Two American researchers succeeded in making their brains communicate while they were in two different rooms. They hope they can use this technique to help the disabled.
It is not telepathy but it looks very much like it. Researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, have achieved the feat of communicating the brains of two people installed in two different rooms: one thought and the other acted.
Concretely, the 1er researcher who submitted himself to the experiment, was installed in front of a video game and equipped with an electroencephalograph allowing to record the electrical activity of his brain. The whole being connected to the Internet. Researcher Rajesh Rao was tasked with watching the video game and killing a bird as it passed over the cannon. But only by thought. He was not carrying out his gesture but was content to think about it.
This thought triggered an electrical activity in his brain which was transmitted to his colleague, also a guinea pig. Andrea Stocco was therefore in a neighboring room, and was equipped with a device to stimulate certain areas of the brain. This device allowed him, in a way, to receive the order sent by the brain of Rajesh Rao and to carry it out. When the 1er researcher was thinking of killing the bird, the 2th researcher was actually pressing the space bar to shoot.
The two researchers do not intend to stop there. They now plan to have “a real conversation between the two encephali, that the communication is no longer one-way but two-way”.
(Source: University of Washington)
It remains to be seen what could be the interest of such a technique. Andrea Stocco imagines at least two outlets: this technology could be used when an airplane pilot is unable to fly. Someone on the ground could thus regain control of the aircraft. People with disabilities could also communicate their wants or needs and the signal emitted by the brain from one person to another would be understandable even if the two people do not speak the same language.
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