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Subscribe to RSSScientists have found a way to decipher actual words from a person’s brain waves, a feat that sounds very much like mind-reading, a new study shows.
The research may sound like scary science fiction -- once a person’s brain waves can be read, will any thought be private? -- but the positive implications are enormous for patients who have lost the ability to speak through damage, such as stroke, or disease.
In the study, scientists worked with a group of epilepsy patients who were undergoing treatment for intractable seizures. Sensors were implanted deep in their brains in an effort to locate the source of seizures, so doctors could remove the malfunctioning tissue, according to the new report published in PLoS Biology.
Normally that process takes about a week, says the study’s lead author, Brian Pasley, a neuroscientist at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.
“During that time the patients are just sitting around in their hospital rooms,” Pasley explains. “And some of them were generous enough to participate in our experiment.”
While the patients’ brain waves were being recorded, Pasley and his colleagues read words to them. Later, the researchers ran those brain waves through a program they hoped would translate the brain's electronic signals into actual sounds. It worked. Based only on the recordings, the computer was able to pluck out the words spoken to the patients.
Previous research has been able to reconstruct what a person is looking at from brain scans.
Researchers are still a long way from actually reading people’s minds, but it may be possible one day, says Pasley, who acknowledges the technology’s potential to unlock communication for people who can’t speak -- as well as invade our most private thoughts.
“There are ethical concerns,” Pasley says. “Not with the current research, but with the possible extensions of it. There has to be a balance. If we are somehow able to encode someone’s thoughts instantaneously that might have great benefits for the thousands of severely disabled people who are unable to communicate right now. On the other hand, there are great concerns if this were applied to people who didn’t want that."
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Leave a Comment:
Hook this thing up to a member of Congress and see if nothing comes out.
This is awesome, this sort of technology could be used in all sorts of applications if perfected. Not only could it be used for speech technology as mentioned in the article - it could be applied to controlling things like wheelchairs, vehicles, computers... whatever. Imagine being able to project imagery onto a screen?
Imagine being able to put something on your head, or have an implant, that will allow your brain to communicate with the electronics in your home. Turn on the lights, the AC, the television, dishwasher, etc etc with just thinking.
Eventually one could even perform complex tasks through this sort of interface, it would truly be an evolution in humanity as a whole. It would change everything, even the way we think.
I'm excited about this sort of research as well.. the positive implications are staggering. Of course, I'm expecting the slew of "OH GOD! THIS IS IT!!! THEY'RE GOING TO USE IT FOR EVIL!!!" comments to come, but I figure these were the same kind of people who were freaking out over the horrific implications of the electric light bulb when it was first invented.
I watched a documentary a few months back about this very thing. The military are all over it. Communication without noise...
This will be really helpful for people with "shut-in" syndrome who are paralyzed and cannot move or speak. It would also be useful for testing whether people are in a vegetative state or not.
Hook it up at night and record dreams.
That's a good thought!
It could also be an interrogation tool to extract the truth from prisoners of war.
If I remember right, in Catholocism, if you even think the thought you are guilty of the act. Maybe the world will come to be like the Stallone movie "Demoloition Man" and there will be mind reading macines everywhere to keep one on the straight & narrow and fine you if your not. Then will get to see who the purest among us really are!
I think you are right about the Catholics but I'm pretty sure in Demolition Man it was machines that fined you for cursing out loud not for thinking dirty thoughts.
I think you are right!
And Sandra wore tight pants and said, "Let's blow this guy."
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Minority Report with Tom Cruise. It had people that had telepathic powers that would "catch you" BEFORE you committed the crime.
Zardoz with Sean Connery.
Yeah, all the movies are mixed in this thread. But sometimes it's fun to think of Captain Kirk fighting the Xenomorph with a light saber.
I'm betting this was funded by the military. If my memory of science fiction serves me right, they will eventually use it to police our thoughts and persecute us for things we are thinking about doing.
This looks as though we're one tiny step closer to becoming The Borg. The technology will undoubtedly be refined to the point where not only can the mind be read, but thoughts transmitted via an implant that works much like cellular telephones do now. At that point, we'll have joined The Collective.
This type of experimentation has been around for years. There is one where a tube type television was used and placed between channels so that it was "snow". A person nearby would think of one thing intently and the outline of that "picture" would appear on the TV. Cool experiment. This is just WAY more in depth.
