Episode 80
Neural Interfaces and the Future of Human-Computer Interaction | CTRL-Labs Thomas Reardon
Episode 80
Thomas Reardon
Neural Interfaces and the Future of Human-Computer Interaction | CTRL-Labs Thomas Reardon
summary
In this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with CTRL-labs CEO Thomas Reardon, about his company’s ground-breaking innovations in neural interface design, computational neuroscience, and machine learning that turn science fiction into reality.
Thomas Reardon’s career is no less impressive than his most recent endeavor to displace the graphical user interface and revolutionize immersive computing. He is a founding Board Member of the World Wide Web Consortium and famous for having created Internet Explorer at Microsoft, which, at its peak, represented 96% of all web browsers in existence. Over one billion people on earth have used Reardon’s software to access the Web. After leaving Microsoft, Reardon decided to go back to school, receiving his undergraduate degree in Classics from Columbia, gaining fluency in Latin and Greek. He followed that up with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience split between Columbia and Duke.
It’s hard to capture the paradigmatic nature of the innovations stemming from the work being done at CTRL-labs without seeing it for yourself. Anything that I can say is insufficient to capture the awe of watching someone type on a screen without moving his fingers, use her intentions to pick up and finely control objects in three-dimensional space or play a video game while remaining visually motionless. The implications of this technology are perhaps, rivaled only by the practical genius of its implementation. By focusing their attention on translating only the final, neuronal output of our brain’s commands as expressed through electrical impulses sent directly to our muscles, the team at CTRL-labs has managed to create a device that can capture the brain’s intentions non-invasively, through the use of a simple armband that you can wear like an article of clothing, a wristwatch, or a fancy bracelet. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this technology turns yesterday’s future into today’s reality, blowing wide-open the world of immersive computing and expanding our sense of possibility beyond our wildest imagination.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Thomas Reardon is CEO & Co-Founder of CTRL-Labs, a company that builds transformative brain-machine/neural interfaces whose work spans the intersection of computational neuroscience, statistics, machine learning, biophysics, hardware, and human-computer interaction. He was previously CEO and Co-Founder of Avogadro, Inc., acquired by Openwave where he served as CTO, and creator of the Internet Explorer project at Microsoft. He’s a founding Board Member of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), has 7 patents, and was an MIT “Top 35 Young Innovator” in 2004. Dr. Reardon has an undergraduate degree in Classics from Columbia and split his Ph.D. in Neuroscience between Columbia and Duke University. He is one of 18 siblings.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nec vero sum nescius esse utilitatem in historia, non modo voluptatem. Num igitur eum postea censes anxio animo aut sollicito fuisse? At iam decimum annum in spelunca iacet. Addidisti ad extremum etiam indoctum fuisse. Sed haec omittamus; Primum divisit ineleganter; Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Nihilne est in his rebus, quod dignum libero aut indignum esse ducamus?
Nummus in Croesi divitiis obscuratur, pars est tamen divitiarum. Ne in odium veniam, si amicum destitero tueri. Ad corpus diceres pertinere-, sed ea, quae dixi, ad corpusne refers? Ergo, si semel tristior effectus est, hilara vita amissa est? Mihi vero, inquit, placet agi subtilius et, ut ipse dixisti, pressius. Hic quoque suus est de summoque bono dissentiens dici vere Peripateticus non potest. Quae cum dixisset paulumque institisset, Quid est?
Suo enim quisque studio maxime ducitur. Quo modo autem philosophus loquitur? Iam id ipsum absurdum, maximum malum neglegi. An est aliquid per se ipsum flagitiosum, etiamsi nulla comitetur infamia?
Iam contemni non poteris. Vos autem cum perspicuis dubia debeatis illustrare, dubiis perspicua conamini tollere. Efficiens dici potest. Nonne videmus quanta perturbatio rerum omnium consequatur, quanta confusio? Et quidem iure fortasse, sed tamen non gravissimum est testimonium multitudinis. Quam ob rem tandem, inquit, non satisfacit?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Est autem a te semper dictum nec gaudere quemquam nisi propter corpus nec dolere. Recte dicis; Roges enim Aristonem, bonane ei videantur haec: vacuitas doloris, divitiae, valitudo; Nemo igitur esse beatus potest. Quamquam te quidem video minime esse deterritum. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Istam voluptatem perpetuam quis potest praestare sapienti? Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam.
