Know thyself, with a brain scanner
-
0:00 - 0:05The maxim, "Know thyself"
has been around since the ancient Greeks. -
0:05 - 0:09Some attribute this golden world
knowledge to Plato, others to Pythagoras. -
0:09 - 0:12But the truth is it doesn't really matter
which sage said it first, -
0:12 - 0:15because it's still
sage advice, even today. -
0:17 - 0:18"Know thyself."
-
0:18 - 0:22It's pithy almost to the point
of being meaningless, -
0:22 - 0:25but it rings familiar
and true, doesn't it? -
0:26 - 0:27"Know thyself."
-
0:29 - 0:32I understand this timeless dictum
as a statement about the problems, -
0:32 - 0:35or more exactly, the confusions,
of consciousness. -
0:35 - 0:38I've always been fascinated
with knowing the self. -
0:38 - 0:40This fascination led me
to submerge myself in art, -
0:40 - 0:44study neuroscience,
and later, to become a psychotherapist. -
0:44 - 0:48Today I combine all my passions
as the CEO of InteraXon, -
0:48 - 0:50a thought-controlled computing company.
-
0:50 - 0:55My goal, quite simply, is to help people
become more in tune with themselves. -
0:55 - 0:58I take it from this
little dictum, "Know thyself." -
0:59 - 1:01If you think about it,
-
1:01 - 1:05this imperative is kind of the defining
characteristic of our species, isn't it? -
1:06 - 1:08I mean, it's self-awareness
-
1:08 - 1:11that separates Homo sapiens
from earlier instances of our mankind. -
1:13 - 1:15Today we're often too busy
-
1:15 - 1:20tending to our iPhones and iPods
to really stop and get to know ourselves. -
1:20 - 1:23Under the deluge of minute-to-minute
text conversations, -
1:23 - 1:26e-mails, relentless exchange
of media channels -
1:26 - 1:28and passwords and apps
and reminders and Tweets and tags, -
1:28 - 1:32we lose sight of what all this fuss is
supposed to be about in the first place: -
1:32 - 1:34Ourselves.
-
1:34 - 1:36Much of the time we're transfixed
-
1:36 - 1:39by all of the ways we can reflect
ourselves out into the world. -
1:39 - 1:44And we can barely find the time to reflect
deeply back in on our own selves. -
1:46 - 1:48We've cluttered ourselves up
with all this. -
1:48 - 1:52And we feel like we have to get
far, far away to a secluded retreat, -
1:52 - 1:53leaving it all behind.
-
1:53 - 1:56So we go far away
to the top of a mountain, -
1:56 - 1:58assuming that perching
ourselves on a piece -
1:58 - 2:03is bound to give us the respite we need
to sort the clutter, the chaotic everyday, -
2:03 - 2:04and find ourselves again.
-
2:05 - 2:10But on that mountain where we gain
that beautiful peace of mind, -
2:10 - 2:12what are we really achieving?
-
2:12 - 2:15It's really only a successful escape.
-
2:16 - 2:18Think of the term we use, "Retreat."
-
2:18 - 2:21This is the term that armies use
when they've lost a battle. -
2:21 - 2:23It means we've got to get out of here.
-
2:23 - 2:26Is this how we feel
about the pressures of our world, -
2:26 - 2:28that in order to get inside ourselves,
-
2:28 - 2:29you have to run for the hills?
-
2:30 - 2:33And the problem with escaping
your day-to-day life -
2:33 - 2:35is that you have to come home, eventually.
-
2:36 - 2:38So when you think about it,
-
2:38 - 2:42we're almost like a tourist
visiting ourselves over there. -
2:42 - 2:45And eventually, that vacation's got
to come to an end. -
2:46 - 2:48So my question to you is,
-
2:48 - 2:52can we find ways to know ourselves
without the escape? -
2:53 - 2:57Can we redefine our relationship
with the technologized world -
2:57 - 3:00in order to have the heightened
sense of self-awareness that we seek? -
3:00 - 3:04Can we live here and now in our wired web
-
3:04 - 3:08and still follow those ancient
instructions, "Know thyself?" -
3:10 - 3:12I say the answer is yes.
