Neural Internet:Web Surfing with Brain Potentials
The full title of this Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair article is ”Neural Internet: Web Surfing with Brain Potentials for the Completely Paralyzed”, but it is clear this same technology, once fully developed, will be more generally applicable and permit operating the worldwide datasphere by thinking.
Neural Internet is a new technological advancement in brain-computer interface research, which enables locked-in patients to operate a Web browser directly with their brain potentials. Neural Internet was successfully tested with a locked-in patient diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis rendering him the first paralyzed person to surf the Internet solely by regulating his electrical brain activity.
[The performance of the brain-computer communication systems is still very limited - even trained patients still need a very long time to surf the web and write emails. However, research is ongoing and it is evident where this R&D process will lead: operating the worldwide datasphere by thought]. In general, it can be assumed that if a patient can achieve reliable control of any brain signal, which can be used as a binary or even as a multidimensional input signal for a BCI system, Neural Internet can be implemented based on this signal.
If future BCI research can overcome the mentioned constraints of the current brain-computer communication systems, then the following scenario could be reality in the not too distant future: is sitting paralyzed in his wheelchair but can chat with a relative in another city, play chess with a friend in another country, search the World Wide Web for information, and even buy or sell articles. And all that without any voluntary muscle control, solely by the power of his thoughts. Cogito ergo sum.
