need not even lift the remote. Users can open an app and select a program to watch.
The prototype has been developed by the BBC’s Digital division, which looks in part at how the organization can innovate by using new and emerging technologies. Head of business development for the division Cyrus Saihan explains that the research aims to give program makers, technologists and others an idea of how this technology might be used in the future.
Saihan says that the organization sees potential in the technology for improving accessibility, in particular for people with disabilities, and for developing a new type of user interface. Individuals suffering from locked-in syndrome, for example, could be given a better means of accessing digital and media services, whilst drivers could simply think of a particular radio station for it to come on in the car without having to take their hands off the steering wheel.
The prototype itself employs a low-cost electroencephalography (EEG) brainwave reading headset, the like of which we've featured recently with the Melomind and Muse brain-training apps. The headset measures electrical activity in the brain and allows an accompanying experimental app to use either "concentration" or "meditation" as a means of control.
A screenshot of the experimental app asking the user to "meditate" to open one of the programs
The app displays a "volume bar" of concentration on-screen and allows users to carry out actions once a certain level of concentration has been reached. App users are presented with five popular BBC shows, a different one of which is highlighted every 10 seconds. When the user wants to select the highlighted program, they have 10 seconds to concentrate and trigger the program to begin playing.
The first trial run saw 10 BBC staff members try out the app, with some having more success than others. Saihan says they all got the device to work, however. Although rudimentary, the prototype system provides proof-of-concept and will inform future investigation.
The video below provides an introduction to the Mind Control TV project.
Source: BBC
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/bbc-mind-controlled-tv/38101/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.