Trope A Day-Brain-Computer Interface

Brain-Computer Interface-Pretty  much everybody has one of these, and it consists of the following pieces of hardware.

  • Cognitive Processor-The actual “interface” point between the brain and the computer.  It’s a very sophisticated and complicated neural network, roughly the size of a golf ball, that not only interfaces with your implants, your body monitoring systems, and any external connection, but it also runs your muse.
  • Muse-The software interface that you use to run all of this.  A muse can be as simple as just the sort of software you’d find on your average iPhone to a full-up AI “partner” that sorts through, looks for, and finds anything you want to know of interest.
  • Body Monitoring Systems-The modern post-equine (and post-griffin/zebra/Minotaur) body has a lot of things going on inside of it.  At the most basic level, this is where you have access to the updates for your immune system nanomachines, fertility control, etc, etc, etc.  If you have more sophisticated implants, such as those used in the military, you can control and modify the parameters of their operation here.
  • Wireless Linkage-From making phone calls to low-speed Wired access, it’s like having your own personal WiFi spot.  For security reasons, most users require direct activation of their wireless linkage and filter any unauthorized external connections hard.
  • High Speed Connection-Located at the base of the skull, this is a two-way high-speed data connection point using low-power lasers for high bandwidth connectivity.  There’s mounting points for a data harness right beside the bones, which in ponies tends to resemble a old-style horse collar.  Perfect for controlling vehicles, spaceships, high-speed Wired access, and entertainment systems.
  • Vector Manipulators-Even unicorns (that have magical telekinesis) have one of these, usually mounted in and around the jaw bone.  It’s for all intents and purposes a low-powered tractor beam that lets you have as many “hands” as you can handle, and you can pick up anything you’re suitably braced to lift.  So, if you want to pick up that five hundred kilo block of anything, make sure you’re properly positioned, or you’ll be moving yourself around-or ripping your jaw off.
  • Cortical Stack-Another golf-ball sized piece of technology, it’s the backup drive for your brain.  Built out of the strongest possible materials and the most damage-resistant storage mediums, a cortical stack means that even if your head gets blown completely off, they can just restore you from the memories on the stack.  The ease of restoring sapients from backup means that most of the time, injury triage is based around “pull the stack now, pull the stack later, send to an automed for minor injuries”.

Most of the basics are installed when someone is born, and the rest as they grow up.