The Emotiv headset is mostly a ground-breaking gadget that enables a consumer to interact with a virtual environment by reading his/her ‘thoughts’. Basically, the gadget accounts the brain’s electronic signals and translates your thinking-instructions into digital actions.

The Emotiv headset works by employing a device referred to as an EEG, or electroencephalograph, to monitor the human brain waves (and emotional responses) of every gamer, nearly immediately translating those readings into virtual reactions, actions and movement.

The sensible applications could be enormously decent, but additionally potentially hideous. On the plus side, disabled people could have their lives totally turned around, regaining an enormous quality of independence by thought-controlling many household equipment. To develop the concept, paraplegic and quadriplegic people could create thought-controlled virtual avatars and cooperate with other people in real time.

The possibility to develop the world of gaming can be very evident, as Jane McGrath, of How StuffWorks.com, describes,

“If the EEG gaming technology eventually catches on, it could revolutionize the way people think about video games in much the same way the Nintendo Wii did (or perhaps more). On the one hand, with its facial expression interpretations, the Emotiv EPOC attempts to close the gap further between the real world and the virtual world to create a more realistic experience, much like the Wii does. On the other hand, the Emotiv EPOC also tries to bridge the gap between human thought and the outside world to create an experience that’s less like reality and more fantastical and dreamlike. The technology behind EPOC eliminates the middleman of motion altogether — a staggering thought to consider”.

Of the possible downside, that is possibly chasmic, McGrath states.

“Should researchers continue making more breakthroughs to advance EEG technology, it could plausibly lead to computers that can, in essence, read someone’s mind. Those with the technology could be privy to the private thoughts, opinions and emotions of others. Granted, this could be very far off, considering where the technology (and our understanding of the human brain) is now. Nevertheless, we can’t rule out the possibility entirely. Perhaps we shouldn’t dismiss the prospect of Thought Police (like that in George Orwell’s “1984”) as mere alarmism”.

Frankly, this thing creeps me out. I just do not like the idea of a thought-activated mainframe, it makes my body crawl. But hey, that’s just me. Also, in case you’re a male of the species, you’d probably be dredging up porn sites every 7 seconds.

It has also been suggested in some quarters you’ll be able to simply imagine an individual and the said PC system will automatically place a phone call to them. The last thing I want to do is be contemplating some old girlfriend of whatever and suddenly end up calling her. No, just no. That’s a can of worms that simply doesn’t need opening up, thank you very much.

However, whatever my opinion on it happen to be (and, for now at least, I’ve the choice to keep them private), the Emotiv Epoc headset will soon be there for the average customer, priced around $299 (that’s slightly below £200 to us Brits).