Cruelbreed
08-16-2008, 04:17 AM
CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/15/mind.reading.ap/index.html
OS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Here's a mind-bending idea: The U.S. military is paying scientists to study ways to read people's thoughts. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/US/08/15/mind.reading.ap/art.mindreading.getty.jpgScientists use electroencephalography, or brain wave-reading technology, to measure brain activity.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif
The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals. But the research also raises concerns that such mind-reading technology could be used to interrogate the enemy.
Armed with a $4 million grant from the Army, scientists are studying brain signals to try to decipher what a person is thinking and to whom the person wants to direct the message.
The project is a collaboration among researchers at the University of California, Irvine; Carnegie Mellon University; and the University of Maryland.
The scientists use brain wave-reading technology known as electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures the brain's electrical activity through electrodes placed on the scalp.
It works like this: Volunteers wear an electrode cap and are asked to think of a word chosen by the researchers, who then analyze the brain activity.
In the future, scientists hope to develop thought-recognition software that would allow a computer to speak or type out a person's thought.
"To have a person think in a free manner and then figure out what that is, we're years away from that," said lead researcher Michael D'Zmura, who heads UC Irvine's cognitive sciences department.
D'Zmura said such a system would require extensive training by people trying to send a message and dismisses the notion that thoughts can be forced out.
"This will never be used in a way without somebody's real, active cooperation," he said.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based defense research (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Research_and_Development) firm, said the technology is still too nascent to be of practical use for the military.
"They're still in the proof of principle stage," Pike said.
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One downfall is that it requires the cooperation of the user. Despite this, we already know mind reading techniques are in our future. It's scary really, is there a future where humans are really completely stripped of all abilities to hide themselves? The world is moving towards a realm of no privacy, not even within ones own mind.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/15/mind.reading.ap/index.html
OS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Here's a mind-bending idea: The U.S. military is paying scientists to study ways to read people's thoughts. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/US/08/15/mind.reading.ap/art.mindreading.getty.jpgScientists use electroencephalography, or brain wave-reading technology, to measure brain activity.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif
The hope is that the research could someday lead to a gadget capable of translating the thoughts of soldiers who suffered brain injuries in combat or even stroke patients in hospitals. But the research also raises concerns that such mind-reading technology could be used to interrogate the enemy.
Armed with a $4 million grant from the Army, scientists are studying brain signals to try to decipher what a person is thinking and to whom the person wants to direct the message.
The project is a collaboration among researchers at the University of California, Irvine; Carnegie Mellon University; and the University of Maryland.
The scientists use brain wave-reading technology known as electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures the brain's electrical activity through electrodes placed on the scalp.
It works like this: Volunteers wear an electrode cap and are asked to think of a word chosen by the researchers, who then analyze the brain activity.
In the future, scientists hope to develop thought-recognition software that would allow a computer to speak or type out a person's thought.
"To have a person think in a free manner and then figure out what that is, we're years away from that," said lead researcher Michael D'Zmura, who heads UC Irvine's cognitive sciences department.
D'Zmura said such a system would require extensive training by people trying to send a message and dismisses the notion that thoughts can be forced out.
"This will never be used in a way without somebody's real, active cooperation," he said.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based defense research (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Research_and_Development) firm, said the technology is still too nascent to be of practical use for the military.
"They're still in the proof of principle stage," Pike said.
------------------------------------------------------------
One downfall is that it requires the cooperation of the user. Despite this, we already know mind reading techniques are in our future. It's scary really, is there a future where humans are really completely stripped of all abilities to hide themselves? The world is moving towards a realm of no privacy, not even within ones own mind.