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Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

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Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#11

Post by goldenkey »

haskellandchill wrote: post #10
goldenkey wrote: post #7

Knowing that the average typing speed of adult humans is a measly 40 wpm gives me more faith in the failure of our species. Sir Francis Galton pioneered the study of psychometrics which showed that intelligence is positively correlated with reaction speed. So it's not surprising that the average person is slow at a cognitive task like typing.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

> Knowing that the average typing speed of adult humans is a measly 40 wpm gives me more faith in the failure of our species. Uh, that we can even type is in and of itself a wondrous thing. Enjoy your miasma.

Biology is just carbon based circuitry based on digital base 4 (DNA.) Electronics are just as messy with tin whiskers, fried resistors, capacitors, memory errors, clock mistimings, etc.. Energy itself is miasma. But okay, I'll enjoy my privileged "human" miasma ;-)

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#12

Post by pythonlion »

goldenkey wrote: post #7

Knowing that the average typing speed of adult humans is a measly 40 wpm gives me more faith in the failure of our species. Sir Francis Galton pioneered the study of psychometrics which showed that intelligence is positively correlated with reaction speed. So it's not surprising that the average person is slow at a cognitive task like typing.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

Humans typing slow, the end is near! It doesn't matter how fast you type what matter is you don't always type stuff like this

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#13

Post by codefined »

goldenkey wrote: post #8
zyemuzu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. One of the reasons I hate using my phone to type is how slow I am compared to using a full keyboard. This would be hell for me.

The current generation is a bunch of thumb typers. Ye abandon all hope..

I don't know if it's cultural, but as someone of the 'current generation' (Gen Z), I feel that the opposite is true and typing speeds increase as you get younger (to some limit).

I've tried to back this up and only found a single, questionable, data source[0] on the topic but I do attend several typing competitions and some of the young ages are phenomenal. I was beaten a few months ago by a 15 year old who was typing >220wpm+ for 5 minutes.

[0] http://drwes.blogspot.com/2011/01/results-are-in-age-vs-typi...

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#14

Post by InvaderFizz »

zyemuzu wrote: post #6
opan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I thought from the headline this was enabling over 200wpm maybe.

Same. One of the reasons I hate using my phone to type is how slow I am compared to using a full keyboard. This would be hell for me.

The original iPhone is the perfect size for my hands and thumb typing.

I was quite fast in landscape due to the placement of everything and my ability to also rock the phone while I typed. This increased my speed dramatically.

Sadly, that is not really an option anymore as I gladly give it up for the larger real estate of the 6" models.

If I have something long to say and I'm not too concerned about accuracy, I just use text to speech.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#15

Post by meowface »

lunixbochs wrote: post #3
newsbinator wrote: post #2

> “It’s at least half way to able-bodied typing speed, and that’s why this paper is in Nature.”

> The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an average of about 40 words per minute.

I used to type "semi-competitively" (aka just spending a lot of time on typeracer.com) and could get around 170 WPM if I put enough effort into it. (At least when I was younger. Probably slower now.)

18 WPM would make me feel like a snail. However, I feel fairly confident that within 1 - 3 decades some kind of BCI will let any user surpass the equivalent of 200 - 300 WPM after a bit of training. And hopefully even with a device that sits on your head rather than in your brain.

So I'm just kind of looking at this like ML research circa 1990. We're hardly even in the infancy stage yet.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#16

Post by slver »

doggodaddo78 wrote: post #9

Speaking of BCI, there are startups intent on implanting thousands of nanoscale sensors directly in the brain to gather copious amounts of data directly.

I wouldn't call it "copious amounts of data directly" you still gotta train yourself to use it, and the interface itself should train itself to recognize it.

It might be enough to make people walk again though.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#17

Post by onion2k »

doggodaddo78 wrote: post #9

Speaking of BCI, there are startups intent on implanting thousands of nanoscale sensors directly in the brain to gather copious amounts of data directly.

"You are seeing this advert because we detected that you thought about the Budwesier 'Wassup!' advert that aired 22 years ago and it increased dopamine uptake by 3.7%"

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#19

Post by SamBam »

lhousa wrote: post #5

Shiny title with the actual typing speed so well hidden.

It's silly that it's hidden, because 18 WPM for a quadriplegic still seems extremely impressive to me, given that it's just working from brain electrodes and not some muscle the person can control. Yes, the headline is silly, because by hiding it it ended up causing the snark about 18 WPM being slow.

I'm surprised, though, that the most efficient way to do this is still to have the person imagine physically drawing the letters by hand. I know motor neurons are probably our most reliable output, but I would still think that, with all the advances in training from noisy data in the past decade, that training what the thought of "A", "B" etc look like in the head would be doable.

Or even what the thought of hearing or saying "A", "B" etc looks like. The auditory cortex is activated when we imagine sounds. Or, if they wanted to stick to motor neurons, could they have the person imagine saying the letters with their mouth?

I'm sure they've thought about this stuff and it's harder than it seems, of course. But I would just predict that brain-computer interfaces 20 years from now won't involve imagining using your hand to write letters.

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