6 ms·

I got my EEG to run emacs commands a couple years ago. Long story short, the company I worked for was full of people with no faith or imagination -- automatons.

I got my EEG to run emacs commands a couple years ago. Long story short, the company I worked for was full of people with no faith or imagination -- automatons. Imagining the future and acting in faith is not easy. You'll be ostracised by your friends and collegues. It is the most frustrating feeling seeing someone else invent the thing you imagined a couple years ago. Too many time-burgelars and traffic lights in this world

DoreenMichele 8y ago
Yup. And I'm given hell for getting healthier because that's Verboten and crazy-talk. No clue how one gets past that nonsense.
- laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
  I quit a six figure job, and that was a tough decision, but paycheck or no, I look back on what would have been, and this month of unemployment is miles, and miles, and miles happier than the same amount of time that would have been spent in service to a machine of cognitive dissonance, cowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm. I spent a few weeks kicking myself, because I have to loot various sources of static savings accounts, to make ends meet, until they run dry, and I have no idea what happens after that. But I dug up some old email chains, and they had some videos of the recorded planning sessions, retrospectives, dailies, and conference calls, and it all came flooding back. With every fiber of my being, I know for sure that quitting was the right thing to do. No matter what kind of hell I catch for it. Die on your feet. Never serve on your knees.
  - mingee 8y ago
    A little cynical, but I enjoyed reading this lmao
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - piazz 8y ago
    cowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm Truly cinematic imagery, bravo
  - DoreenMichele 8y ago
    In my quest to get well, I walked away from a corporate job and slept in a tent for nearly six years. Rest assured, I've got the "die on your feet" part down pat. That in no way gives me a path forward for figuring out how to effectively communicate in a meaty way about health topics with knowledgeable people. Though, as others have noted: Wonderfully entertaining comment.
    - laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
      Well, honestly, I think the wall you're encountering might be the one that guards the powers vested in those who enjoy authority. So, to express awareness as a peer tampers with someone's will to power. Would that you place yourself at eye level with royalty, still choose to do so, knowing it be treason that criminals are broken upon the wheel for toying with? This is an abyss with no bottom, you must almost half-realize. I mean, somewhere in all this, the true cost behind any doctor's bill (above and beyond funding their mortgage and BMW) is malpractice. Someone catches bell's palsy after a chiropractic procedure, and before it resolves itself, BMW doc's former college roommate gets professionally ruined by an ambulance chaser. Nevermind he was a chiropractor, not even a real doctor, and flunked out because organic chem. This horror story fuels every bill for every surgery, and every insurance company is really just an endless phalanx of lawyers suing institutions as busy work, looking to extract every spare penny that didn't get blown on lost keys fobs for luxury sedans, as if it were spare time spent folding clothes at The Gap outlet. If your herbal tea cured your rickets, how can anyone replace your knees with titanium hinges? You didn't even take the MCAT.
      - DoreenMichele 8y ago
        Would that you place yourself at eye level with royalty, still choose to do so, knowing it be treason that criminals are broken upon the wheel for toying with? My sons tell me that, historically, the world couldn't afford to support prisoners long term in subsistence societies. So one thing they did: During war, they offered poisoners the chance to become landed nobility. All they had to do was be part of the first assault wave attacking a castle and survive the assault because the death rate for that first wave was ridiculously high. The world is dealing with crises our current models cannot solve. Preserving the current order to jealously guard their authority and wealth is heading towards a burned out, barren land, like the lands ruled by the hyenas in The Lion King. There will be nothing left to rule. They know that, it's why we have billionaire preppers with compounds in New Zealand and bug out bags to get them to their special plane in Nevada for a straight flight to NZ. They jealously guard a dystopian future and hope against hope that UBI will somehow keep the zombie hoards from their door while feeling in their bones that it won't and failing to come up with real solutions. Because god forbid anyone should listen to a woman. A poor person. A former homemaker. Obviously, she must be crazy. Let's go with that. PS I'm descended from German nobility, just a mere two generations removed. It wouldn't be that hard to clean up my public image and frame me as socially acceptable -- A story of a lost lamb returned to the fold or the prodigal son come home again.
tomcam 8y ago
I learned working at Microsoft that it's not enough to be ahead of things. You also have to be good at pushing your agenda (I was terrible at it while there). I've decided it's a little like running for political office. Popularity contest? Sure. But it also means that your ideas have to run a gauntlet. You have to defend and reshape them in sometimes-hostile circumstances. Not a bad thing, I now feel.
ridgeguy 8y ago
EEG to machine interface has a long history. Here's a brief article about a 1975 DARPA/SRI program that used EMG and EEG to identify words human subjects were thinking. [1] Computers were a CDC6400 and a LINC-8. The article has a link at the end to the original report (.doc download warning). [1] https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-early-brain-computer-interface-research/ https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-...
- reaperducer 8y ago
  Probably a better method than the Atari 2600 version, which gave game testers headaches, so it was cancelled. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink
  - exikyut 8y ago
    Apparently because of the shape of the headband and not any ill effects of the techniques the device used (just voltage analysis).
- jsjohnst 8y ago
  Here’s[0] a toy from the late 80s or early 90s that used an EEG like interface to let you control moving a foam ball around an obstacle course. You can see it over in Oakland at MADE. [0] https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/ https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/
antt 8y ago
1). That very cool. 2). There is a huge difference between a prototype that works with the inventor around and several industry experts babysitting it and a working mass market device. Did you ever put up your code?
mullikine 8y ago
Damn. So many hates. Well, very few people will be able to relate to this post I made. I hope I garnered some respect from those clone-humans for people who actually provide entropy to the world though. New information is important
- tjr225 8y ago
  I wouldn't be too concerned with what other people think. Be honest and move on. I read it, after all.
- laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
  Well, the unfortunate aspect of HN's ranking system, is that downvotes aren't actually an expression of hate, or even reproach. The reality is, that the motive for any given vote is that of a sort algorithm. Which, you may recognize as: Object.sort(function(a, b){ return (a - b); }); So, what people are really doing is moving things around, strictly with respect to the contents of the thread, as applicable to the conversation at hand. So, even if you are on topic, within some threshold, if you are not the most relevant response, but you're pinned to the top by default, people with the option to move you downward will do so. This is purely a function of rearrangement, in the minds of the downvoters, not unlike moving icons around on the desktop. But of course, for you, the icon in question, to be brushed aside like this, is most certainly an emotional event. Alas.
- anonytrary 8y ago
  Your holier-than-thou attitude probably put off people who read your comments.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  Oh, I got downvoted for replying sympathetically and I think mine was the first reply. I sincerely would be interested in discussion of how one gets past that. I don't know how that's done. I meant that. But it doesn't look like sincere interest in having a meaty discussion. It looks like low substance whining. On HN, if you don't know the right question to move forward, you can get ROFLstomped for opening your mouth at all. Sometimes, you find the right question by trying to talk about it anyway and accepting some downvotes in the process.
anonytrary 8y ago
People have been thinking about using EEG signals to control computers for decades. The problem with EEGs is that their bitrate is too low. The skull destroys a ton of high frequency information that prevents EEGs from relaying little more than an "up, down, left, right" level of complexity.
brennebeck 8y ago
Do you mean, essentially, running different commands/runbooks based on the wavelength readings? Am I understanding correctly?
comboy 8y ago
What hardware did you use as an inferface? How many different commands where you able to call and how long did it take to execute them? > It is the most frustrating feeling seeing someone else invent the thing you imagined a couple years ago Don't be. Even in much less connected world it was already obvious that inventions are based on what's already out there and are usually not all that unique. This one has documented research from before 1975.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