-
3:12 - 3:14And I'm here today to share a new way
-
3:14 - 3:16that we're working
with technology to this end, -
3:16 - 3:20to get familiar with our inner self
like never before -- -
3:20 - 3:24humanizing technology
and furthering that age-old quest of ours -
3:24 - 3:26to more fully know the self.
-
3:27 - 3:30It's called thought-controlled computing.
-
3:33 - 3:34You may or may not have noticed
-
3:34 - 3:37that I'm wearing a tiny
electrode on my forehead. -
3:37 - 3:38This is actually a brainwave sensor
-
3:38 - 3:41that's reading the electrical
activity of my brain -
3:41 - 3:42as I give this talk.
-
3:42 - 3:46These brainwaves are being analyzed
and we can see them as a graph. -
3:46 - 3:48Let me show you what it looks like.
-
3:49 - 3:51That blue line there is my brainwave.
-
3:52 - 3:56It's the direct signal being recorded
from my head, rendered in real time. -
3:56 - 3:59The green and red bars show
that same signal displayed by frequency, -
3:59 - 4:01with lower frequencies here
-
4:01 - 4:03and higher frequencies up here.
-
4:03 - 4:06You're actually looking
inside my head as I speak. -
4:08 - 4:11These graphs are compelling,
they're undulating, -
4:11 - 4:14but from a human's perspective,
they're actually not very useful. -
4:15 - 4:17That's why we've spent a lot of time
-
4:17 - 4:21thinking about how to make this data
meaningful to the people who use it. -
4:21 - 4:22For instance,
-
4:22 - 4:26what if I could use this data to find out
how relaxed I am at any moment? -
4:26 - 4:28Or what if I can take that information
-
4:28 - 4:31and put it into an organic
shape up on the screen? -
4:32 - 4:34The shape on the right over here
-
4:34 - 4:36has become an indicator
of what's going on in my head. -
4:36 - 4:38The more relaxed I am,
-
4:38 - 4:40the more the energy's going
to fall through it. -
4:40 - 4:43I may also be interested in knowing
how focused I am, -
4:43 - 4:47so I can put my level of attention
into the circuit board on the other side. -
4:47 - 4:49And the more focused my brain is,
-
4:49 - 4:51the more the circuit board
is going to surge with energy. -
4:51 - 4:55Ordinarily, I would have no way
of knowing how focused or relaxed I was -
4:55 - 4:57in any tangible way.
-
4:58 - 5:00As we know, our feelings
about how we're feeling -
5:00 - 5:02are notoriously unreliable.
-
5:02 - 5:05We've all had stress creep up
on us without even noticing it -
5:05 - 5:07until we lost it on someone
who didn't deserve it, -
5:07 - 5:11and then we realize that we probably
should have checked in with ourselves -
5:11 - 5:12a little earlier.
-
5:12 - 5:15This new awareness
opens up vast possibilities -
5:15 - 5:18for applications that help
improve our lives and ourselves. -
5:19 - 5:22We're trying to create technology
that uses the insights -
5:22 - 5:25to make our work more efficient,
our breaks more relaxing -
5:25 - 5:28and our connections deeper
and more fulfilling than ever. -
5:29 - 5:31I'm going to share some of these
visions with you in a bit, -
5:31 - 5:34but first I want to take
a look at how we got here. -
5:34 - 5:37By the way, feel free to check
in on my head at any time. -
5:37 - 5:39(Laughter)
-
5:39 - 5:41My team at InteraXon and I
-
5:41 - 5:45have been developing thought-controlled
application for almost a decade now. -
5:45 - 5:46In the first phase of development,
-
5:46 - 5:50we were really enthused by all the things
we could control with our mind. -
5:50 - 5:54We were making things activate,
light up and work just by thinking. -
5:55 - 5:58We were transcending the space
between the mind and the device. -
5:59 - 6:02We brought to life a vast array
of prototypes and products -
6:02 - 6:04that you could control with your mind,
-
6:04 - 6:06like thought-controlled home appliances
-
6:06 - 6:09or slot-car games or video games
or a levitating chair. -
6:10 - 6:14We created technology and applications
that engaged people's imaginations, -
6:14 - 6:15and it was really exciting.
