Of Minds and Machines
After reading about Tan Le, the co-founder of Emotiv, and her vision of a world in which machines respond to our mental commands using implanted sensors ["Reality Bites," December 2008], I couldn't help thinking that this is the same kind of hype Dean Kamen engaged in when he predicted that entire cities would one day be built around the Segway. I'm sure there are legitimate uses for the technology Emotiv is developing, especially for the disabled. But I don't want to live in a Dickian nightmare in which my stereo knows when I'm feeling blue and movies know when I'm bored, or in which I need a sensor implanted in my scalp in order to open a door. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for my flying car.
Marc Librescu
Irvine, California
I found it interesting and a bit ironic that your December issue included a feature on Tan Le's brain-wave-reading headset and, only nine pages later, a story on Entrepreneur of the Year Alison Schuback ["What Alison Schuback Wants"], whose brain injury has left her physically disabled. Perhaps these two entrepreneurs can come together to develop an application for this new technology that's more meaningful than revolutionizing the video game world. For one thing, how about helping the mobility impaired?
