Last week, I was interviewed on Jim Blasingame’s radio program, “The Small Business Advocate,” about my recent posting on the “10 Most Significant Breakthroughs of 2007.” (You can listen to the whole interview by clicking on the icon above.)
Of all the breakthroughs, Jim probably had the hardest time comprehending the significance of the advances in the field of brain-computer interface technolgy. To Jim (and many other people I know) the technology sounds a little “creepy.” It isn’t and I’d like to give you a real-world eample of how it could soon improve an activity most of us are very familiar—driving.
In this informative article, researchers at a university in Berlin have demonstrated how a computer in an automobile can monitor a driver’s brain activity and begin shutting off various functions (e.g. music, satellite navigation systems, heads-up visual displays, etc) when a driver begins getting too distracted. According to the study, the researchers were able to get drivers to react 100 milliseconds faster. Now, such a short time won’t eliminate all accidents, but it could reduce a fair number. That’s because if you’re traveling at 55 MPH an extra 100 milliseconds could help reduce your braking distance by 3 meters!
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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
