Kimberley Viset

5/5 (3)

Do you have a difficult or bad night’s sleep regularly? Or do you have nightmares frequently? You are definitely not the only one. About 30% of the people are struggling with sleeping problems on a regular basis (slaapinfo.nl, 2016). However, sleep is really important for your physical health, your mental health, the quality of your life, and your safety (nhlbi.nih.gov, 2012). Therefore, sleep deficiency can be really harmful.

Recently, I found a really nice Kickstarter project which can help you sleep and dream. It is called ‘iBand+’. In this blog, I will explain what this device is and how it works, and I will describe some features of the ‘iBand+’.

The ‘iBand+’ is a headband that can help you sleep and dream. You have to wear this headband while you are asleep. It is a wireless Bluetooth EEG headband, which communicates with an iBand+ App on your smartphone. An EEG (electroencephalogram) can measure and record the electrical activity of your brain (webmd.com, 2014). The ‘iBand+’ has an advanced auto-learning software algorithm, which is used to track and analyze information about your brain and body while you are sleeping (kickstarter.com, 2016). Subsequently, these signals are used to regulate audio-visual signals. The interaction between the LEDs on the headband and the pillow speakers delivers effective audio-visual stimuli.

What are the reasons to buy the ‘iBand+’? Well, it has several features. I will highlight a few. First, it helps you experience lucid dreams by playing audio-visual cues. In a lucid dream, you are aware of dreaming, without waking up. Hence, you can create your own dreams. Second, ‘iBand+’ improves your sleep quality by tracking your sleep cycle, body movement, heart rate and body temperature, and adjusts the music and volume based on this information (kickstarter.com, 2016). Third, ‘iBand+’ has a cool smart alarm feature, so you can wake up at the most optimum period of your sleep cycle (kickstarter.com, 2016). If you want to know more features of the ‘iBand+’, you can check out this website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arenar/iband-eeg-headband-that-helps-you-sleep-and-dream.

I think this is a really nice device and it can definitely help people with sleeping problems. The recommended retail price is €279, which is quite expensive. However, I think that if you have real sleeping problems, it is worth trying. The only thing I am worried about is the comfort of this device. You have to wear it at night, so I don’t know if you are able to sleep with such a headband. Moreover, it might lead to a sleep obsession. It is possible that you will think too much about sleeping when having the ‘iBand+’.

What do you think about the ‘iBand+’? Will it work? And will it sell?

Sources:
http://www.slaapinfo.nl/slaapstoornissen/slapeloosheid/
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arenar/iband-eeg-headband-that-helps-you-sleep-and-dream
http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/electroencephalogram-eeg-21508

4.67/5 (3)

Human augmentation: The perfect human being?

It is presented as a ‘technology trigger’ on Gartner’s Hype Cycle, I am talking about the concept ‘human augmentation’. According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, this concept is a potential technology breakthrough. But what does ‘human augmentation’ mean? And what are the ethical issues that are involved? Are we going to create the perfect human being?

Human augmentation or enhancement can be defined as technologies that enhance human productivity or capability (https://www.techopedia.com, 2016). One example of such a technology, which already exists, is the ‘powered exoskeleton’. This is a wearable mobile machine that is able to enhance human strength, endurance or speed (Pratt et al., 2004). This technology would work well for military purposes, but it has potential for other jobs as well. For example, a construction worker might be able to perform better with such an exoskeleton.

There are also some interesting technologies that are not fully developed yet. One example is the brain-computer interface. This is a hardware and software communications system that permits cerebral activity alone to control computers or external devices (Nicolas-Alonso & Gomez-Gil, 2012). For example, with this technology you are able to control a robot arm by thinking about it. I believe that this technology will even develop further in the future.

Human augmentation sounds like a promising technology, because it might facilitate our daily activities. However, there are some ethical issues as well. First of all, to develop this concept, it is necessary to conduct some human experimentation. Probably, when developing an exoskeleton, this human experimentation is not really an issue. However, when looking towards the future, human augmentation will probably take more extreme forms, such as implants or cyberware. By developing these emerging technologies, human safety might be jeopardized. Secondly, human augmentation might be unethical as seen from a religious point of view. From this viewpoint, it can be argued that humans are a creation of God. Therefore, religious people might see human augmentation as tampering with God’s creations.

At the moment, human augmentation is still in its infancy. Though, I have no doubt that this concept will take more extreme forms in the future. Human augmentation might create the perfect human being. Maybe human augmentation will even allow our future generations to live forever. Do you think the perfect human being will be created in the future? And shall we, eventually, live forever?

Sources:

Nicolas-Alonso, L.F. and Gomez-Gil, J. (2012) ‘Brain Computer Interfaces, a Review’, Sensors, 12(2), 1211-1279.

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/29306/human-augmentation

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3114217

Pratt, J.E., Morse, C.J., Krupp, B.T. and Collins, S.H. (2004) ‘The RoboKnee: An Exoskeleton for Enhancing Strength and Endurance During Walking’, Proceedings – IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 3, 2430-2435

Having Trouble Sleeping? The iBand+ Can Help You Out!

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Human Augmentation: The Perfect Human Being?

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