##CategoryRants
##CategoryComputers

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Probably around 10/13/2003, as that's the date on the news article referenced.

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["Akili"] takes his lunch break. "There was another one, too."

- http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994262

["Calin"] saw that on WikiPedia:CNN.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Ah."

["Calin"] says, "That's pretty cool..."

["Akili"] asks, "...But?"

["Calin"] says, "I'm more interested in driving around a WikiPedia:Mech, or having WikiPedia:Bionic wings than I am in helping [wiki:WikiPedia:Quadruplegic quadruplegic]s."

["Calin"] grins.

["Akili"] chuckles.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Hey, you could have four arms."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "All the better to WikiPedia:Boffer with."

A burning calm falls over the hot grass.

["Calin"] says, "Heck yeah."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "For that matter, you could be your own computer joystick."

["Calin"] nods.

["Calin"] whoas. "Can you imagine having a mind controlled keyboard? How fast do you think you could type then?"

["Calin"] says, "You'd still have to think the letters, but it would go much faster I'd think."

["Akili"] ponders. "That... could be very difficult."

["Calin"] says, "Yeah... hard to learn."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "We'd have to determine what part of the brain contains the thoughts we're about to speak."

["Calin"] says, "Nope."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Or at least, what part to tap into."

["Calin"] says, "We don't want it to work like speech recognition."

["Akili"] asks, "Oh... you mean having a mental keyboard?"

["Calin"] says, "I would want it to work like a keyboard."

["Calin"] says, "Yeah."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Hmm."

["Calin"] says, "So you have the thing record your mental activity while typing..."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Slow learning curve, but I could imagine that you could get pretty darned fast."

["Calin"] nods.

["Calin"] says, "Back in high school, in my typing class... I really felt that my fingers were a hinderance to my speed."

["Calin"] says, "They just wouldn't move any faster."

["Akili"] grins. "Well, of course my fingers are limiting. No matter how fast I type, I can't type as fast as I can speak."

["Calin"] says, "Well yeah, but that's cause you don't speak all the letters."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "But I have discovered that switching completely to a speech-to-text solution requires a lot of mental adjustment."

["Calin"] says, "As this [wiki:WikiPedia:MUD muck] shows though, it's not too far a jump to think in letters and keystrokes."

["Akili"] nods.

["Calin"] says, "I type fluently, without having to concentrate on the individual letters."

["Calin"] says, "And if the key was struck as soon as I told my fingers to do it.. rather than waiting till my finger actually pressed down on the key.."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I wonder if there's a limit to how many discrete signals can be picked up by one of those devices. Right now, it's fairly simple."

["Calin"] says, "Then I would have had three dots at the end of that sentence."

["Calin"] says, "If it can move an arm, it can move imaginary fingers on the keyboard."

["Calin"] says, "I would think."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I'm not sure. Our fingers are capable of making very fine movements, and those are harder to pick up than, say, moving your arm."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Or so goes my impression. I may be way off."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Bigger nerves in major limbs, after all."

["Calin"] says, "Ah, you could be right."

["Calin"] says, "It would still be cool though."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Of course... we're pulling stuff from the brain, not a limb."

["Akili"] agrees. "It would be a very interesting experiment."

["Akili"] wonders if our brain would learn shortcuts.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Like reflexes."

["Calin"] says, "Well, if you had full keyboard functionality..."

"Can you imagine editing a document?" asks ["Calin"].

["Calin"] says, "The cursor would fly around like mad, selecting, copying, cuting, pasting..."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "So you don't have to think about typing all the letters in the word - you just think about typing the word."

["Calin"] says, "Well you'd learn to do that."

["Calin"] says, "Right now I don't have to think about every letter I type."

["Akili"] ponders.

["Calin"] says, "I mean, I know I am thinking of all of them in there somewhere, but far below my normal thought."

["Akili"] nods. "I was just wondering about that. When you move your arm, are you really thinking about it?"

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Chances are, no. You're thinking of what you want to do, and your arm just moves."

