Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people's dreams while they sleep.
The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.
Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.
For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. But Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, suggests that improving the measurement accuracy will make it possible to reproduce images in color.
"These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity," says Dr. Cheng. "In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person's thoughts with some degree of accuracy."
The researchers suggest a future version of this technology could be applied in the fields of art and design -- particularly if it becomes possible to quickly and accurately access images existing inside an artist's head. The technology might also lead to new treatments for conditions such as psychiatric disorders involving hallucinations, by providing doctors a direct window into the mind of the patient.
ATR chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani says, "This technology can also be applied to senses other than vision. In the future, it may also become possible to read feelings and complicated emotional states."
The research results appear in the December 11 issue of US science journal Neuron.
[Source: Chunichi]
Timothy
That is really amazing. I can't wait to read your thoughts!
[]dick
Do you really think that the Japanese formed an A into his mind and not a Japanese character?
[]twstdldy
way to think outside the box! nice point.
[]Nicole
He was shown a picture of an A, so his brain interpreted a picture of an A. From what I understand, the technology is meant to "see" what the person sees. If the test subject was shown an A, he saw an A, whether or not he thought, "Oh, A. That means -whatever-"
Also, the article doesn't ever actually specify if the test subject those images come from was Japanese, merely that the the work was done in Japan.
[]Dax
I do think that the Japanese would show an A. Compare a Japanese character with a letter from the English alphabet (characters from the Latin alphabet). An "A" is a lot easier to discern due to its simple shape. Sure, they would probably recognize the pattern of the Japanese character regardless, but if you're going to publish results internationally, you want a simple character.
[]juan nevarez
and what have you done for science lately?
[]Ryan Blessed
Retard.
[]Rob
English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Any Scholar (including Scientists) would likely choose English to record anything they wanted to share with the world.
[]Bastian
I don't think English has exclusive use of the letter "A".
[]Jeff
This is stupid. All they're are doing is taking an existing image and matching someone's brainwaives and synicing it up to the image "code" on the computer.. You are not really tapping images from someone's brain.. Just simply matching mri results per image.. Talk to me when you can display an image without having it preloaded on your machine..
[]Joshua Olson
You seem to be saying one of two things. Either you think the article is lying and the letters in "neuron" WERE shown while gathering data, or you don't think this methodology counts as reading images from the mind. Sorry, but both of those statements are wrong.
[]John
Idiot! If you were shown a character written in Chinese, you would visualize it as a character in Chinese. You aren't going to visualize a horse if you are being shown a picture of a duck....but in your case I am not so certain.
[]andy
jeff have you heard of anything as extreme as a person hearing ( not mental illness or hallucinations) other people... groups of them all talking about what you do all day long. I think my friend is not mental but, (to sound a little ridiculous maybe he has telepathic abilities"?????) I have know idea but he tells me he thinks there is some kind of experiment or something where he hears people all day, hearing his thoughts. everything. and his dreams are invaded and everything he thinks about. dreams about. So i decided to google. I have seen all sorts of weird sh*t. How, why, but not why him. Drug addict on the street no family no friends maybe but why him. he travels alot and said it started in Paris. Please respond and I hope we can talk further
[]Rafaela
Amazing? I think this is completely dangerous for freedom and creativite.
[]Amanda
wow that...that is just effed up. that like a total breach of privacy o.o
[]joethedouchebag
nah, privacy doesn't actually exist in the modern world. Between facebook and our interactions with technology increasing by the minute, they can already create software that uses algorithims to predict your interests and behaviors. Facebook does this with advertising. Search engines can and sometiems do this with their results, i.e. providing you with a set of results that is most likely to interest you based on what websites you have previously visited and what things you have searched for previously. Between that and things like facial recognition technology for pictures and videos, privacy might as well be something archaeologists discuss when talking about ancient cultures...
[]Urška
I completely agree!! I can not believe it, that the article or scientist don't even mention the enormus ethical questions raised by this. Cmon people. We will soon have mind police and not of the kind Orwell had in mind (which basics is psychology), but one, that can literally read your mind. It's dangerous and very scary, horrifying acctualy.
[]Tom
you need to calm down, the subjects are obviously volunteers, and they're willingly hooked up to the computer, it will be impossible to read ones mind without actually being physically connected to the machine. furthermore, what there doing has absolutely nothing to do with "mind readers" walking the street and mentally reading your mind. thats two totally different things.
