If you look at the human body as a machine we have several input and output devices. Our fastest input devices are our eyes and ears. Our fastest output devices are our fingers (physical movement) and speech. We currently use 3 of these four mediums already when interfacing with machines however our speech remains neglected.
The historical complications for a machine in dealing with slight variations in dialect have made this type of input more difficult than a mouse / keyboard combination and so we build to accommodate that interface but I believe we are selling ourselves short in the long run.
Image a display designed into a 9 square grid where the screen is designed in such a way that you simply call out the section you desire to gain more clarity on and it smoothly comes to the foreground with 9 times the size so as not to interrupt your reading. Today we have a massive information barrage of 30-100 objects to read through then make a single mouse/keyboard selection to abruptly change screens. We could instead continually have 9 options and a much faster exchange of information.
The average time a person reads a web page before issuing a command is about 30 seconds. We could lower that to about 4-6 seconds with less information but a nearly constant smooth transition to new content. Therefore instead of one detailed close up page every 30 seconds you would have 6 screens quickly transition with much less information per interval but ultimately more information per 30 second interval. Text could scroll large and clear at any rate we are comfortable with, simple commands could pan out to a view of our entire mailbox then back in again to our new destination. If you are having trouble visualizing this checkout this clip that sort of represents what I am talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa-2-eYuJuk
Our basic zoom commands would be dictated by sections which would have standardized names. We could use 1-9, single syllable colors (with tint), or even made up sounds. All languages are not created equal and I believe using Mandarin, Japanese or French would be best because of the speed the numbers can be spoken and the short easy to pronounce vocabulary. Here is a comparison of spoken numbers 1 through 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLTcncGsIzs
I believe we now have the technological horsepower and voice recognition capabilities to make this a reality. It would take a little getting used to but just dream about the possibilities that open up once you “unplug” the human and we are free to roam while increasing input/output rates at the same time. You could be connected to everything at all times as you walk from room to room, drive in the car and even take a shower. As long as your eyes have a view of some display you can choose to interact with a computer.
I could write on this topic all night but I’ll save more details for the forums over at OctoEcom. I did try to mock up some images of what I see in my head but my lack of artistic skills would only confuse and potentially destroy the creative process you are going through right now.