This is a fascinating article about developments in mind-reading computers, and science fiction is once more on the verge of becoming science fact.
Mind-Reading Computer Writes Words with Brain Waves | IFLScience.
So, what are our thoughts on this? The beginning of a vibrant new phase in story writing? Or the beginning of the end of story writing as we know it?
If you could draft a story in days instead of months it would transform the volume of books available, and potentially open up writing careers to great swathes of people who have previously been unable to participate.
The repercussions, particularly for people with a disability, are profound. To provide them with an opportunity to express themselves is miraculous, and would undoubtedly improve their quality of life.
It would completely change the dynamics of writing for everyone. You could write while driving, walking, gardening, or any other task that does not require your creative thoughts to be elsewhere.
As the article indicates, they are a long way from perfecting this, but the early results are encouraging and suggest it is only a matter of time before writing words from brain waves becomes possible.
If you could use this, would you? Or is the act of typing or writing a vital part of the creative process? Perhaps we simply need to have time to adjust and adapt, and in the future all writing will be done this way.
And maybe one day we will no longer call ourselves story writers, but instead, become story thinkers.
