Competition Meditation?
Jul. 20th, 2004 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plutherusOr "and so it begins".
Thought-controlled devices, long a staple of science-fiction, and more recently the subject of serious research, have now moved into the realm of actual shipping product. The first such device, a game called Mindball, will no doubt be soon seen in oxygen bars everywhere.
While I have my own doubts of the commercial viability of this particular product, it does pave the way for others in the future. Reading an EEG, the computer analyzes the alpha and theta waves to move a ball back and forth along a table. So far, control is unidirectional, (the ball moves away from you the more you relax your mind, so you need an opponent to get it back.) While I'm excited about the new technology, and think it definitely has novelty potential, I have my doubts about how much interest there will really be watching two people facing each other and seeming to be on the verge of dozing off.
Cool as it is, it's still a ways away from even the simple game of pong you may have seen Alan Alda playing a couple of years ago on Scientific American Frontiers, in which he was able, after a bit of practice, to move a paddle up and down on a screen with specific thoughts. (i.e., the computer analyzed patterns within brain waves, rather than just the intensity of them).
But, as a tool teaching people how to calm their minds - or as combination a meditation tool and fun toy - Mindball could find some very happy homes inside any occult lodge.
Thought-controlled devices, long a staple of science-fiction, and more recently the subject of serious research, have now moved into the realm of actual shipping product. The first such device, a game called Mindball, will no doubt be soon seen in oxygen bars everywhere.
While I have my own doubts of the commercial viability of this particular product, it does pave the way for others in the future. Reading an EEG, the computer analyzes the alpha and theta waves to move a ball back and forth along a table. So far, control is unidirectional, (the ball moves away from you the more you relax your mind, so you need an opponent to get it back.) While I'm excited about the new technology, and think it definitely has novelty potential, I have my doubts about how much interest there will really be watching two people facing each other and seeming to be on the verge of dozing off.
Cool as it is, it's still a ways away from even the simple game of pong you may have seen Alan Alda playing a couple of years ago on Scientific American Frontiers, in which he was able, after a bit of practice, to move a paddle up and down on a screen with specific thoughts. (i.e., the computer analyzed patterns within brain waves, rather than just the intensity of them).
But, as a tool teaching people how to calm their minds - or as combination a meditation tool and fun toy - Mindball could find some very happy homes inside any occult lodge.
