samlynnevans

That would be a fantastic application, however it would differ slightly in that it would not be a BCI (as in a traditional brain computer interface), but a device within the brain that impeded certain signals being sent to motor neurons that it detected were Parkinsonian. This would involve directly manipulating the output of the brain to the body itself, and require some serious bio-mechanical hardware!

Cheers!

Yes that's the big question, and I mention that in the article. Let's say for a moment that we can't achieve 100% accuracy, well one parallel to this situation would be autocorrect on our phones; it often corrects you when you didn't want it to or misinterprets your meaning. Yet we still use it as there is net gain in terms of convenience. If a BCI could instantly put your thought on to paper, and left you solely with a few typos to mop up, I think we'd all be willing to compromise.

Haha, that's a fantastic point! And in order to get anywhere closer to making such differentiations, surface EEG S (used for the results into his article) would surely not suffice. The technology and results we are collecting currently are just scratching the surface, though I'd suspect if a BCI was capable of detecting intent of such complexity as the situation you described, it would also probably have the capacity to know whether it was something you planned to act on or not.

Great points. Thomas reardon (CTRL-labs founder) says the same in a talk you can see on YouTube (definitely check it out). I share your doubts, and wonder exactly how neuroplastic we are. Perhaps we are simply built to operate in a certain way, and solely tapping in to our nerves responsible for output won't necessarily allow us to output in hugely different ways. Even if possible, it may not be so simple,and instead becoming a digital octopus may be like having to learn the piano, requiring years of practice!