["Calin"] says, "Nope. We've gotten really used to doing it, it comes naturally."

The hot calm settles on the shrubs.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Granted, having a 'keyboard' as a appendage would be a very complicated organ to have complete control over. Our hands only have five fingers."

["Akili"] ponders again. "So, here's a thought."

["Calin"] says, "Yup, but if you can control 9 appendages (8 fingers and one thumb), then you could have the keyboard work by combinations. Like a street fighter special move."

["Akili"] asks, "Would you have mentral control over a hand that has one 'finger' per key... or some sort of 'hand' that typed on a mental 'keyboard' which was interpreted into the key you are trying to hit?"

["Calin"] says, "I would think you'd have control over a set of virtual hands."

["Calin"] says, "That way, the system could learn by watching your brain as you actually type."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "True."

["Calin"] says, "And you wouldn't have to learn new typing skills."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Otherwise, I guess you're essentially adding 101 new limbs. :)"

["Calin"] says, "Just get used to creating the brain waves, without actually moving your fingers."

["Akili"] nods.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "The Zen of Typing."

["Calin"] nods.

["Calin"] imagines learning to use VI with that keyboard.

["Calin"] says, "Man, now that is zen editing."

["Akili"] imagines using any kind of computer interface with a keyboard like that.

["Calin"] says, "Yup. You could play games, write papers, write code..."

["Akili"] grins. "After all, how many games use keyboards?"

["Calin"] says, "All of them."

["Calin"] says, "Pretty much."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Yup."

["Calin"] says, "Now, if you add in a mouse..."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Also, you could use more combinations than keyboards currently support."

["Calin"] says, "With a scroll wheel..."

["Pearl"] has connected.

["Calin"] says, "Zen of the computing."

["Calin"] says, "Good afternoon."

["Pearl"] waves.

DainAltor says, "Hello ["Pearl"]."

["Akili"] hmms. "I woulder if you could use the concept of your eye for a pointer. Hi, ["Pearl"]."

["Calin"] says, "I was beginning to think it was just ["Akili"] and me today."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "After all, we look at where we want to see."

["Calin"] nods.

["Pearl"] says, "It is. I am home sick. I just popped on because I can't stay in bed all day and moan. :)"

["Calin"] says, "We're discussing this article, ["Pearl"]. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994262"

["Calin"] says, "Ah."

["Calin"] exclaims, "Well, welcome!"

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "And naturally, we've taken it in a whole new direction."

["Pearl"] says, "Thanks."

["Pearl"] looks.

["Calin"] chuckles.

["Akili"] chuckles. "We're glad for the company, in any case."

["Pearl"] laughs at the headline.

"I wonder if your brain could get WikiPedia:Carpal_tunnel syndrome?" asks ["Calin"].

["Pearl"] laughs.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "No, but you could probably give yourself a headache."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Intense concentration can do that."

["Pearl"] wonders if the limb could catch a virus.

["Calin"] says, "After reading that article, we've been thinking about how cool it would be to have a mental keyboard and mouse."

["Pearl"] naturally thinks of this while having a cold.

"How fast could you edit with such things?" asks ["Calin"].

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I wouldn't think so, ["Pearl"]."

["Pearl"] smiles.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Not unless someone develops a programming language for our brain."

["Calin"] chuckles.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Good freaking luck."

["Calin"] says, "It would be [wiki:WikiPedia:Microsoft MS], of course."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "!MindSoft."

["Calin"] says, "And it would let anyone who felt like it make us buy their product."

["Pearl"] says, "heh"

- You Are Where We Want To Go Today

["Calin"] chuckles.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Your checkbook will be assimilated."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Anyway."

["Calin"] says, "Yeah, anyway."

["Calin"] says, "We're not talking about any way to put things in your head."

["Calin"] says, "Only new ways to get things from your head to the computer."

["Calin"] says, "Or from your head to the real world."

["Akili"] ponders.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Although, in a way, you are returning information."