Maybe now men will understand women.
I doubt it... Just because I can read gibberish, doesn't mean it will make any sense. :D
Interesting. you could literally do away with the whole legal system, your own thoughts being extraced and read before a court to show your innocense or guilt. Saving ungoldly sums of money, time, and resources. Interrogation would be easy and efficient...simply get your prisoner in your lab, extact the info and forget all that psychology-babble interrogators need to do presently... save lives. Help those who lost power of speech, or are semi-catatonic... learn their thoughts, opinions, or wishes. Would come in handy when dealing with terminally ill, or patients unable to respond in the normal manner... would save oodles of cash. Strap it to politicians... listen to the sounds of silence. Priceless.
The first part you described is EXACTLY why this must be stopped. It would just become another tool of the police state and don't even think for a second that the government 'genuinely' has your best interests in mind.
People would learn how to think "correctly" and lie to the court. Their darkest thoughts would be buried during the "interrogation".
1984 is coming. And you though Orwell was just being paranoid. Just wait until this gets into the hands of the military and police.
"You'll disappear in a wink, unless you can double-think. Be careful of what you do: Big Brother is watching you."
Oh hell no. A persons THOUGHTS are SUPPOSED to be private and shared only if the person wants them to be. I'll bet anything that the military and police can't wait to get their hands on stuff like this. Soon you'll be seeing 'brain scans' of suspected criminals. Hell you might even see people in favor of putting implants in EVERYONE. Then if you even think of doing a crime the police could be all over you or even have the device release paralyzing chemicals to disable you. I mean unless you're doing something wrong you've got nothing to worry about right? DO I Sound paranoid? Maybe so, but you still have to worry about the ENORMOUS potential for evil that this tech has.
This DOES have potential for good, but IMO the potential for EXTREME EVIL is so great that this technology shouldn't be studied at all.
"Mom and Dad Save the World" - "MARGE...Marge...marge..."
Please, everyone has all kinds of thoughts, and we all know it. Whether the book is open or shut, it has the same content. Crimes are actions, not thoughts. This would be awesome taken to an extreme, it would make so many kinds of cumbersome communication hardware obsolete. Idiotic texting would be as old-fashioned as heiroglyphics. Go Mind Readers!!
Here's the problem with using this to catch those who actually commit crimes. It only works if all of the following are met:
-All politicians are ethical and non-corrupt
-All of our laws are just, ethical and regularly updated
-Not used to catch people who commit victimless crimes
As things are right now it would probably just be used to send millions more to prison fighting the 'war on people who use drugs'.
Don't forget training your thoughts to only reveal what you want.
I am thinking that this is one of those technologies that should not be invented. Like the electric chair.
As if these lunatics weren't scary enough - watch, now they'll want to start installing these at airports, train and bus stations, and very likely at commercial centers to increase revenue. I AM SICK OF THIS POLICE STATE AND THEIR MIND-CONTROL, THOUGHT-CONTROL AGENDAS! I have 'zero' faith in this technology being developed for 'helpful' concerns ..
i been having these issues personally where i have been having my mind read with brain waves without my consent i dont know how it happened or how it began but ive been stressed since the day i found out people have been using my most private thoughts and used them for there own amusement i need information on how i can defuse this promblem cause my life has been down the drain since i cant get jobs and lifestyle changed in ways worst possible anyone out there can help me how to defuse this and bring justice to the people who brought this issue to my life email me if you have any further information or if you know anything about this arreola_emmanuel@yahoo.com
i been having these issues personally where i have been having my mind read with brain waves without my consent i dont know how it happened or how it began but ive been stressed since the day i found out people have been using my most private thoughts and used them for there own amusement i need information on how i can defuse this promblem cause my life has been down the drain since i cant get jobs and lifestyle changed in ways worst possible anyone out there can help me how to defuse this and bring justice to the people who brought this issue to my life email me if you have any further information or if you know anything about this arreola_emmanuel@yahoo.com
Hello Everyone
My film Powerplegic in which I wrote about 5 years ago is exactly based on the premis that our hero Jermy Moore has a brain scan system that using special algorythms that can read human words . I was excited that they developed this technolgy that I thought of many years ago. My film wil be out in the next few months, Check it out .