[]Jamie
Erm, you obviously don't get it.
The experiment noted in this article is not the issue, but rather the implications it causes. The things they learn from doing this will help when it comes to doing more advanced tests.
Yes, in this experiment there were volunteers and they had to be physically connected to the computer, but natural progression of technology suggests that this will, in time, change.
[]Dax
The implications of this are potentially terrible, but I don't think it could be feasibly implemented without mass rebellion. If a government tried to implement something like this, the general public would not stand for it. It would require a totalitarian regime with the capability to deliver this technology. It would only be able to be implemented via some sort of chip, unless they make you plug into terminals to read your thoughts. But hell, how long could that POSSIBLY last?
I don't think it's anything to worry about. There are no governments that could implement this kind of technology (if anything the DPRK, but they don't have the money/connections to develop/manipulate something like that).
Maybe if a major world power became totalitarian in the distant future it would be feasible and worth caring about, but not any time soon.
Skatt
Yes, invasive like a lie detector test. That sure did destroy the foundations of our basic liberties. Paranoid much? Just because a technology presents the possibility of something does not mean that something will occur. Due process and the desire of the masses will always be the number 1 factor for those sorts of things. The number of good things that could come of this vastly out weight the unlikely event that people would be constantly subject to "memory scans". What if the scans could prove a murderer or rapist guilty? Or, even more importantly, innocent?
Nicole
You have to be _in_ an fMRI for this. As soon as you have remote fMRI capabilities, then this is possibly an ethical dilemma. That's a pretty big obstacle to overcome.
[]Andrew
Still not an ethical dilemma. All this machine does is turns your eyes into a very low-quality digital camera.
It's working directly with the visual cortex, that's all.
[]Skatt
That is not simply I/O of the eyes. The article states the possibility of seeing dreams, that means that it could read what comes from other parts of the brain too.
Roy
Regarding the "covert" implementation of mind control for the masses.
As Nicole is quick to point out, you have to be IN an fMRI machine for this experimental procedure. This is an fMRI machine: http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/fmri_machine_scanner.jpg
There are many curious experiments that involve magnetism and the brain (Transcranial magnetic stimulation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJtNPqCj-iA ), but you (most often than not) cannot do the really weird tricks REMOTELY. Only in close to very close proximity.
For the really unbridled access and clean signal of what goes on with someone's brain, you must go underneath the barrier represented by the skull.
[]STAN
I agree with Urska. The brain-computer interface was developed a long time ago. Whether or not these subjects were volunteers, doesn't mean that in the future it will only be used on volunteers. In fact, I'm sure that this kind of technology has been created for stealing information and to invade people's privacy more than anything else. We need to realize that the governments are not really looking after the civilian population's well being, they are always looking for ways to excercise more power and control over the citizens.
[]trthwrrr
well said stan
[]what appears '' for the good of all '' is the totalitarian tiptoe
saw mention of this subject on the front page of today's [ 8th]
paper
i forget which one [ sorry ]
only small column so most will miss it
read somewhere else that this tech has been used to convict someone in india
BE aware peeps
those who ignore the warnings are doomed to become victims
liberty is under threat
Vizard
C'mon, you can fool it, by imagining somethink else ;-) I doubt this will ever be reliable source for information gain.
BUT for some medical applications it can be very useful, think of coma or paraplegic patients.
[]cam
thank you, you seem to be the first to truly get the implications of this technology.
[]STAN
Ok, so... yes, you could try fooling it. But remember that imagination and facts reside in different parts of the brain. A brain scanner would be able to make the difference between facts and fiction. The brainwaves produced by memory and imagination are different.
[]Also, in order to try to fool it you need to be aware that your brain is being monitored, and I think that anyone performing a brain scan would hold on to the surprise factor as best as they could, in order to get facts quickly.
Jordan Thomas
Wow. I hope you realize that dictatorships have existed for most of human history, in fact it wasn't until our society was entering the industrial revolution that democracy was reborn. Dictatorships exist regardless of the level of technological development, I am truly tired of hearing delusional ludites rambel on about the "dangers of technological advancement". I could try to explain to you that this technology requires massive pieces of equipement to work, or that it can only be used to record what one is seeing at the very moment of the scan, but instead I'll just simplify it: Technology does not equal dictatorship.
