Get Your Thinking Caps on Boys and Girls and …JERK OFF

Emotive Systems is causing quite a buzz at a recent computer gaming conference with its brain-reading headset to control interactive computer games. I’m actually jazzed about this—not from the standpoint of being able to play computer games, but of its potential in controlling sex and kink toys.

Emotive announced its concept in March 2007. Since then they did some development testing in Australia, and launched their consumer product in February 2008.

While they’re actual process is still proprietary, Emotive alludes to being able to read and interpret the wearer’s brain wave activity using Electro Encephalography (EEG) techniques. This is doubted by some citing that the signal strength of brain wave activity at the scalp surface can be swamped out by more prominent facial muscle nerve signals that are up to 15 times more powerful. Nonetheless, whether the headset is reading EEG’s or eyelid twitching, the wearer can eventually use either to control devices: game consoles or pussy shockers.

People have been exploring the use of EEG’s for controls for a long time. Certainly applications for aiding the handicapped is one of the noteworthy goals. Apart from the muscle signal overwhelm problem, there’s the massive problem of “just what do the EEG signals mean?”

Consider this: there are approximately 10^10th (i.e., 1 followed by lots of zeros) nerve cells in the brain. And their connections are truly complex. The brain isn’t just a big switchboard. There are subtle layers, interactions, and timings involved in processing perceptions, controlling movements, and forming thoughts. And even after 200 years of research, we’re just barely beginning to decipher what’s all involved. The EEG you get from the doctor is like trying to determine what’s going on inside a telephone exchange by standing outside holding a compass. Yes, you can get general trends, but it’s hard to find out what’s happening at a few critical neurons …if indeed thoughts and actions result from a few critical neurons.

Let me interject now a personal note. My interest in EEG’s started when the doctors gave me one when I was a kid. (They were checking to see if I had a brain tumor, which, fortunately, I didn’t have.) Since then, anything connected with the brain fascinated me: neurophysiology, cognitive science, EEG’s, etc.. I even built my own EEG as a high school science fair project.

All of this science and personal content aside, imagine what such a device can be used for …kink-wise that is. At the under $300 price tag for the headset and interface, it’s within the realm of an experimenter. We can only imagine the possibilities…

1. Controlling various toys for use on a partner—TENS units, vibrators, (and for the really ambitious and affluent) a robotic flogger/caner/single-tailer—all with the power of thought …or maybe an eye-twitch.




2. As a corollary of the above, this would be an ideal way for a handicapped top to get more enjoyment out of a scene.



3. As a second corollary, control multiple scenes with …”the power of thought”.



4. As another corollary, because we’re dealing with electronic interfaces they can be combined with computers for long-distance teledildonics over the internet. …and this can include or be included in the “multiples” corollary above.



5. Using it for masturbation purposes (after all, there are a lot of solo e-players out there). Rather than depending on pre-programmed e-stim, more variation in stimulations can be achieved through use of the headset. And these variations can be a function of your individual and spontaneous “heat (so to speak) of the moment” thoughts, actions, and feelings. And for you guys a modified Venus 2000 could also be controlled this way.

And the list can go on…

With all the possibilities of what it can do, however, can it be done safely? After all, you’re depending on layers of electronics between you and your partner (or between you and your genitals if you’re into the masturbation aspects of this) to do what you want it to and not to inflict bad pain or harm. At this point, I suggest you check out my paper, Computers in BDSM. Even something as simple as a “kill switch” can mean the difference between a fun time with a thought-controlled butt plug vs. getting your hemorrhoids painfully cauterized.

While that image bounces around in your mind, let me ask, “Given that it could be done safely, what kind of applications would you like to see using the brain-reading headset?” Put on your thinking caps boys and girls…

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