Researchers at the Wadsworth center have created technology that allows you to think an e-mail instead of having to type it. The current technology can only produce two to four words per minute, but it could be much faster in the future. It sounds futuristic and progressive, but is this really a step forward for the common person? It’s terrific for the physically disabled who are unable to type with a keyboard, but giving everyone the ability to convey their thoughts as fast as they can think may not be as beneficial as it sounds. There is value in filtering information, because a lack of filtering causes an overload of unnecessary information. Imagine how annoying it would be to read a message that included every tidbit of information that crossed the author’s mind. When people write letters by hand they aren’t as likely to add trivial details because of the additional time it takes. E-mails, blogs and instant messaging have made it so easy and cheap to share information that people have stopped filtering. At this point we don’t need more information; we need a distilling mechanism that adds more value with less volume.

(In reference to this Wired news article)