USB Port In The Brain? Sign me up!

One of my favourite pasttimes while I'm at work is reading a stack of
Electronic Musician magazines
from years gone by, poring over technology that has since passed. Today,
whilst reading one from August 2002, I glanced over an M-Audio ad that featured the back of a dude's head that
had a USB port in it.
As Orwellian as that seems, 7 years on, that sort of seems like a swell idea. Think about it. If you're reading this blog, there is no doubt in my mind that you are cool and wired to the gills.


Let's face it, if you're a MIDI musician in any
capacity, you're used to digital interconnectivity, since we've been rolling with interconnected instruments for 26 years now. When I listen to music, my enjoyment
of it is limited by the fact that the digital file is corrupted by things like cheap D/A converters, shoddy amplification, poor speaker/headphone quality, and the fact that
the audio signal has to be fed to me through noisy air, or through ears that have had their share of unhealthy SPL levels for decades now.


As a musician, my musical output is limited to the musical events that I can enter into a plastic keyboard, and what I can edit on a mouse with my carpal-tunnel infested hands.


Each day, you and I and billions of others are constantly pushing information out and taking much more in. What if that gorgeously shot Hollywood movie you were dying to see is fed right into the neurocenters of your brain, without the limitations of display or audio technology. Imagine how much more you could be efficient at your job if your data entry did not involve QWERTY keyboards or mice.


Imagine, if you will, that two humans could interface directly with one another without any sort of...wait a minute. That is scary and Orwellian. Next thing you know, we'll be able to kung fu fight one another into digital oblivion. I think I'll go watch Burn Notice.