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Are there really that many people willing to have electrodes implanted in their brain just to... type on their phone!?

solarkraft 8y ago
Honestly, for a few thousand Euros, if it worked really well (and was a well supported product software wise, with open APIs) ... I might do it - And I do think that while it wouldn't be everyone, significantly many people willing to do it could be found.
- notahacker 8y ago
  Only on Hacker News could people's main concern about whether to have invasive surgery to put electrodes on the surface of the speech centres of the brain be ensuring the APIs of the software it transmits messages to are open!
Dylan16807 8y ago
Not right now, but imagine if the level of invasiveness/danger was on the same level as a birth control implant, or botox, or lasik. I've had surgery to remove drainage tubes from my eardrums just because they were being inconvenient. I'd rather put up with that in exchange for being able to do 150wpm hands-free.
- stubish 8y ago
  What are you going to do with your hands while you are concentrating on your writing? They are going to be dangling there, useless for nothing except reflex actions like picking your nose or driving your car (!). I already have attached devices that let me enter text faster than I can think it. I think the tech only gets interesting for the handy-capable when it goes beyond words, capturing images or sounds as you imagine them, and that is a long way of.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    I might be holding my phone, I might just not be near a keyboard, I might be controlling a video game and use it for extra input... And while I can type sentences pretty fast, sometimes I get bogged down with things like code and entering special characters and being able to subvocalize a single syllable to activate macros would be pretty nice. (Yes I know you could do that without a brain interface, but the point is that hands are limited.) Edit: why does this comment get a downvote?
    - stubish 8y ago
      These use cases are all great for speech recognition, which is decades ahead of brain interfaces and less invasive (and just as quiet if you want by sub-vocalizing into a throat mike). Again, not particularly interesting to most of us but very interesting to people with various disabilities.
OkGoDoIt 8y ago
I'm looking forward to the day that a technology like this is safe or simple enough for widespread commercial use. I would be concerned about the safety of brain surgery, but lots of people get lasik which uses lasers to cut your eyes, which in my head is much scarier. Hopefully someday this could be a fairly routine procedure.
umeshunni 8y ago
If this was consumer-grade technology, you wouldn't need to type on your phone, you could simply communicate with others directly like telepathy.

Honestly, for a few thousand Euros, if it worked really well (and was a well supported product software wise, with open APIs) ... I might do it - And I do think that while it wouldn't be everyone, significantly many people willing to do it could be found.

notahacker 8y ago
Only on Hacker News could people's main concern about whether to have invasive surgery to put electrodes on the surface of the speech centres of the brain be ensuring the APIs of the software it transmits messages to are open!

Dylan16807 8y ago

Not right now, but imagine if the level of invasiveness/danger was on the same level as a birth control implant, or botox, or lasik. I've had surgery to remove drainage tubes from my eardrums just because they were being inconvenient. I'd rather put up with that in exchange for being able to do 150wpm hands-free.

stubish 8y ago
What are you going to do with your hands while you are concentrating on your writing? They are going to be dangling there, useless for nothing except reflex actions like picking your nose or driving your car (!). I already have attached devices that let me enter text faster than I can think it. I think the tech only gets interesting for the handy-capable when it goes beyond words, capturing images or sounds as you imagine them, and that is a long way of.
- Dylan16807 8y ago
  I might be holding my phone, I might just not be near a keyboard, I might be controlling a video game and use it for extra input... And while I can type sentences pretty fast, sometimes I get bogged down with things like code and entering special characters and being able to subvocalize a single syllable to activate macros would be pretty nice. (Yes I know you could do that without a brain interface, but the point is that hands are limited.) Edit: why does this comment get a downvote?
  - stubish 8y ago
    These use cases are all great for speech recognition, which is decades ahead of brain interfaces and less invasive (and just as quiet if you want by sub-vocalizing into a throat mike). Again, not particularly interesting to most of us but very interesting to people with various disabilities.

OkGoDoIt 8y ago

I'm looking forward to the day that a technology like this is safe or simple enough for widespread commercial use. I would be concerned about the safety of brain surgery, but lots of people get lasik which uses lasers to cut your eyes, which in my head is much scarier. Hopefully someday this could be a fairly routine procedure.

umeshunni 8y ago

If this was consumer-grade technology, you wouldn't need to type on your phone, you could simply communicate with others directly like telepathy.