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Using your brain waves to control the environment around you, like the lights in your home or even your toaster, is already a reality. One Toronto-based company has developed a system called thought-control computing, and it is exploring a range of commercial opportunities that include screens on airplanes and video games.

Its philosophy is simple: if you can plug it in, you can control it with your brain. Ariel Garten, CEO of InteraXon, says the possibilities are endless. The technology involves a regular-looking headset, but embedded with electrodes that read brain waves. The brain waves are then processed on a computer.

The technology was demonstrated earlier this year at the Vancouver Olympics where visitors used their brain waves to control the lighting on three landmarks: the CN Tower, the Parliament buildings and Niagara Falls.

Garten was a student of Professor Steve Mann (ECE), credited with pioneering thought-controlled computing technology.

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