[]terminator two
yes. down with science! burn them at the stake! witches!
[]Sam
Is this extracting images from ones brain or from ones eyes after being processed from the brain.
The difference would be, I could be looking at the letter A but focusing on a picture of a car. So how does this work with photographic thinkers?
[]fernando
you,ve got a very good point there sam. unfortunetly, only the unconscious processes the information. what this technology brake through, is the subconscious, which is where dreams and feelings are created, but there isnt much study about it, so what you say is really important
[]Birk
Am I the only one finding this DEEPLY disturbing? It opens the doors to some of the scariest 1984-style total-control future predictions. Imagine you can't hide your f#&%!ng MIND!
[]jinx123
no you are the only one who did not read the other posts with your concern.
[]Jordan Thomas
High other crazy ludite. Allow me to point out that dictatorships have existed since the stone age and that modern democracy only came into existence at the dawn of the industrial revolution. But this is probably meaningless to you since the only thing that you can get through your brain is "ug...technology bad, make brain hurt".
[]Moose
TIN FOIL HAT MOTHER****** DO YOU USE IT?
[]shatteredinsides
This.
[]Caleb
This is probably the most terrifying thing I've ever read.
[]Iceman
Hah. Scientists think this will let them see what people are thinking? how foolish. It will only allow them to decode signals being sent through the brain to the mind, not see what actually occurs in the mind. The science of determining how brains "create" thought is bogus since it is only a relay device.
[]John Doe
Idiot.
[]tomtom
You are?
[]cam
agree
[]ll
Mind = Brain
OH WAIT NO GOD>
[]Toni
Mind is a blury concept. But it's known that you can't reduce mind to brain. Al the nervous system and all the body participates to this process. A brain without a body isn't a mind.
[]J888
Yeah.. maybe you should stick to ice, Iceman. What research have you done to come to your conclusion? You realize that not even the brightest scientists have an overview of "all science" right? They concentrate in an extremely specific area. Science has enough trouble collaborating all the data that's being produced each day. Not to mention the observations and discoveries which are changing our scientific definitions almost daily now, and it's only getting faster..
People like you make me laugh, funny enough people like you only seem to exist on the Internet.. why is that, Iceman?
[]joe
yea, THEY'RE the foolish ones.
*sarcasm*
[]A R
cool...
[]it would be interesting to try this out how coma patients
reg
This is the best thing ive EVER heard,... think of the applications. ;-)
[]Lovey
Tinfoil hats indeed. You do realize that govt. black opps have been doing this and more for decades? Welcome to the posthuman world.
[]John Doe
you idiot.
[]Mike
Isn't it a little weird that in every "neuron" example, the two "n"'s are pixel for pixel the same, including background noise? Even if this were real, the "neuron" pictures aren't.
[]John Doe
good point.
[]Malichi
Agreed but i doubt the study participants were shown the letters in consecutive order, but likely each letter of the alphabet was shown and Neron used its letters to help promote, so the N is just the same N and the word was made for the purposes of the article. ...guessing
[]Marty
I think the jump to Big Brother mind-reading paranoia is a bit premature. Since they were using a fMRI machine to do it, you would have to actually be in the same room. Also, you'd have to agree to have your mind "read", and lie very still. Plus, there's the training images, which will probably always be required to calibrate whatever software is being used. So the chances of having your thoughts read and ideas stolen against your will is very, very slim.
On the other hand, maybe someone can invent ways around that.
[]John Doe
You could ofcourse also just think of something else, than that what they want to know.
[]Timothy
This is the end.
[]Daniel
Or future technology in this field might be used at airport checkpoints by TSA for security. I shudder at the thought. And for some reason, the movie 'Scanners' comes to mind...
[]Blacksun
While I've always thought, "wouldn't it be cool to be able to record your dreams", the other uses of this technology are scary indeed. This could be worse for humanity than the nuclear bomb.
[]itistoday
While this is cool, there's no reason for panic. :-)
They're still really (really) far away from being able to read your thoughts, the hardware just isn't there yet, and it won't be for a while.
[]Edwardo Montoyo
I can't wait to watch my dreams on tv from the night before!
[]bob@bob.com
Has anyone entertained the thought that their dick might be getting yanked....
[]External Memory
As difficult as it is to get a single image from a voluntary brain I do not see how anyone would ever be able to use this technology to read the thoughts of the unwilling.
