# Neural interface - no longer a fantasy **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 20, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773 "2009-02-20T21:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/1 "2009-02-20T21:21:45Z")
This may very well have been discussed before but you can’t search three letters. Apparently [this](http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator)device is commercially available, does in fact work and has the potential to be more than a gimmick. I can’t say I’m that inclined to invest in one myself because I don’t really play the kind of games where super fast reaction times are that useful (the site itself says that slow games probably wouldn’t be all that good for it). But has anyone else heard of this? Thought of getting one? Or better yet actually used one? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/2 "2009-02-20T21:57:57Z")
Any information on this from someone not selling it? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/3 "2009-02-20T22:12:13Z")
There’s a bunch of press comments on the companies main page about the device. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/4 "2009-02-21T09:45:32Z")
I bought one of those. All it does is sense how tense your eye-brow muscles are. As you can probably imagine this isn’t very useful. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/5 "2009-02-21T10:06:25Z")
A friend of mine used to have an EEG helmet which he could use to manipulate a midi controller. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/6 "2009-02-21T11:49:38Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > I bought one of those. All it does is sense how tense your eye-brow muscles are. As you can probably imagine this isn’t very useful. I have a [similar device](http://www.walyou.com/img/xbox-360-controller-recovers-stolen-console.jpg) that senses tension and movement in the muscles of my hands. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/7 "2009-02-21T12:42:59Z")
Once back around '83 I actually got to use an [Atari Mindlink](http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/mindlink.html) prototype. It did a similar thing with forehead wrinkles; you “concentrated” to shift a balloon on the screen up or down. I can’t comment on that specific product, but this stuff hasn’t been a fantasy for a while. You might have heard about the chimps where they’ve been able to wire controls directly into their brain. Right now the problem with those is infection, but things are really moving fast in this area. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if neurojacks are at least in a human prototype stage in time for a real life game of Cyberpunk 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/8 "2009-02-21T12:51:30Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > I bought one of those. All it does is sense how tense your eye-brow muscles are. As you can probably imagine this isn’t very useful. Especially if you’re using botox. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/9 "2009-02-23T02:02:18Z")
From the link: > [@](#): > > Use Space-Age Technology Wow, 40 year old technology! Cool! ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neural-interface-no-longer-a-fantasy/486773/10 "2009-02-24T23:28:55Z")
Essentially the same thing we used when I was a little kid in the really early 80s. I did a summer school for gifted children and they hooked us up to a train set. Relax and the train went forward, tense up and the train ran backward. Extremely simple controls. The basic idea goes back to biofeedback research in the 1960s, and as you can see on the [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofeedback#Biofeedback_in_electronic_games) on the topic, someone already used it in electronic games 35 years ago. In other words, nothing to get excited about unless you think it was an idea that was just way too early to be properly exploited the first few times around.