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Fall 2008

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Fall 2008 #1 9 Inter view MINI We're All Edge Cases with Cory Doctorow by RU Sirius DOCTOROW: Building a search engine that only contains the information that we're mostly looking for is easy. But at that point, there's no value. It's pursuing the deviance, what Bruce Sterling called "Wooing the muse of the odd," that actually creates a system that has a lot of perceived value. And that's because we are all weird in some way. This is the most corrosive thing that happens to people who self-identify as science fiction fans… the idea that everyone else is mundane in science fiction argot… you're either a mutant or you're a "norm," right? But norms are every bit as weird as any of us. It's a matter of presentation and identity. We are all of us every bit as weird as any one of us. Resources www.emotiv.com/INDS_3/inds_3.html EPOC Neuroheadset Tristan Guillford A San Francisco–based neuroengineering company called Emotiv is developing a brain–computer interface that they say will be available on the commercial market later this year. e EPOC neuroheadset uses EEG technology to read electrical patterns in the brain and then sends this information through wireless signals to a computer. According to Emotiv, the headset will be used with new biofeedback games or can be incorporated into popular PC games like Harry Potter, where characters could pick up and move objects with the power of their minds. In addition, the EPOC could eventually be used in multi- player online games like World of Warcraft or Second Life to control facial expressions of virtual game characters in real time. Emotiv claims the headset can detect and replicate thirty different emotional and facial expressions, including excitement, anger, laughter, and calmness. Unlike earlier EEG devices, the EPOC is the first commercially available EEG neuroheadset that does not require gel on the scalp or an elaborate net of electrodes, and will be sold for the consumer -friendly price of $299. e EPOC will be bundled with Emortal soft- ware, which enables you to use the headset to browse your computer files and applications, and also to connect to other Emotiv users in live chatrooms.

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