Shadow Creatures Read Online Free PDF

emotion. ‘Does it come with some kind of game-console controller where I twiddle a joystick to get moving,
or does someone else use a remote control to move me around like a puppet?’
    ‘Neither.’ Gillian obviously wasn’t going to rise to the bait by getting into an argument. ‘Although it’s funny you should mention game-control consoles, because
it’s partly a spin-off of that technology. This is the really clever part. I sit on the board of directors of a company that’s seeking to develop a way to control computer games using
brain waves rather than buttons and joysticks. The brain produces electrical and magnetic signals that can be detected using sensors placed on the scalp. There’s been a lot of work recently
using functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine which parts of the brain trigger when the mind thinks about an action like moving an arm, or bending a knee, or flexing toes. It’s got
to the stage where we can take a real-time scan of the brain’s electrical activity and
predict
what the person wants to do. Converting that to actual movement is then just
child’s play.’ She smiled. ‘It’s interesting, but the researchers have found out that the brain displays signals that it’s made a decision before the person being
scanned consciously knows they have made a decision. Some of the researchers are using this as evidence that there’s no such thing as consciousness – that what we
think
of as
being consciousness is just the brain catching up with a decision that it’s already made and trying to rationalize it after the event.’
    ‘Like I’ve been saying,’ Natalie murmured, ‘I don’t actually
choose
to spend all that money on shoes – there’s something in my head that makes me
do it!’
    ‘I didn’t say I bought into the theory,’ Gillian warned; ‘I just said that some people believe it.’
    ‘And this is being done just to play
games
?’ Gecko asked.
    ‘It’s a multi-billion dollar industry,’ she responded. ‘Military spending is going down, year on year, while entertainment spending is going the other way. If you want to
get anything developed these days, you need to get game- or film-related funding for it.’
    Gecko turned to look at Calum, ready to say that this sounded like a good thing, not a bad thing, but the expression on his friend’s face made him stop. Instead of the stubborn scowl that
he was expecting, what he saw was that Calum looked almost
hungry.
    ‘So how does it work – technically?’ he asked in a quiet voice. ‘Do I have to have my head shaved? Do I have to have electrodes implanted in my brain?’
    ‘You’re not listening,’ Gillian replied. ‘This is all done externally. You put on a headband with sensors inside. There’s a Bluetooth link to the controller in the
waistband. The sensors pick up what your brain wants to do before it has even formulated the thought properly and activates the motors. That way you start moving just at the point when you
want
to start moving – not too early or too late.’
    ‘A headband?’ Calum grimaced. ‘I don’t want to look like a 1980s rock star.’
    Natalie glared at him. ‘You didn’t worry about that when you made us wear those camera and microphone headbands when we went to Georgia!’
    ‘You didn’t wear yours most of the time,’ Calum countered. ‘That’s why you got into trouble.’
    Gillian Livingstone frowned. ‘What trouble?’
    ‘No trouble at all,’ her daughter said quickly.
    ‘What do you think?’ Gillian asked, turning back to Calum. ‘Can you work with it? I’m not saying it’ll be the answer to all your problems, but it might help
out.’ She paused. ‘It might help you get out and about a bit more.’
    ‘I’ll look like a freak,’ he said softly.
    It was Natalie who responded. ‘No,’ she said, ‘you won’t. Looking at those things, they’ll go under a baggy pair of trousers – and frankly you could do with
something more