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Thu 8 Apr, 2010 10:09 pm
Vision = perspective?
Modest = mediocre?
Context:
Eventually, the technology could help the severely physically disabled to communicate. And Pomerleau sees it as an early step toward one day being able to control technology with our minds.
"The vision is being able to interface to information, to your devices and to other people without having an intermediary device," he said.
For now, the project's accomplishments are far more modest " it can only be used with prohibitively expensive and bulky fMRI equipment and hasn't yet been adapted to analyze abstract thoughts.
Vision means an idea, although the implication is something more complex than just a simple idea. So, for example, the Wright brothers had a vision of man flying, conquering the air. It wasn't just, "Yeah, someday men will fly." It was an idea which was complex, and which motivated them to make the effort to create a successful heavier than air flying machine.
Modest here doesn't mean mediocre, it just means that so far, the realization of the goal has not progressed very far. Mediocre has some negative connotations, usually that something is not of a very great quality. Modest in this context means a small step in the right direction--the implication is that the author foresees (has a vision) greater success in the future.
@Setanta,
Excellent response, Set!
I'm not at all sure that McTag could have done any better.
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