Brain is one of the last frontiers standing. Only recently scientists have the technology to begin recording and documenting brain activity accurately. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a field that has great to offer in mankind if treated with caution. In my opinion there are many implications involving the ability to “read” and interpret brainwaves. We humans have many thoughts but not all of them will become actions. We must respect and protect our final private place, our brain.
This may sound like science fiction but the tools already exist to monitor and interpret brain activity. As stated by Alois Schlogl and Clemens Brunner in their article at October 2008 issue of Computer magazine, BCI’s purpose is to identify the user’s intention by analyzing only brain activity. In the article is presented the BIOSIG library which is a free and open source library of biomedical processing tools.
Recent research has revealed that Brain wave patterns can predict blunders. Neuroscientist Ole Jensen, Ali Mazaheri and colleagues Institute at the University of California, Davis, in collaboration with the Donders Institute in the Netherlands, has found a distinct electric signature in the brain which predicts that an error is about to be made.
By analyzing the recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) data, the research team found that about a second an error were committed, brain waves in two regions were stronger than when the subjects correctly refrained from hitting the button. In the back of the head (the occipital region), alpha wave activity was about 25 percent stronger, and in the middle region, the sensorimotor cortex, there was a corresponding increase in the brain’s mu wave activity.
“The alpha and mu rhythms are what happen when the brain runs on idle,” Mazaheri explained. “Say you’re sitting in a room and you close your eyes. That causes a huge alpha rhythm to rev up in the back of your head. But the second you open your eyes, it drops dramatically, because now you’re looking at things and your neurons have visual input to process.”
Wireless EKG can help identify errors before they happen. If the technology is limited on these areas then it is used for something serving the common good. If the technology is used to monitor brain activity and spot “deviant” activity then we are not far from a thought police as described by George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In my opinion is in our hands to produce a manifest that will clearly state that Computer professionals and Software engineers should not consent into the use of this technology in general population but only on specific beneficial situations. (Air traffic control)