Devices that read human thought now possible, study says

New Orleans -- Less than a month after a widely heralded experiment showed how thought-reading implants can work in monkeys, scientists presented new findings Sunday suggesting such machines could work in people, too.

Dr. Miguel A.L. Nicolelis of Duke University said previously unreported human experiments demonstrated success with one type of a so-called brain computer interface, or BCI.

He and others discussed their latest findings Sunday at the annual meeting in New Orleans of the Society for Neuroscience, the world's largest gathering of brain researchers. About 28,000 people are attending the weeklong event.

Much of the attention on Sunday was given to technology designed to overcome paralyzing injuries or illnesses afflicting the nervous system. About 11,000 new cases arise every year, adding to a total estimated at more than 200,000.

www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2003/11/10/MNGK82U4MV1.DTL&type=science

Well, this is interesting. The techonology definately has a huge possiblity to help disabled people. But could it be used for some other not so noble purposes, too?

Another step towards the cybernetic nightmare.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

I am a little fuzzy on this, but a couple years ago i remeber reading in Popular Science that there was a computer capable of typing for a person that couldnt move. I remember it was so slpw it could only do one letter at a time and the person had to be trained somehow to learn how to work with the machine. I will try to find a link of some sort, although this was quite a while ago.