Get rid of your keyboard, and prepare to be amazed

As computer processing gets more powerful and bandwidths gets bigger, the limiting factor in getting our ideas out there is becoming our interface with our computer, our friends the keyboard and the monitor.

But perhaps not for long! Says the latest New Scientist magazine, "a patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain - granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony."

The technique says the article is like a 'real-life Matrix' and is

entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds.

The patent at present is for a device going from computer direct to brain, but if that bit of science fiction can be accomplished then perhaps we thumb-fingered typists can at least be optimistic of eventually being rescued from the grind of typing.

And just imagine what a real artist could accomplish with such a device! Author Ayn Rand argued that "in order to develop a new form of art, man would have to acquire a new sense organ." If the 'sensory experience' is a virtual one, is that akin to what she was asking for?