Leap Motion has introduced Leap, a very affordable and compelling motion device that could begin to revolutionize how we interact with our computers.

Here’s the video:

It looks great. Since I work in creative, marketing and online advertising, I can imagine so many web applications, especially in terms of interactivity. Flip through products or images on a web site. Rotate a 360-degree image with your hands. Manipulate any number of games, puzzles, etc. [In fact, I just applied for a developer unit so that maybe me and the guys and gals in the office can play with it. Let’s see if they send us one.]

Projecting this tech into the future, there are so many human-machine interface possibilities. Why, for instance, do we need a steering wheel to drive a car? Can’t we simply gesture in the direction we want to go? But let’s cut to the chase: why do we even need to move our hands around? The ultimate controller is thought; it’s the mind. And guess what, there’s already work being done on brainwave controllers for wheelchairs.

What will a thought-controlled internet look like? With facial recognition and all the other technologies that are streamlining the interface between mind and machine?

Think William Gibson’s Neuromancer, perhaps: we might be jacking into a fully realized world of pure data.