Quadriplegic man drives race car with his brain

On a track in Colorado Springs, racing thoughts and motor function have deeper meaning. Quadriplegic German Aldana Zuniga lost all movement after a car accident when he was 16 years old. Now, he's the first patient to drive with his brain. He can pull out of pit row, punch the throttle and speed away using only his mind and technology. An implanted device on top of Zuniga’s brain detects his neural activity and sends signals to computers which control the car. He practiced on a simulator over a year before taking his first-ever drive.

Class discussion: If someone can control a race car only by thinking about it, what else may be possible with this type of technology? Could a person pilot a boat, fly a plane or control a spacecraft using only their mind? How could a link between a human brain and an artificial intelligence computer program change the future? This technology uses a computer to learn and decode what a human brain is thinking about. Do you think an artificial intelligence program will ever be able to transmit complex ideas and information directly into a human brain?