America is fairly densly populated by people whose primary concern with the stuff they buy (and buy and buy) is coolness and convenience, also known as the ability to get the most out of a product with the least amount of effort. Why strain your tired muscles reaching to turn on a light or open the fridge when you can just wish it? I am pitching this as a concept--please don't spam this post with exasperated feedback about how our current technology renders this impossible. We are making tremedous advances in cybernetic technology. It might be tough to get used to at first, but it is so cool that anyone will grin and bear it for the sake of having a supertech house. We could implant thousands of electrosensors in a human brain, over the region where the thought process involved in commanding your body to reach oer and pick up a cup of coffee is located. When someone wants a drawer to open they would merely have to think of the servos in the drawer's opening mechanism as a seperate limb and activate that limb to open any way they want. With very young children, this could easily be applied. Tell me what you think, lunch hour's over.-- eupoth, May 23 2005 Thought provoking motion http://www.nature.c...pf/040705-7_pf.htmlMonkey think, computer do. [csea, May 23 2005] So, what's the invention? "I want something to happen so I think about it and it happens," doesn't cut it, in my opinion.
Also, addressing your rantish tone, I may be mistaken but I believe that the US has very high productivity and that, measured against most other countries, workers in the US put in far more hours working. No siestas, either ;-)-- bristolz, May 23 2005 Heh.-- bristolz, May 23 2005 It would be convenient to implement with Americans. We've already got the chips inserted in our cerebral cortices . . . just a matter of interface issues.-- contracts, May 23 2005 Lunch hour? What's that?-- justaguy, May 23 2005 I like the part about [please don't spam this post with] any conflicting opinions.
But then again, I'm a all-annos-welcomed-here kind of guy, so what do I know?-- normzone, May 23 2005 Probably already possible, see [link].-- csea, May 23 2005 There's a thin line between a concept and a fantasy.-- hidden truths, May 23 2005 And a very fuzzy one between fantasy and bakedness.
"Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow" - TS Eliot-- csea, May 23 2005 Well quoted, [csea].-- gnomethang, May 23 2005 //America is fairly densly populated// Oh, where do we begin on this one?-- Basepair, May 23 2005 Sorry all. I am American, so I didn't really feel like I was doing anything wrong by spewing out the anti-america trash. Guess I was wrong. Please, though, bring yourselves out of your little bubbles and realize that we are indeed the most lazy country in the world. Can you think of a lazier one? We mindlessly consume tons and tons and hudreds of thousands of tons of junk food all the time because we can't bring ourselves to break out the old Revereware and make some stew or something. I have seen hundreds of people throughout my life in NYC flag down a cab and while stepping inside announce that they want to go four and a half blocks. Please be realistic. We whine about twelve hour shifts that pay only 30k annually, but most people from south of the border will do anything for half that much money. I understand that there are indeed many people out there who do their share, but can you honestly say that you are proud of the amount of energy that we, as a nation, put into the things we do? Even if we love something deeply, we will often avoid it just because we are afraid of getting involved in the amount of effort it might entail.
Moving on, I would appreciate some feedback in relation to the concept of thought-controlled machines, instead of the "rantish" tone with which I negatively refer to myself and most of the other people in this nation. I am not referring to you folks; you seem to be an intelligent, informed bunch. I am merely saying that people with the energy to put work into making money or being happy will be able to pitch mind-controlled machines to the less-motivated people in the world, among others.
Furthermore, please don't forget, folks, that this is not an invention I set down and devised. It is a concept, and should be treated as such. I am merely wondering what possibilities might be facilitated by the developement of such a thing.
And in response to normzone's post, I was merely wishing that people not anno this post saying that it is an impossible idea given current technoloy. I was not rejecting all negative feedback. Understand that I simply wished to convey to all annotaters that this will be something that involves heavy research and development. Thanks for the posts, and you know everyone has their siestas sometimes))-- eupoth, May 23 2005 I can imagine that this concept encompasses a large number of inventions--some significant and some not--in order to achieve the seamless vision you're proposing but without any attempt on your part to describe how this works, or even how some sub-part of it works, it's likely to attract a negative response because it resembles magic.
You have so little strawman laid out that there's not much to discuss.
(I bristle at most generalizations and especially at your use of "we." It is only your opinion that the US is "lazy" and it certainly isn't mine. In fact, I can think of no nation that I can characterize as lazy and feel as though it's an honest call.)-- bristolz, May 24 2005 nothing to do with Big Brother then?-- po, May 24 2005 My ranting idiocy aside, I believe that soemone here has already posted a link to an article describing an experiment done with monkeys using mind-controlled cybernetic arms.
To summarize that article, using a series of implants placed carefully and surgically upon the upper-most region of the monkey's brain, the monkey was empowered to control a cybernetic limb, playing a game for which he was rewarded with a snack. Wehn the monkey's arms were bound, he seemed ot to notice and was still able to effectively move the arm to play the game. He was once again rewarded with a snack.
I am positive that it would be a rather small task for any open-menided human to adapt to the addition of an extra limb. The servos in their automatic doors and drawers, etc. would be like another limb to them. They could use the limb anywhere within wireless range. We could even have an extra strap-on limb for those busy workers who have more to do than they can handle. I am sure you have all seen movies where an overwhelmed mother complains that she has "only two hands". Why limit yourself like that?
They would be expensive indeed. However, they would be a novelty and would definitely bequite useful to some people.-- eupoth, May 24 2005 //I am positive that it would be a rather small task for any open-menided human to adapt to the addition of an extra limb//. I am not sure that I am 'open-menided' enough. Any links to the claim in the anno before this one?. As and Wehn. old boy.-- gnomethang, May 24 2005 Google "neural prosthetics".-- csea, May 25 2005 random, halfbakery