Ride to the Beat of Your Own Brain With the fMRI Motorcycle Helmet
Presenting the revolutionary new “fMRI Motorcycle Helmet” — the ultimate riding experience for music aficionados everywhere!
Gone are the days of manually selecting your favorite songs while cruising down the highway. With the fMRI Motorcycle Helmet, advanced brain-scanning technology reads your neural activity in real-time to determine your musical preferences, mixing songs like a DJ to create the perfect soundtrack for your ride.
The helmet features a built-in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner, which detects activity in key brain regions associated with pleasure and reward, such as the nucleus accumbens. As you listen to different songs, the helmet’s computer algorithms analyze your brain activity to determine which songs you enjoy the most.
Today, I’m looking ahead in a series of posts that pull fiction-based ideas from the novel, The Last Delivery Driver.
I’m mulling over a technology that may soon become a reality–at least, I hope. The vision behind the technology in today’s post is we will see continued advancements in brain imaging and artificial intelligence that create a future where headwear can fine-tune preferences for its wearer based not on our actions but on our very own brain’s reactions.
It’s just one of the innovative ideas I’m pulling from The Last Delivery Driver to explore further.
In the book, the main character, Adrian Kuldell, rides along to complete a delivery in Houston, Texas with his girlfriend, Chloe. But they’re not alone. In their helmets is Adrian’s AI companion, Chip. He controls the AR display in Adrian’s visor to overlay delivery details like route and time remaining on the order. But more interesting for music lovers–he plays DJ for the couple, perfectly mixing the right tunes based on what’s being signaled from the neuro signals.
Excerpt from The Last Delivery Driver:
“My helmet featured a functional magnetic resonance imaging brain (fMRI) scanner and an augmented viewer with a heads-up display capable of projecting multiple camera angles along with an overlay of speed, direction, and bike performance. It also had a microphone and speaker to communicate with Chip and Chloe.”
The helmet can detect the activity in brain regions associated with emotions and memory, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, to infer which songs are evoking more powerful emotional responses and are more memorable for their wearer.
The helmet’s playlist is constantly optimized based on the rider’s mood. For example, suppose the helmet detects that the rider is feeling stressed or anxious. In that case, it will automatically play songs associated with relaxation or calmness in the past to help the rider relax and feel better.
On the other hand, if the rider is feeling energized and adventurous, the helmet will play more upbeat and dynamic songs that match the rider’s current mood. And most importantly, if a song becomes boring, the ‘DJ’ can slice in a new song without skipping a beat or needing to finish a song.
Excerpt from The Last Delivery Driver on how it works:
“Upbeat, fast-paced music began playing again in my headphones as I exited the Steppe’s property.
Music soothed the stress of a NAVO order. It was the only time I allowed Chip access to my brainwaves through an fMRI. His programming was calibrated to mix and mash songs for me. He would interslice my favorite jams, old and new, sampling and fading them in and out just the right way. He could tell which mixes I enjoyed by looking at my brainwave patterns through the scans. It was helpful having his musical suggestions on the road when my hands were tied.”
The fMRI helmet also includes a feature that allows a wearer to rate the songs played so that the helmet can understand your stated preferences over time. As you provide feedback for the songs, the helmet will adjust the playlist based on your preferences so that you can have the perfect soundtrack for your ride, no matter your mood.
To wrap the tech items up, the helmet also has a built-in AR display that acts as a navigation device. It feeds an overlaid display to show the best route to your destination as well as any other pertinent information.
And so, my friends, as we ride off into the sunset toward the future, with our wheels stirring up the dust of the highway behind us, I can’t help but contemplate on the possibility of hyper-personalized music.
With the fMRI motorcycle helmet–we could see a use-case for a technological marvel that would forever change the way we experience the open road.
Gone would be the days of fumbling for playlists, trying to match our moods to the music. This helmet instead would do it all for us, reading our very thoughts and emotions to curate the perfect soundtrack for our journey.
The key here, a personal DJ, one that’s always in tune with our every desire taking a music library like Spotify and delivering the next song tactfully as we blaze down the highway, our minds in sync with the rhythm of the road.
But it’s not just about the music, my friends. This helmet represents something greater, a glimpse into the future of technology and what it holds for us. As we move forward, we can expect to see more and more advancements in technology that free us from cognitive overload. With that, let us ride on, into the unknown, with the wind at our backs and some good music in our hearts.
Musical outro to close out this essay:
🎵Ridin’ down the road, feelin’ oh so fly
With my fMRI Motorcycle Helmet, my brain feels so high
Brain-scanning tech, never makes me sigh
fMRI Motorcycle Helmet, my ride’s always fly
Reads my neural activity, it’s always on the rise
DJ of my mind, it plays my favorite guise
My perfect soundtrack, it’s like a symphony of life
So come and join the ride, feel the wind in your face
With the fMRI Motorcycle Helmet, your soundtrack’s always in its place! 🎶