I think the positive applications will be extensive, and the negative repercussions will be non existent.
[]Alan
I wonder what William Gibson has to say about this??
[]klang
That's it! I am learning Chinese! Hopefully the complexity of the characters will foil reading my brain for a few years!
[]Sandeep Kumar Jakkaraju
I think we should actually test this technology on Dr. Cheng first. Is he human or what ?!!!!
[]nico_nobin123
It is difficult to read this , the letter is to samll to see.
[]on the other hand , it is terrible !
John
I bet this doesn't on girls... it's completely impossible to determine what they're really thinking!
[]Angry Scientist
I love how peoples' first response to science they don't fully understand is fear.
This article describes researchers who have taken advantage of the already established idea that there are neurons in the primary visual cortex that are laid out in a manner which roughly correlates to the image on a person's retina.
Aside from the fact that this is nowhere near or even related to being able to "read thoughts", the whole process is exploratory, not practical. fMRI equipment is huge and expensive. This will likely be true for several decades to come. Furthermore, MRI can only measure brain activity via blood oxygen level, which is a slow response. This is why the subjects had to stare at the same image for 12s.
Even if a "portable MRI" were to be invented any time in the near future, such a powerful magnet would be unsafe to use outside of controlled conditions.
Technology for reading minds, if it ever comes will be a very, very long way off. For those of you who are afraid of this article, you can rest soundly knowing that you will be long dead before your unfounded fears become reality. As for me, I'm still waiting for my flying car.
[]mr k heskth
This is nothing.i know that they can put moving pictures directly in to the human brain.Some look like ghosts and can be seen with your eyes wide open.Examples of cars or people can be seen like ghosts.Some are the best tv quality,seen just before waking up.One i saw,was like a portable dvd screen inside my head.it looked like it was about afoot in front of me and my head had a dark room feel around my head.The turqoise back ground and moving clouds opened up to reveal a little jumping stick like figure.The words or whisper could be heard,"its like jeep".Not a hoax but a human rights abuse.UK stinks.I wish i could prove this but i can`t.iT WILL BE ONE MASIVE COMP CLAIM.
[]Malichi
Crazy people make me smile, and sad at the same time.
[]Andrew
this.
[]Malichi
Angry scientist is smart. I like him or her. But should proly not let internet chatter affect day. oosfraba.
[]ChayD
This
Besides, who needs a mind reading machine? People nowadays don't seem to have the ability to *not* publicly broadcast what's on their mind, so even the most insignificant brainfart (such as what I'm writing now) ends up in a blog or twitter somewhere :)
[]MINIjohn
GREAT
[]Kalmisto
hmmm hehe I can't wait.. my dreams are some serious shit at times. Talking something like Lovecraft's worst nightmares.
[]giordano bruno
if they let you know about it its already at least a decade old.read 'between two ages'.
[]Proxy List
I can already imagine those soap movies:
[]Penelope : "Pedro, I love you!"
Pedro: "Which Pedro? I have computer evidence it's not me"
Brian B.
I'd be worried about a wicked feedback loop. Place the monitors in front of the eyes, hook them to the brain, and lookout.
[]João Jerónimo
As much as you find this amazing (I find it pretty amazing too) this can be dangerous... You all realize that this in the wrong hands can have some pretty nasty consequences don't you ? Many things will change... and not only because of this... Hate to say this but technology is a dangerous thing... This is as dangerous as the airplane when it was invented and no one thought it would be used in wars...
[]Malichi
They them it
[]classic paranoia
3Monkeys
Just cause youre not paranoid doesn't mean theyre not after you
[]Malichi
True.
[]Better safe and ignorant than sorry and controlled by the lizard people from the twelth planet.
Arpie
Wow! This is amazing, thanks for posting!
[]deadzoro
You don't wanna see the images that are in my brain...
[]00addis
If this is really true we should make it mandatary all leaders from around the world do this in public before we give them the power to decide for all off us. Especially African leaders
[]Malichi
Good idea.
[]Bigot
Anthony
Have you seen how the African leaders act? It's no secret that governments in Africa are more than a little mismanaged.
Unless he was making an Obama joke. Then yes, he's a bigot.
[]Antonio Leite
Doesnt work on women...
