Computers will soon read your mind

Almost a century has passed since the psychiatrist Hans Berger performed the first electroencephalography, providing a glimpse into the electrical nature of the human brain. EEG readings have helped protect fewer people from diseases ranging from epilepsy and sleep disorders to head injuries and brain tumors. Technology has come a long way since then, and artificial intelligence may soon revolutionize brain technology with advances in the treatment of ALS, stroke and other conditions. As a teenager in a coaching wrestling program, after watching a neurosurgeon implant electrodes deep into the brain of a Parkinson's patient whose tremors prevented him from holding a pen or drinking from a cup, I decided to study the brain. to study The surgeon implanted the electrode — designed to deliver the right amount of electricity to the exact part of the brain responsible for the tremors — and woke the patient with his skull still open to adjust the implant's settings. A few turns of the screen and the shaking stopped. His tremors were cured. While the discovery of EEG signals was revolutionary, they can be noisy and difficult to interpret, requiring expensive equipment and controlled environments. With recent advances in sensor materials, we're getting closer to the point where brain signals can be read throughout the day with convenient and discreet wearables like the Fitbit or Apple Watch that measure our heart rate. Advances in computing and artificial intelligence mean we can interpret these brain signals in real time. These facilities include think-to-speech and think-to-move assistive technology for ALS or paralysis patients and customized and accelerated recovery protocols for those suffering from stroke, post-traumatic stress disorder and concussion. Brain-computer interfaces can also help personalize educational and professional training protocols to fit the learner's cognitive and memory processes, eliminate the need for usernames and passwords with a "brain ID," and provide you or a mental health professional who are able to monitor it, let Your emotional state during the day I was part of a team trying to create a brain-computer interface for astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who suffers from ALS. The eye-tracking and cheek-clicking method Hawking invented relied on a level of muscle control that, given his condition, could not be taken for granted. As he put it, "I participated in this project to help research, encourage investment in this field, and most importantly, to create hope for the future for people with ALS and other neurological diseases." He died in 2018. Today, implant-based systems are increasingly powerful and non-invasive, and wearable devices are also rapidly improving. Many of us in this field believe that we are approaching a tipping point where countless people will see the fruits of decades of research. The stakes are high. Although every new technology brings both promise and risk, few are relevant to who we are. 

Mr. Furman is the founder and CEO of Arctop, which makes brain decoding software