# Remote control human (brain to brain interface) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423 "2013-08-28T18:18:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423/1 "2013-08-28T18:18:06Z")
Okay, so it was just remote control of a single finger, not the guy’s whole body, but I still think [this experiment](http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/27/researcher-controls-colleagues-motions-in-1st-human-brain-to-brain-interface/) merits a few choice expletives, or perhaps a meme of some sort, if it proves possible to replicate. Short version: Using noninvasive equipment (an EEG machine and a transcranial magnetic stimulation coil), a researcher in one lab imagining an action–hitting the space bar on a keyboard to fire a weapon in a game–caused the researcher on the other end to involuntarily hit the space bar on his keyboard. The guy on the receiving end likened it to a nervous tic. Oddly, the first thing I thought of was the Heinlein story _Waldo_, in which the title character guides a worker wearing a suit that controls his movements through a task, conditioning him to perform the motions efficiently. I could envision recordings of an expert’s signals while performing a physical activity being used to train others, with repetition producing conditioned reflexes so that they could perform the task on their own. Or, as the researchers mention, an expert could remotely control someone on the scene of an emergency to perform a lifesaving task. It’s a long, long way from that sort of application, even assuming (again with the caveat) that it’s legit. It’s certainly something to ponder, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423/2 "2013-08-28T18:28:03Z")
Rise of the… machines? That’s amazing. Will we end up being able to ‘drive’ others’ bodies around? ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423/3 "2013-08-29T08:26:04Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Oddly, the first thing I thought of was the Heinlein story _Waldo_, in which the title character guides a worker wearing a suit that controls his movements through a task, conditioning him to perform the motions efficiently. I could envision recordings of an expert’s signals while performing a physical activity being used to train others, with repetition producing conditioned reflexes so that they could perform the task on their own. This sleeve monitors and records an action to assist in perfecting throws in basketball. Add a few electrodes on suitable muscles and you could probably make the arm replicate the perfect throw. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423/4 "2013-08-29T12:50:27Z")
So on the Borg registry, these two guys will be 00-000-0000001 and 00-000-0000002. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-control-human-brain-to-brain-interface/667423/5 "2013-08-29T14:24:26Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > This sleeve monitors and records an action to assist in perfecting throws in basketball. Add a few electrodes on suitable muscles and you could probably make the arm replicate the perfect throw. That might train the muscles, but I don’t know that it would create the reflex arcs involved in the throw. Triggering the action from the brain seems more likely to do so.