Yup. And I'm given hell for getting healthier because that's Verboten and crazy-talk. No clue how one gets past that nonsense.

laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
I quit a six figure job, and that was a tough decision, but paycheck or no, I look back on what would have been, and this month of unemployment is miles, and miles, and miles happier than the same amount of time that would have been spent in service to a machine of cognitive dissonance, cowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm. I spent a few weeks kicking myself, because I have to loot various sources of static savings accounts, to make ends meet, until they run dry, and I have no idea what happens after that. But I dug up some old email chains, and they had some videos of the recorded planning sessions, retrospectives, dailies, and conference calls, and it all came flooding back. With every fiber of my being, I know for sure that quitting was the right thing to do. No matter what kind of hell I catch for it. Die on your feet. Never serve on your knees.
- mingee 8y ago
  A little cynical, but I enjoyed reading this lmao
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- piazz 8y ago
  cowering at the feet of scrum master goons, boot-licking their rituals like a servile worm Truly cinematic imagery, bravo
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  In my quest to get well, I walked away from a corporate job and slept in a tent for nearly six years. Rest assured, I've got the "die on your feet" part down pat. That in no way gives me a path forward for figuring out how to effectively communicate in a meaty way about health topics with knowledgeable people. Though, as others have noted: Wonderfully entertaining comment.
  - laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
    Well, honestly, I think the wall you're encountering might be the one that guards the powers vested in those who enjoy authority. So, to express awareness as a peer tampers with someone's will to power. Would that you place yourself at eye level with royalty, still choose to do so, knowing it be treason that criminals are broken upon the wheel for toying with? This is an abyss with no bottom, you must almost half-realize. I mean, somewhere in all this, the true cost behind any doctor's bill (above and beyond funding their mortgage and BMW) is malpractice. Someone catches bell's palsy after a chiropractic procedure, and before it resolves itself, BMW doc's former college roommate gets professionally ruined by an ambulance chaser. Nevermind he was a chiropractor, not even a real doctor, and flunked out because organic chem. This horror story fuels every bill for every surgery, and every insurance company is really just an endless phalanx of lawyers suing institutions as busy work, looking to extract every spare penny that didn't get blown on lost keys fobs for luxury sedans, as if it were spare time spent folding clothes at The Gap outlet. If your herbal tea cured your rickets, how can anyone replace your knees with titanium hinges? You didn't even take the MCAT.
    - DoreenMichele 8y ago
      Would that you place yourself at eye level with royalty, still choose to do so, knowing it be treason that criminals are broken upon the wheel for toying with? My sons tell me that, historically, the world couldn't afford to support prisoners long term in subsistence societies. So one thing they did: During war, they offered poisoners the chance to become landed nobility. All they had to do was be part of the first assault wave attacking a castle and survive the assault because the death rate for that first wave was ridiculously high. The world is dealing with crises our current models cannot solve. Preserving the current order to jealously guard their authority and wealth is heading towards a burned out, barren land, like the lands ruled by the hyenas in The Lion King. There will be nothing left to rule. They know that, it's why we have billionaire preppers with compounds in New Zealand and bug out bags to get them to their special plane in Nevada for a straight flight to NZ. They jealously guard a dystopian future and hope against hope that UBI will somehow keep the zombie hoards from their door while feeling in their bones that it won't and failing to come up with real solutions. Because god forbid anyone should listen to a woman. A poor person. A former homemaker. Obviously, she must be crazy. Let's go with that. PS I'm descended from German nobility, just a mere two generations removed. It wouldn't be that hard to clean up my public image and frame me as socially acceptable -- A story of a lost lamb returned to the fold or the prodigal son come home again.