-
6:15 - 6:19And then we were asked to do something
really big for the Olympics. -
6:20 - 6:22We were invited to create
a massive installation -
6:22 - 6:24at the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics,
-
6:24 - 6:26were used in Vancouver,
-
6:26 - 6:28got to control the lighting
on the CN Tower, -
6:28 - 6:31the Canadian Parliament
buildings and Niagara Falls -
6:31 - 6:35from all the way across the country
using their minds. -
6:35 - 6:39Over 17 days at the Olympics,
7,000 visitors from all over the world -
6:39 - 6:41actually got to individually
control the light -
6:41 - 6:43from the CN Tower, parliament
and Niagara in real time -
6:43 - 6:46with their minds from across
the country, 3,000 km away. -
6:46 - 6:50So controlling stuff
with your mind is pretty cool. -
6:51 - 6:54But we're always interested in multitiered
levels of human interaction. -
6:54 - 6:58And so we began looking into inventing
thought-controlled applications -
6:58 - 7:00in a more complex frame than just control.
-
7:00 - 7:03And that was responsiveness.
-
7:04 - 7:05We realized that we had a system
-
7:05 - 7:08that allowed technology
to know something about you. -
7:08 - 7:11And it could join
into the relationship with you. -
7:11 - 7:13We created the responsive room
-
7:13 - 7:16where the lights, music and blinds
adjusted to your state. -
7:17 - 7:20They followed these little shifts
in your mental activity. -
7:20 - 7:23So as you settled into relaxation
at the end of a hard day, -
7:23 - 7:24on the couch in our office,
-
7:24 - 7:26the music would mellow with you.
-
7:26 - 7:29When you read, the desk lamp
would get brighter. -
7:29 - 7:33If you nod off, the system would know,
dimming to darkness as you do. -
7:35 - 7:38We then realized that if technology
could know something about you -
7:38 - 7:40and use it to help you,
-
7:40 - 7:42there's an even more valuable
application than that. -
7:42 - 7:45That you could know
something about yourself. -
7:46 - 7:49We could know sides of ourselves
that were all but invisible -
7:49 - 7:52and come to see things
that were previously hidden. -
7:53 - 7:56Let me show you an example
of what I'm talking about here. -
7:56 - 7:58Here's an application
that I created for the iPad. -
7:58 - 8:03So the goal of the original game Zen Bound
is to wrap a rope around a wooden form. -
8:03 - 8:05So you use it with your headset.
-
8:05 - 8:08The headset connects wirelessly
to an iPad or a smartphone. -
8:08 - 8:13In that headset, you have fabric sensors
on your forehead and above the ear. -
8:13 - 8:14In the original Zen Bound game,
-
8:14 - 8:17you play it by scrolling
your fingers over the pad. -
8:17 - 8:19In the game that we created, of course,
-
8:19 - 8:24you control the wooden form
that's on the screen there with your mind. -
8:24 - 8:26As you focus on the wooden form,
-
8:26 - 8:27it rotates.
-
8:27 - 8:31The more you focus,
the faster the rotation. -
8:31 - 8:33This is for real.
-
8:33 - 8:34This is not a fake.
-
8:35 - 8:36What's really interesting to me though
-
8:36 - 8:40is at the end of the game, you get stats
and feedback about how you did. -
8:40 - 8:44You have graphs and charts
that tell you how your brain was doing -- -
8:44 - 8:48not just how much rope you used
or what your high score is, -
8:48 - 8:51but what was going on inside of your mind.
