America may be divided, but we can agree on this
Apr 21, 2017, 8:30 AM
We may finally be able to look up again.
There was a keynote speech at this week’s Facebook conference that didn’t get much attention, even though it might forever change the way we all communicate.
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“What if you could type directly from your brain?” Regina Dugan asked.
Regina Dugan is the woman who leads the software geniuses in Facebook’s famous Building 8.
She admits our Smartphone infatuation has come at a cost.
“It has allowed us to connect to people far away from us, too often at the expensive of people sitting right next to us,” she said.
So she assembled 60 engineers.
“Together, we have a goal of creating a system capable of typing 100 words per minute straight from your brain,” she explained.
She’s serious.
The system wouldn’t read your mind. It would scan only the part of the brain where you form your words. So that it would type only what you intend to say. But it would do it before you say it. That way you could engage with the people around you.
“With the ability to text a friend without taking out your phone, or sending a quick email without missing the party.”
You might have to pause for a moment — you may appear lost in a momentary daydream — as you’re mentally ordering pizza, or sending Mom a Mother’s Day emoji, but the phone would stay in your pocket.
“We’d all be better off if we looked up a little more often.”
America may be divided, but at least we can agree on that.
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