multivariate pattern recognition was actually something we worked on in the 60s ... but whudda guessed?

For the first time in history (or so I am led to believe) multivariate pattern recognition techniques have been able to determine (translated: ARE capable of determining) a person's future actions from a codified "picture" of the neurons bouncing around whole the synapses fire away ... in your brain.

John-Dylan Haynes from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences was the person who first came up with the repeatable technology (science!!) to do exactly that. The e-mail I received from a buddy, Cam Trenor, in Seattle alerted me to this fact and questions like "what will be next?"

At the moment, the technology does little more than determine whether you are planning on adding or subtracting at the next step in an arithmetic problem ... but science moved fast!

Oh yes, the major use of this for the "near future" is to be able to move artificial limbs (and/or other body parts) with the mind ... with the proper chips implanted in the brain.

It's real, folks! And more abstract thoughts are next, like who you "plan" on voting for in 2008 -- Rudy the Drag Queen or Jeb Bush.