Debate: Will brain-computer interfaces replace smartphones and other “mediating” devices?

The Fifth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion: where mind meets machine (The National):

The Fifth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion will make that con­nec­tion clos­er and seam­less, and will feel unmedi­at­ed. The smart device onto which we tap and into which we speak will dis­ap­pear. Brain-com­put­er inter­faces will replace them…Can we con­nect our brains – and our minds – to machines? The short answer is yes, and we have done so for some time. The longer answer is more com­pli­cat­ed, but more interesting.

Until a few years ago, machines were con­nect­ed to the brain and the ner­vous sys­tem prin­ci­pal­ly for med­ical pur­pos­es – for exam­ple, to treat Parkinson’s dis­ease or repair spinal cord injuries. Most recent­ly, research has focused on oth­er, non-ther­a­peu­tic uses, and some of the most high-pro­file invest­ment in such tech­nol­o­gy comes from Face­book, Google, Ama­zon and Elon Musk’s Neu­ralink. This is where the Fifth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion is in the making…

The direc­tion of trav­el is clear. The sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy are pro­gress­ing quick­ly, for ther­a­peu­tic and lifestyle or com­mer­cial appli­ca­tions. The demand is grow­ing and the under­ly­ing Fourth Indus­tri­al Rev­o­lu­tion tech­nolo­gies are going to make this a reality.

News in Context:

• Q&A: What does the Face­book acqui­si­tion of CTRL-Labs mean for Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy and Aug­ment­ed & Vir­tu­al Reality?
• Ker­nel rais­es $53 mil­lion to ease access to rich neur­al data and mar­ket Neu­ro­science as a Ser­vice (NaaS)
• Elon Musk to pio­neer new Inner Space Fron­tier via Neu­ralink “neur­al lace” technology
• The Neu­ro­Gen­er­a­tion and Humankind’s Quest to Enhance the Brain
• 10 neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment and brain health
• Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy can improve our lives…if we first address these Pri­va­cy and Informed Con­sent issues
• Four rea­sons the future of brain health is dig­i­tal, per­va­sive and bright