-
8:52 - 8:54And this is valuable feedback
-
8:54 - 8:58that we can use to understand
what's going on inside of ourselves. -
9:00 - 9:03I like to call this "intra-active."
-
9:04 - 9:07Normally, we think
about technology as interactive. -
9:08 - 9:11This technology is intra-active.
-
9:12 - 9:15It understands what's inside of you
-
9:15 - 9:18and builds a sort
of responsive relationship -
9:18 - 9:20between you and your technology
-
9:20 - 9:24so that you can use this information
to move you forward. -
9:24 - 9:28So you can use this information
to understand you in a responsive loop. -
9:29 - 9:31At InteraXon --
-
9:32 - 9:38intra-active technology
is one of our really defining mandates. -
9:39 - 9:44It's how we understand the world inside
and reflect it outside -
9:44 - 9:46into this tight loop.
-
9:47 - 9:50For example, thought-controlled computing
-
9:50 - 9:53can teach children with ADD
how to improve their focus. -
9:53 - 9:58With ADD, children have a low proportion
of beta waves for focus states -
9:58 - 10:00and a high proportion of theta states.
-
10:00 - 10:03So you can create applications
that reward focused brain states. -
10:03 - 10:06So you can imagine kids playing
video games with their brain waves -
10:06 - 10:09and improving their ADD
symptoms as they do it. -
10:09 - 10:11This can be as effective as Ritalin.
-
10:12 - 10:13Perhaps even more importantly,
-
10:13 - 10:16thought-controlled computing
can give children with ADD -
10:16 - 10:19insights into their own fluctuating
mental states, -
10:19 - 10:23so they can better understand themselves
and their learning needs. -
10:23 - 10:27The way these children will be able to use
their new awareness to improve themselves -
10:27 - 10:30will upend many of the damaging
and widespread social stigmas -
10:30 - 10:33that people who are diagnosed
as different are challenged with. -
10:34 - 10:35We can peer inside our heads
-
10:35 - 10:38and interact with what was once
locked away from us, -
10:38 - 10:41what once mystified and separated us.
-
10:42 - 10:46Brainwave technology can understand us,
anticipate our emotions -
10:46 - 10:48and find the best solutions for our needs.
-
10:48 - 10:50Imagine this collected
awareness of the individual -
10:50 - 10:53computed and reflected
across an entire lifespan. -
10:53 - 10:57Imagine the insights that you can gain
from this kind of second sight. -
10:57 - 11:00It would be like plugging
into your own personal Google. -
11:01 - 11:02On the subject of Google,
-
11:02 - 11:04today you can search and tag images
-
11:04 - 11:07based on the thoughts and feelings
you had while you watched them. -
11:07 - 11:10You can tag pictures
of baby animals as happy, -
11:10 - 11:13or whatever baby animals are to you,
-
11:13 - 11:16and then you can search that database,
navigating with your feelings, -
11:17 - 11:19rather than the keywords
that just hint at them. -
11:20 - 11:22Or you could tag Facebook photos
-
11:22 - 11:26with the emotions that you had
associated with those memories -
11:26 - 11:30and then instantly prioritize
the streams that catch your attention, -
11:31 - 11:32just like this.
-
11:33 - 11:37Humanizing technology
is about taking what's already natural -
11:37 - 11:38about the human-tech experience
-
11:38 - 11:42and building technology
seamlessly in tandem with it. -
11:42 - 11:44As it aligns with our human behaviors,
-
11:44 - 11:47it can allow us to make
better sense of what we do -
11:47 - 11:49and, more importantly, why.
-
11:50 - 11:53Creating a big picture
out of all the important little details -
11:53 - 11:54that make up who we are.