["Calin"] says, "And for that matter, only the things you take action to put out."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Any limb has to have feedback."

["Calin"] says, "True."

["Calin"] says, "I imagine it would take a similar effort to moving a real limb though, so it's not like somebody could just connect and download your data from your head."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Play the guitar with a numb hand. :)"

["Calin"] says, "Ah, no thanks."

["Akili"] nods, and would agree. "Someone might be able to do unkind things like give you an electric shock, but reading data... it wouldn't work that way."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Heck, even I don't know all the things I know."

["Calin"] doesn't know all the things you know either.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I am glad to hear it."

["Akili"] grins. "Man. Now I want one of these mental keyboards to play with."

The sweltering stillness settles across the hot shrubs.

["Calin"] too.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Not that the idea of putting a probe in my head appeals to me."

"How much more productive could we be?" asks ["Calin"].

["Calin"] says, "Yeah..."

["Akili"] grins. "Productive in relation to whom?"

["Pearl"] says, "The monkey of course."

["Calin"] says, "More productive with the mental keyboard than we are with the physical one."

["Akili"] meant how much time we'd spend playing as opposed to getting work done. ;-)

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Here's another question: I wonder how fast you could repeatedly type a certain key."

["Pearl"] says, "I would guess it would depend on the connection rate and how clearly your brain 'typed' the letter."

["Calin"] says, "Oh, much faster than that."

["Calin"] says, "True."

["Calin"] says, "If it was too fast, it would probably be read as being held down."

["Pearl"] nods.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Yeah... I suppose that would depend on the quality of the probe."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Beyond that, I suppose it'd be limited to nerve impulse velocity."

["Calin"] nods.

["Akili"] has no idea how fast we 'think'.

["Pearl"] giggles and can picture this as a Monkey Rant.

["Calin"] exclaims, "Hoo hoo heeeee!"

["Pearl"] giggles.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Well, only because that's where the inital topic started. But I think it's an interesting rant, nonetheless."

["Pearl"] nods. "I always thought about [wiki:WikiPedia:Extra-sensory_perception ESP] and when does a thought get transfered. You know, as a vague thought or a deliberate thought sent out..."

["Pearl"] asks, "In this case, what would the computer be callibrated to pick up?"

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "It's not reading our thoughts."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "It'd be like having another pair of hands."

["Pearl"] says, "Oh right, unconscious."

["Pearl"] says, "Sorta"

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I was talking about that with ["Calin"]. You don't think about moving your arm. Your arm just moves when you need it to. It's far too reflexive. However, we also have total control over it."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "But you don't think about it. You just do it."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "We only think about what we're going to do."

["Calin"] says, "Right. So in this case, it would be just like typing with real hands... but without the flesh and bone to slow things down."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "Exactly."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "However you type, you'd be using the same method for this mental keyboard."

["Calin"] nods.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "And you'd have to learn to do it the same way you learned to type."

["Akili"] huhs. "Actually, it might be harder."

["Calin"] says, "Right. No fingers to look at."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "We already have good control over our fingers and hands even before we try to type."

["Calin"] says, "According to the article with the monkeys though..."

["Calin"] says, "They started out moving their real arms."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "True."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I wonder how the software made the distinction."

["Calin"] says, "Then eventually they noticed that the physical movement was not necessary to do the task."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "And they did say that their brains were changing, apparently to adapt to the new device."

["Calin"] nods.

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "I'll bet it's a lot like trying to learn to move a new muscle. Like lifting a single brow."

["Calin"] says, "Easier, I think."

["Calin"] says, "Because you have the familiar muscles to guide you."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "However, you have the same muscles to lift both of your brows."

["Akili"] rumbles lightly, "You *should* be able to single them out. But it's not that easy."

A hot calm falls on the shrubs.

["Pearl"] says, "have a great afternoon guys. I'm off to catch my nose."

["Calin"] waves.

["Calin"] says, "Get well."

["Pearl"] says, "Thanks!"

["Pearl"] has disconnected.

["Akili"] goes to set up a printer.