A look in to the future: Muscle-computer interfaces

[Casanova]

Tired of working with plastic? So are these guys.

This video was shown by Scott Saponas, a PhD student at the University of Washington, and his peers at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology. It demonstrates rather magnificently the ability for humans to control technology without a need for interaction with strenuous input devices.

What does that mean to you and me? Well for one, we could play Guitar Hero without a guitar controller. We could change the track on our MP3 players while out jogging without breaking our stride. We can open car doors without reaching for the handle or pressing the button on a remote device if our hands are full.

The possibilities, I think you'll agree, are pretty much endless.

My question is this: Would you agree that this is a great idea, a marvel of modern technology, or would you rather think this a whole new level of laziness?

For decades us humans have found ways of cutting out that little extra bit of effort. We're amazing at adapting our intellect to finding ways to cut minuscule corners. Is technology advancing, or are we as people just getting lazier?

I'm not saying that this isn't a cool idea. For one it would certainly improve anyone's prospects for future gaming. But for day-to-day use it seems to me to be pretty much pointless. The guy in the video is saving seconds by not having to put his things down to open the trunk of that car. Seconds, I tell you.

In short: I think this a wonderful technological achievement, and an awesome concept for letting off steam and having fun with. But for day-to-day use, it's pretty... stupid. =/

Your thoughts?

[Daesy]

Without Struggle there is no progress-Fredrick Douglass

With games i think this is a great idea. Exercising, yeah it not a bad idea.

Day to day, not so much. It will make people lazy. Car Alarms, no. Put your stuff down and use the keys. That's just plain lazy. But that is my opinion.

[BlackJack]

Is anyone else reminded of the human in Wall-E? :|

[Casanova]

Without Struggle there is no progress-Fredrick Douglass

Oh for sure, but these people aren't struggling to progress. They're spending your money and their time inventing something that saves people the effort of opening car doors.

Again, for gaming this is amazing, though. Just think of what this technology could do when coupled with Microsoft's Project Natal. o_o

Is anyone else reminded of the human in Wall-E? :|

Please elaborate on what a human in Wall-E has to do with this topic. I'm interested to learn why you think so. I've never watched Wall-E myself, you see.

[Daesy]

Oh for sure, but these people aren't struggling to progress. They're spending your money and their time inventing something that saves people the effort of opening car doors.

I agree. What i meant by the statement is they are not progressing. They are making it to easy that people get lazier than what they are. They are not struggling towards, better safety for drivers. They are making easier to open car doors. We already have the door lock/car alarm/ignition switch thingy that we push.

[Contra Fates]

Man. The nerd in me was watching that video going: "Wow, cool!" While the rational person in me was going: "...Seriously?"

Honestly, I'm not surprised by the video, and I'm not surprised that this sort of technology is in development. Systems like Natal are really showing the approaching unpopularity of 'controllers,' so I'm sure that getting rid of them is something that's in the near future.

But I really don't like the idea of controlling something with my fingers like that. I fidget, a lot, and if I had all of these 'controls' wired to me, I'd be opening doors and turning things on and off without meaning to. Also, all of these wireless transmitters and electric impulses just....can't be good for you. Radio waves, cell phone waves, wireless signals, bluetooth signals...there is just so much 'stuff' in the air. I'm just waiting for more studies to come out that demonstrate the damage of all of it.

I'm just waiting for invisible technology. Like, I press a button on my watch and a computer and keyboard are projected out in front of me using some sort of hologram technology.

I'm waiting. It's coming.

[BlackJack]

Please elaborate on what a human in Wall-E has to do with this topic. I'm interested to learn why you think so. I've never watched Wall-E myself, you see.

Well, first of all, I meant to say "humans".

The human race had made everything automated so they don't have to do anything, and became a race of misshapen, apathetic blobs.

[Fuyumine]

This is actually pretty progressive. Since they demonstrated with things like MP3 players and video games a person's initial thought process is going to be "well... this is kind of pointless, and lazy" or what have you. I'm sure some lazy bastard will use it to complete his day-to-day tasks, but in the end I think this will help a lot of people, like perhaps the elderly or handicapped or whatever. It could make life that much easier for them.

Truth of the matter is, "easy" doesn't always mean that we're driving on the path to worsening civilization. Some really great things can come from this, and I think people could really benefit from an invention such as this.

What the hell, am I NOT being cynical...?