I am also a PhD student working on brain-computer interfaces. I agree that this particular EEG system (it looks like an Emotiv EPOC) is fundamentally limited i

I am also a PhD student working on brain-computer interfaces. I agree that this particular EEG system (it looks like an Emotiv EPOC) is fundamentally limited in bandwidth and quality of electrodes, and so I am surprised to see this level of control from it. I would argue that other, higher quality EEG recording systems are much more practical than cortical implants for the foreseeable future, especially from the perspective of we hackers. Check out the Wolpaw EEG lab. Good EEG brain-computer interfaces can, surprisingly, have comparable bitrates cortical implants - without having to crack the skull open. Here is a video of cursor movement from a few years ago, at around 8bps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJQ0HqThU4c http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJQ0HqThU4c