[]Bob
"accurately access images existing inside an artist’s head." Erm... I think not! I'd wager that an artist doesn't have a clear image of what they create in their mind before actually creating it.
[]Steve-o
It's not mind reading, it's monitoring the neurons which are in turn monitoring the eyeballs. So all it can do is give a blurry idea of what's in your direct field of view, and even then you have to stare straight at it for at least twelve seconds. In normal use, eyeballs flick around all over the place, so it'd be pretty useless for telling anything except whether it was dark or light.
I guess if they got color working, they might be able tell if you were staring at the sky or the ground - and in either case you need a truckload of equipment jammed against your head, so it's hardly stealthy.
It might be useful to tell if someone is physically blind or not, I suppose...?
[]xerix
Neat but seriously this is not a magic bullet nothing is... Getting colors or seeing that a person is sad is one thing however to understand it is another Pah!!! I already know what I'm thinking and I dont fully understand. See you in 300yrs.
[]Donnie
Wow, the paranoia comments here are insane. Are there really that many people in the world that are this stupid? It's science, get over it. Most of you sound like 3 year olds who are scared of the dark. omg,this is the end, they can read our minds. boo hoo. Yea, I'm really starting to lose faith in mankind. I can't believe some of these people are smart enough to use a computer. Oooooh, this is dangerous, tecnhology advancements are dangerous. Go live in a hut in the woods then, and stay off of your computer. Quit using electricity. If you can't do that, quit whining about other advancements in science.
[]ummmm....
You do know if someone reads a very important person's mind that has secrets that shouldn't be revealed... eg; PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER, TERRORIST (lol, jk. getting terrorist info would help)
Also it's and invasion of privacy. Say you just had sex the other night and your thinking about it and they use the machinery on you, first off do you really want people knowing how you had sex?
[]Say your thinking about someone you love and some person uses the machinery and they know you love her... >.> you can't keep your secrets at all.... O_o
John Doe
Allthough i agree with you, that most of the comments are pretty paranoia, your post is pretty stupid. all the arguments you give are argumetns of feeling, and saying that it's 'just scientific advancement' is simply BS. the atomic bomb was also just 'scientific advancement'.
[]In this case, we don't have much to fear, though. but you are talking a load of shit.
tmk26
This technology has existed since at least 1981. The US military and its allies have underground bases with quantum supercomputers which control and monitor the masses. The computers are connected to a satellite constellation which accesses and triggers brain states using electromagnetic radiation. They know and, to an extent, control everything within society--politicians, celebrities, terrorists, even you. It doesn't matter how insignificant you think you are, they have your life recorded and your future planned. The military is trained in deception so it is no surprise that they have managed to keep this secret for so long. Check here for some people's experience with this system: http://www.fedame.org/phpBB2/
[]John Doe
you are crazy.
[]Malichi
I agree with john doe on that one. But I will admit tmk can organize their thoughts well for a nut. I bet you can even spell delooshenall correctly.
[]xerix
@Bob agreed. I enjoy drawing & most of the time I have a faint idea of what I truly want. It comes along as one creates... Many scientist don't even have an inkling what is in the mind of an artist for they themselves are so impotent in the right brain quadrant it might as well be non-existent.
And as for you people who are afraid of an apocalyptic conclusion have no fear the human brain is here. The average Joe human brain's processes speed is anywhere from 10-1000 petaflops (based upon random internet sites) and say that this is true the fastest Cray supercomputer doesn't even compare @ 1.64 petaflops. So, like Steve-O said you'd "need a truckload of equipment jammed against your head" and probably a flipping bank of super computers as well.
[]Matthew Mondor
To those of you who find that this technology can be very dangerous, you must understand that this only works to some point _after_ the system was configured with the proper parameters directly involving prior analysis of one's brain in response to specific stimuli.
This has to be done over again for each individual. They couldn't extract anything useful from a non-volunteer, and very little information with volunteers (i.e. in this example the system was trained to record states when the subject was voluntarily concentrating on various symbols one by one).
This has nothing to do with seeing what others are seeing, but more to do with matching previously known brain states in that particular individual's brain section which responds to known previous sensorial stimuli.
Moreover seeing in one's brain is more complex; people practicing certain types of meditation discover multiple internal "vision screens" in their mind, each of which at various layers. One can then train on viewing or using such "virtual screen" for visualization. There are multiple possible sources of visual/auditory material generation, and the active brain regions involved differ with individual on top of that.
