Ever really wanted to text or email someone, but not had the patience to do it with your fingers?

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I’m sure you’ve answered yes to that question, but I’m not sure if you would agree that sending an email/text using only your thoughts would be the answer to this problem. CTRL Labs believes that it is though, and they reckon that this technology could be available as early as next year.

The startup has created brainwave reading technology that they’re hoping will be mainstream by the year 2020, which isn’t exactly too long to go. Apparently it can pick up signals that your brains send to your fingers, so you won’t need to type to send texts/emails anymore.

The tech was developed by neuroscience expert Dr. Patrick Kaifosh and Dr. Thomas Reardon, the man who created the Internet Explorer browser. Kaifosh had this say about it:

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We are developing systems to connect your neural output to machines as tightly as it is connected to the muscles that control your speech.

I can already play Asteroids on my phone using only my thoughts, and the technology is already being used to train patients to use a virtual hand before receiving hand transplants from donors.

That’s all very well and good Patrick, but I think everyone is just ghosting over the massive elephant in the room here: the fact that I’m pretty damn well sure that 90% (and that’s a spectacularly low estimate) of my thoughts only belong inside my head and nowhere near a device that might allow them to be texted or emailed to someone by accident.

You better put in at least a thousand safety blocks on it before you release this stuff to the masses, because there is no way it’s gonna be safe for your average person to handle. No way.

For more brainwaves, check out the story of the Russian Sleep Experiment. Still messed up.