In my usual reading here and there around the Internet I've come across a couple more articles and write-ups related to my earlier posting here on next generation computer interfaces.  There's coverage here by Wired's Danger Room Blog of a number of systems under development by DARPA-funded researchers that will shape computer interfaces depending on the cognitive states of the users.  "[The system is] supposed to use EEG and eye-tracking monitors to 'assess the operator's actual cognitive state.'  That way, the system can play around with its 'information display' to 'avoid cognitive bottlenecks before they occur.'" There's also coverage of the Emotiv EPOC here on Accelerating Future.  The coverage by Anissimov there is thought provoking in the extreme but clearly written by someone looking at long term futures. He immediately makes the jump from first generation Brain-Computer Interfaces to a command and control system for recording and replaying your dreams.

In contrast to Anissimov's long view on these technologies, I'd like to consider mid-term consequences of these devices.  I'm not hoping to get a grip on whether devices like the Emotiv headset can improve your ability to play WoW or Crysis early next year.  It seems to me that moving the computer's interface from physical keyboard and mouse or even more exotic touch-screens and tablets into wholly non-physical interaction marks an important shift in user interfaces.  If we no longer have to move or interact physically with a device to use our computers it will become decreasingly important just where those computer are located.  The computer I'm typing this on is practically the only thing sitting here on my desk today.  If my computer is operated through a neural interface a couple of years down the road, sitting in front of the computer will seem about as natural as sitting by the phone waiting for that important call to come through.  If you don't move to input into your computer, soon enough it will seem natural to receive data without inputs.  You think of a command and a screen in your room syncs with your headset and displays the morning headlines while you're eating breakfast.     

The information you're able to leverage from the web will now be tied more to your ability to think that you want it and the accessibility of a display nearby, on your wall or in your pocket.  A non-physical interface could further the nigh-ubiquitous mobile Internet by allowing interaction that's in the same ethereal invisible realm as wireless data. Moving beyond intermediaries like computers and phones, our tools for manipulating such data could dwell just in the back of our minds.  I'll leave it to the software people to work out how to make such things usable, but I think a few years down the line even multi-touch devices like the iPhone will look hopelessly outdated.  "Really Grandpa? You had to touch the computer with your hand?"