If the technology was successfully tapping the regions directly involved in capture of visual or auditory reception in the brain, this would be different; however this is of no use whatsoever to discover what one is thinking or dreaming, only useful to know what one is currently seeing and hearing.
[]Henry
The military applications seem obvious--we can now skip the torture and go straight to the interogation.
[]Ryan
Dangerous...
NWO...Microchips and mind reading. Illuminati y'all!
[]??PandaGirlExcel??
This can help a lot in the future ^^
[]you think maybe they can do it for animals too?
that would be cool if i knew what my cat was thinking hehehe...
Jason Borne
How long before Nazi serial killers decide to kill people based on what they think instead of how they look? If you think like a liberal who will protect you?
[]John Doe
they dont need this technology to do that, so it doesn't make any sense at all.
[]Conexion
The fact that the two 'N' pictures are exactly the same, pixel for pixel, bothers me.
[]Jon
But the images are inherit on the original 400 images given, its not really the mental image of the person. More this is only text, easily identifiable graphical representations.
But yes, this could develop into something very threatening to civil liberties and human beings in general
[]Art
this might help me remember... what I was going to say?
[]Dawod,D.S.
Just wished the ' Big Brother' of George Orwell knew that!
[]Sat
I thought about this about 15 years ago, this is very exciting
[]it would in many areas, trust, honesty, loyalty, truth, commitment = implications catch the dishonest folks, liars, cheaters, criminals and such. I applaud this and I say go for it.
Malichi
Well i invented the ray gun when i was five
[]Astroboy
Here is the actual reference:
http://download.cell.com/neuron/pdf/PIIS0896627308009586.pdf
Journal: Neuron
[]Wolfie Rankin
This might help me print out all the pr0n I have stored in my head.
Wolfie!
[]Jane
This FREAKS ME OUT. Oh my gosh, I can't believe that this is actually happening. Paranoia, it haz me! Wait until this becomes widespread.....
[]Exotic Goddess
All of those people who can't complete a full sentence have nothing to fear. No one will ever understand their minds. I know a few of them.
The argumentative types also have nothing to worry about; all they'll ever be thinking is "You can't read my mind."
[]Malichi
Funny, also a little erotic.
Are you a man?
[]Exotic Goddess
I been having a lot of dreams about nude men with great bodies.
I hope those thoughts aren't illegal.
[]Exotic Goddess
or rather, "I've been having..."
If dreams with nudity in them become illegal, will they they jail me for having those thoughts or put me in Guantanamo and sick their dogs on me?
[]kit
FCK!
why is everyone so effin' negative about this!
Instead of seeing the great advancements in technology, mostly everyone is bitching about the invasion of privacy and how dangerous would this discovery be.
The freaking thing is still in development and OBVIOUSLY it wouldn't be used the will of someone.
[]Dave
So, did those graphics at the top come from the people who did the experiment or are they by the author of this article? Cuz I'm wondering why (and how) such high tech research would be done on a 1999 G4 Macintosh (with a built-in Zip drive no less) which is barely capable of running OS 10.4 (the previous gen of Mac OS, BTW)?
[]HAL
I'm afraid i can't let you do that Dave.
But youre intimate knowledge of the computer, inside and out, makes my CPU all kinds of hot. (all in the voice of Stanley Kubrik's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clark character (H)euristically-programmed (AL)gorithmic Computer--eh? eh? ah you don't get it.)
[]Nicvic
Like everything else invented there are pros and cons, however this shows how technologically advanced we are and can become!
[]Richard
Big Brother is watching you
[]Janine
I wonder if they'll be able to play the soundtrack as well. With my mind I might be dreaming about a brutal murder with the Scooby-Doo theme happily playing in the background...Will Schizophrenic people have multiple screens at once? Will there be brain Tivo so you can remember where you put your keys? So many questions, so many possibilities...although I might point out that there is probably a sound evolutionary reason that we did not develop exterior "mind screens" and have been limited to the eyes being "windows to the soul".
[]casey
I would love the chance to revisit my dreams, or to have recordings of a memory or something like that.
Think of how incredible that could be!
Of course there is no sound, which is interesting...
[]wheezy
Yes, no reason for panic. Although this is a huge jump in understanding our brain, we still have a long, long way to go. Remember, our brain is the most complicated thing we have discovered in our known universe.