-
11:56 - 11:59With humanized technology we can monitor
the quality of your sleep cycles. -
12:00 - 12:04When our productivity starts to slacken,
we can go back to that data -
12:04 - 12:08and see how we can make more effective
balance between work and play. -
12:09 - 12:13Do you know what causes fatigue in you
or what brings out your energetic self, -
12:13 - 12:15what triggers cause you to be depressed
-
12:15 - 12:18or what fun things are going
to bring you out of that funk? -
12:20 - 12:21Imagine if you had access to data
-
12:21 - 12:25that allowed you to rank
on a scale of overall happiness -
12:25 - 12:28which people in your life
made you the happiest, -
12:28 - 12:31or what activities brought you joy.
-
12:31 - 12:34Would you make more time for those people?
Would you prioritize? -
12:34 - 12:35Would you get a divorce?
-
12:35 - 12:36(Laughter)
-
12:36 - 12:39What thought-controlled computing
can allow you to do -
12:39 - 12:42is build colorful layered
pictures of our lives. -
12:42 - 12:45And with this, we can get the skinny
on our psychological happenings -
12:45 - 12:48and build a story
of our behaviors over time. -
12:48 - 12:51We can begin to see the underlying
narratives that propel us forward -
12:51 - 12:54and tell us about what's going on.
-
12:55 - 12:59And from this, we can learn
how to change the plot, the outcome -
12:59 - 13:02and the character of our personal stories.
-
13:04 - 13:08Two millennia ago, those Greeks
had some powerful insights. -
13:08 - 13:11They knew that a fundamental
piece falls into place -
13:11 - 13:14when you start to live
out their little phrase, -
13:14 - 13:16when you come into contact with yourself.
-
13:16 - 13:20They understood the power
of human narrative -
13:20 - 13:24and the value that we place on humans
as changing, evolving and growing. -
13:24 - 13:27But they understood something
more fundamental -- -
13:28 - 13:30the sheer joy in discovery,
-
13:31 - 13:34the delight and fascination
that we get from the world -
13:34 - 13:35and being ourselves in it;
-
13:36 - 13:41the richness that we get from seeing,
feeling and knowing the lives that we are. -
13:42 - 13:43My mom's an artist,
-
13:43 - 13:47and as a child, I'd often see her bring
things to life with the stroke of a brush. -
13:47 - 13:49One moment, it was
all white space, pure possibility. -
13:49 - 13:53The next, it was alive
with her colorful ideas and expressions. -
13:53 - 13:58As I sat easel-side, watching her
transform canvas after canvas, -
13:59 - 14:02I learned that you could
create your own world. -
14:03 - 14:05I learned that our own inner worlds --
-
14:05 - 14:08our ideas, emotions and imaginations --
-
14:08 - 14:11were, in fact, not bound
by our brains and bodies. -
14:12 - 14:15If you could think it,
if you could discover it, -
14:15 - 14:17you could bring it to life.
-
14:18 - 14:20To me, thought-controlled computing
-
14:20 - 14:22is as simple and powerful
as a paintbrush -- -
14:22 - 14:26one more tool to unlock and enliven
the hidden worlds within us. -
14:27 - 14:31I look forward to the day
that I can sit beside you, easel-side, -
14:32 - 14:36watching the world that we can create
with our new toolboxes -
14:36 - 14:39and the discoveries
that we can make about ourselves. -
14:40 - 14:42Thank you.
-
14:42 - 14:44(Applause)
- Title:
- Know thyself, with a brain scanner
- Speaker:
- Ariel Garten
- Description:
-
Imagine playing a video game controlled by your mind. Now imagine that game also teaches you about your own patterns of stress, relaxation and focus. At TEDxToronto Ariel Garten shows how looking at our own brain activity gives new meaning to the ancient dictum "know thyself."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:43
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Know thyself, with a brain scanner | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Know thyself, with a brain scanner | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Know thyself, with a brain scanner | ||
TED edited English subtitles for Know thyself, with a brain scanner | ||
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 11/25/2016.