Not all of the tweets provide evidence of cerebral activity as reliably as in this case: A paralyzed 62-year-old man wrote it first twitter message only mind control. A so-called brain-computer interface (BCI) was used for this.
Australian Philip O’Keefe, almost completely paralyzed from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, posted his historic tweet on Thomas Oxley’s Twitter account. The doctor and CEO made this event with the BCI technique Stentrode
made possible by his company Synchron.
No keystrokes or voices required. I just created this tweet with my mind.
Link to Twitter content
How the tweet came about
In a press release, the US company Synchron explains how the unusual tweet originated. The patient Philip O’Keefe suffers from ALS, a degenerative disease of the motor nervous system, which, as the course progresses, leads to paralysis, muscle weakness and atrophy.
In April 2020, O’Keefe had the BCI system Stentrode implanted. Since then, the patient has been using the technology to keep in touch with family and friends and to do business.
When I first heard about this technology, I knew how much independence it could give me back. The system is amazing. It’s like learning to ride a bike – you have to practice, but once you’ve got it it feels natural. Now all I have to do is figure out where to click on the computer and I can write e-mails, do banking, shop and now also send messages to the world via Twitter.
Philip O’Keefe
Synchronous CEO Thomas Oxley explains that the next step will be to conduct a human study in the United States. The tests are scheduled to start in 2022.
Those hilarious holiday tweets are actually a big moment in the implantable brain-computer interface field. They underscore the connection, hope and freedom that BCIs give to people like Phil, whose paralysis has deprived so much of their functional independence. We look forward to further developing our Stentrode brain-computer interface in the first US study on humans next year.
Thomas Oxley
Gabe Newell on BCIs
“The real world, however, will fade”
Many companies are working on their own BCI chips. So does Steam inventor Gabe Newell at Valve, who also recognizes new opportunities for the world of video games in brain-computer interfaces. You can read in the article above why this is also associated with risks.
