Lawrence launched a different sort of mind-reading project: instead of relying on the paranormal, researchers would use measurable brain signals to control a computer. From his exploration of parapsychology, Lawrence found science. The brain-driven computer dreamed up by Lawrence drew heavily on, and referenced, Licklider’s idea of “man-computer symbiosis.” If Licklider’s vision of a man-computer symbiosis was futuristic, Lawrence’s program, which he named biocybernetics, was outright audacious. In biocybernetics, the machine would not just be a part of man’s decision-making process through
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