Age, inquies, ista parva sunt. Mene ergo et Triarium dignos existimas, apud quos turpiter loquare? Commoda autem et incommoda in eo genere sunt, quae praeposita et reiecta diximus; Hoc simile tandem est? Nemo nostrum istius generis asotos iucunde putat vivere. At enim hic etiam dolore. Certe, nisi voluptatem tanti aestimaretis. A primo, ut opinor, animantium ortu petitur origo summi boni. Universa enim illorum ratione cum tota vestra confligendum puto. Quantum Aristoxeni ingenium consumptum videmus in musicis?
Addebat etiam se in legem Voconiam iuratum contra eam facere non audere, nisi aliter amicis videretur. In qua si nihil est praeter rationem, sit in una virtute finis bonorum; Mihi quidem Antiochum, quem audis, satis belle videris attendere. Nam ista vestra: Si gravis, brevis; Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego.
Sed quid attinet de rebus tam apertis plura requirere? Non quam nostram quidem, inquit Pomponius iocans; At enim, qua in vita est aliquid mali, ea beata esse non potest. Te ipsum, dignissimum maioribus tuis, voluptasne induxit, ut adolescentulus eriperes P. Qui bonum omne in virtute ponit, is potest dicere perfici beatam vitam perfectione virtutis; Quare conare, quaeso. A mene tu? Magni enim aestimabat pecuniam non modo non contra leges, sed etiam legibus partam.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed quanta sit alias, nunc tantum possitne esse tanta. Universa enim illorum ratione cum tota vestra confligendum puto. Suo genere perveniant ad extremum; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Vulgo enim dicitur: Iucundi acti labores, nec male Euripidesconcludam, si potero, Latine; Ut optime, secundum naturam affectum esse possit. Qui enim existimabit posse se miserum esse beatus non erit. Illud dico, ea, quae dicat, praeclare inter se cohaerere.
Quoniam, si dis placet, ab Epicuro loqui discimus. Levatio igitur vitiorum magna fit in iis, qui habent ad virtutem progressionis aliquantum. Nummus in Croesi divitiis obscuratur, pars est tamen divitiarum. Moriatur, inquit. Minime vero istorum quidem, inquit.
Quo modo autem philosophus loquitur? Eodem modo is enim tibi nemo dabit, quod, expetendum sit, id esse laudabile. Longum est enim ad omnia respondere, quae a te dicta sunt. Et quidem saepe quaerimus verbum Latinum par Graeco et quod idem valeat; Sed quot homines, tot sententiae; Qui autem esse poteris, nisi te amor ipse ceperit?
Saepe ab Aristotele, a Theophrasto mirabiliter est laudata per se ipsa rerum scientia; Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Illum mallem levares, quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. At cum de plurimis eadem dicit, tum certe de maximis.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Est autem officium, quod ita factum est, ut eius facti probabilis ratio reddi possit. Ergo illi intellegunt quid Epicurus dicat, ego non intellego? Itaque nostrum est-quod nostrum dico, artis est-ad ea principia, quae accepimus. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Sed erat aequius Triarium aliquid de dissensione nostra iudicare. Nam si beatus umquam fuisset, beatam vitam usque ad illum a Cyro extructum rogum pertulisset. Inde igitur, inquit, ordiendum est. Hoc est dicere: Non reprehenderem asotos, si non essent asoti. Sed tu istuc dixti bene Latine, parum plane.
Habes, inquam, Cato, formam eorum, de quibus loquor, philosophorum. Non igitur potestis voluptate omnia dirigentes aut tueri aut retinere virtutem. Quid in isto egregio tuo officio et tanta fide-sic enim existimo-ad corpus refers? Quicquid porro animo cernimus, id omne oritur a sensibus; Quod, inquit, quamquam voluptatibus quibusdam est saepe iucundius, tamen expetitur propter voluptatem. Quae tamen a te agetur non melior, quam illae sunt, quas interdum optines. Si stante, hoc natura videlicet vult, salvam esse se, quod concedimus; Nam his libris eum malo quam reliquo ornatu villae delectari.
Utinam quidem dicerent alium alio beatiorem! Iam ruinas videres. Ita prorsus, inquam; Quis Aristidem non mortuum diligit? Videamus animi partes, quarum est conspectus illustrior;