Alphaverse.com

She’s kinda hot isn’t she…. but anyhow, this is the forthcoming revolution I’ve been waiting for, basically from the very moment I read David Deutsch’s ‘The Fabric of Reality’. This is where the computational world and physics come together and transcend each other. This might just as well be the future of humanity (albeit a far one and not necessairly a good one). Put aside some quite obvious applications to combat RSI and increase productivity on the workplace, and basically in all areas where interaction with the computer is needed, the implications of this technology can go deeper, much deeper!

With some years of refinement, and the help of some more of these original thinkers, this might just be a push in the right direction to create virtual reality indistinquishable from the real world… But nonetheless, with this technology we finally might be closer to what David Deutsch called a ‘virtual reality generator’, albeit with astronomous degrees of inaccuracy, but still. The very fact that ‘ideas’ can be visualized by a phisical computing machine is not less then a recipe for revolutions in neuroscience and philosophy, and will hopefully also bring some in physics as well! Damn, I haven’t been this excited since I saw the 3D visual interface in combination with the multi-touch technology from Johnny Lee.  Johnny Lee – Wii Remote Hacks

What is generally called  a ‘Universal Turing Machine’ still would require infinite memory but what David Deutsch calles ‘perfect virtual reality redering’- device comes close to where this can be heading to.

I guess that Alan Turing will not yet stand up from his grave to shake their hands saying “This is what I meant with a Universal Computing Machine’ but he will if this continues in the right direction, provided the human kind doesn’t exterminate itself from existance, which is, hoewever, still a very plausable theory…

So, thou brothern and sistern, let’s cut the crap and get to more the neuro-headset device in question; here are some excerpts out of a BBC News article from 2008:

“A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain will be on sale later this year! (the article dates from 20 February 2008)

“It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer,” said Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv.

“It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively,” she added. Did I mention she talks very appealing….

The brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which emit an electrical impulse when interacting. The headset implements a technology known as non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity.

Ms Le said: “Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we’ve created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically.”

Headsets which read neural activity are not new, but Ms Le said the Epoc was the first consumer device that can be used for gaming.

“This is the first headset that doesn’t require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp,” she said. “It also doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars.”

The use of Electroencephalography in medical practice dates back almost 100 years but it is only since the 1970s that the procedure has been used to explore brain computer interfaces.

The Epoc technology can be used to give authentic facial expressions to avatars of gamers in virtual worlds. For example, if the player smiles, winks, grimaces the headset can detect the expression and translate it to the avatar in game.

It can also read emotions of players and translate those to the virtual world. “The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games,” said Ms Le.

“If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous,” she explained.

The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer.

The Emotiv said the headset could detects more than 30 different expressions, emotions and actions. The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games

They include excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axis).

Games

Gamers are able to move objects in the world just by thinking of the action.  Watch video of “Brainwaves controlling a video game”

Emotiv is working with IBM to develop the technology for uses in “strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds.

Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence said brain computer interfaces, like the Epoc headset were an important component of the future 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication.

• Sensors respond to the electrical impulses behind different thoughts; enabling a user’s brain to influence gameplay directly
• Conscious thoughts, facial expressions, and non-conscious emotions can all be detected
• Gyroscope enables a cursor or camera to be controlled by head movements
• The headset uses wi-fi to connect to a computer