tomcam 8y ago

I learned working at Microsoft that it's not enough to be ahead of things. You also have to be good at pushing your agenda (I was terrible at it while there). I've decided it's a little like running for political office. Popularity contest? Sure. But it also means that your ideas have to run a gauntlet. You have to defend and reshape them in sometimes-hostile circumstances. Not a bad thing, I now feel.

ridgeguy 8y ago

EEG to machine interface has a long history. Here's a brief article about a 1975 DARPA/SRI program that used EMG and EEG to identify words human subjects were thinking. [1] Computers were a CDC6400 and a LINC-8. The article has a link at the end to the original report (.doc download warning). [1] https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-early-brain-computer-interface-research/ https://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/lawrence-pinneo-and-...

reaperducer 8y ago
Probably a better method than the Atari 2600 version, which gave game testers headaches, so it was cancelled. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Mindlink
- exikyut 8y ago
  Apparently because of the shape of the headband and not any ill effects of the techniques the device used (just voltage analysis).
jsjohnst 8y ago
Here’s[0] a toy from the late 80s or early 90s that used an EEG like interface to let you control moving a foam ball around an obstacle course. You can see it over in Oakland at MADE. [0] https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/ https://instagram.com/p/BZr6F0snJrG/

antt 8y ago

1). That very cool. 2). There is a huge difference between a prototype that works with the inventor around and several industry experts babysitting it and a working mass market device. Did you ever put up your code?

mullikine 8y ago

Damn. So many hates. Well, very few people will be able to relate to this post I made. I hope I garnered some respect from those clone-humans for people who actually provide entropy to the world though. New information is important

tjr225 8y ago
I wouldn't be too concerned with what other people think. Be honest and move on. I read it, after all.
laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
Well, the unfortunate aspect of HN's ranking system, is that downvotes aren't actually an expression of hate, or even reproach. The reality is, that the motive for any given vote is that of a sort algorithm. Which, you may recognize as: Object.sort(function(a, b){ return (a - b); }); So, what people are really doing is moving things around, strictly with respect to the contents of the thread, as applicable to the conversation at hand. So, even if you are on topic, within some threshold, if you are not the most relevant response, but you're pinned to the top by default, people with the option to move you downward will do so. This is purely a function of rearrangement, in the minds of the downvoters, not unlike moving icons around on the desktop. But of course, for you, the icon in question, to be brushed aside like this, is most certainly an emotional event. Alas.
anonytrary 8y ago
Your holier-than-thou attitude probably put off people who read your comments.
DoreenMichele 8y ago
Oh, I got downvoted for replying sympathetically and I think mine was the first reply. I sincerely would be interested in discussion of how one gets past that. I don't know how that's done. I meant that. But it doesn't look like sincere interest in having a meaty discussion. It looks like low substance whining. On HN, if you don't know the right question to move forward, you can get ROFLstomped for opening your mouth at all. Sometimes, you find the right question by trying to talk about it anyway and accepting some downvotes in the process.

anonytrary 8y ago

People have been thinking about using EEG signals to control computers for decades. The problem with EEGs is that their bitrate is too low. The skull destroys a ton of high frequency information that prevents EEGs from relaying little more than an "up, down, left, right" level of complexity.

brennebeck 8y ago

Do you mean, essentially, running different commands/runbooks based on the wavelength readings? Am I understanding correctly?

comboy 8y ago

What hardware did you use as an inferface? How many different commands where you able to call and how long did it take to execute them? > It is the most frustrating feeling seeing someone else invent the thing you imagined a couple years ago Don't be. Even in much less connected world it was already obvious that inventions are based on what's already out there and are usually not all that unique. This one has documented research from before 1975.