[]Boogerhollerman
Does the movie "THE CELL" come to mind?
[]kinogirl
Just like the "seeing machine" in the 1993 Wim Wenders film 'Until the End of the World' -- meant to allow the blind to see (still needing a sighted person to pre-record their brain activity while concentrating on looking at something before the data can be uploaded to the second person by the first's re-watching), others become addicted to watching their dreams.
[]Buster
The most obvious use for this is for criminal interrogation.
[]Sean
I know this is far off, and maybe far out, but this hopefully means that sometime in the far distant future we will have the ability to identify "problem" minds (in terms of whether or not they are helpful to society as a whole) and somehow correct them or at least control the bodies carrying them around. This could lead to a society of individuals that will be more successful at moving forward responsibly to take care of this planet and each other.
[]Sam
It is scary that you think mass mind-control by the state is actually a good idea Sean.
[]Jason Borne
Sat the world is run by the dishonest criminals, not the honest folks. By inventing this technology, the people who currently have all the money and power (the yakuza,the mafia, nazi's, radical islamic fundamentalists, christian fundamentalists) will gain control of the technology and use it to enslave honest folk.
They will use it to figure out who the best sucker is, they will use it to figure out who all the gays are so they can hunt them, they will use it to kill all the non-whites and jews, they will use it to protect their wealth and power. They'll use it to regulate your sexuality and your thoughts.
[]John Doe
Again, they don't need this technology to do that.
[]bpm
I agree. This is how many of them got the 'great' ideas that have kept them on top; they've stolen them from others and used them to build their wealth. Now it is just an easier way to prevent others from competing. It is like the Terminator movie becoming reality. It is the rise of the machines which harvest human beings for such God-given abilities. But in that movie, the scientist and officers all had sad endings, so maybe they should watch it again and rethink their 'creation' ( i.e. destruction).
[]Jason Borne
Sean, Buster, what if the problem minds decide you are the problem? What if they want to use it for political purposes, to rid the earth of liberal minds, or to remove all the race traitors from the face of the earth? What if the far right fascists use this?
You liberals always seem to think that this technology that you invent will be used by you. It will be used by the people who currently are the ruling class, and thats not you. The ruling class are the right wing elite, and they hate your mind. The ruling class are the mafias and they'd rather use your police to spy on you and control you than to let you use it on them.
Now that the thought crime laws are in place, it's time to invent thet technology to help us regulate and control your minds.
[]Andrew
right, because a 10px by 10px black and white live-camera system requiring a giant, hulking device, that is prone to errors and in need of careful calibration is just SO USEFUL for discerning details and colours in memories of past events on the spot and without the consent of the interrogatee
[]domzo
this is really fantastic
we have come such a long way
[]yonasu
I'd love to record my own dreams! :D
[]Brian
I was having a pretty good morning until I read the following sentence…
“In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person’s thoughts with some degree of accuracy.”
Surely, the scientists bringing us this nightmare technology will be the first to subjugate themselves to those who have authoritarian rule over them.
[]Rob
This will not result in dream imagery recording just yet. fMRI is too slow. You can get an image every few seconds at best. There is also reason to doubt that this will directly result in dream recording. These are simple visual cortex mappings to the visual field. It is very likely that complex imagery is enacted in a way that involves many different regions of the brain. This is different from being shown an image to the eyes, and then analyzing decoding it knowing exactly what to look for.
[]hemmendorff
I fail to understand the big brother paranoia that rules the internetzzzzz. Seriously, this is awesome! I hope advancing this technology goes furiously fast.
[]Brooks
Why people don't weigh the possible effects of both sides, the good and the bad, I will never get. Technology, every bit of it has been used for bad, because it has that potential. There is no reason to think that urge will change by the time people have the ability to read thoughts. I think the day is coming at some point, nothing we can do about it, but try to limit its use to these fun and cool uses that people have in mind when thinking about it. The fact remains though, people would use such technology for selfish reasons (to get a girl or money) and others would use it for control reasons. To think otherwise I believe is being naive.
[]Veqtor
What if it's possible to reverse this technology as well? You could perhaps record the experience of people learning all things necessary (school basically) and then transfer this, into children while they are sleeping. No more need for schools.
And as an artist, being able to transfer the music I hear inside my head directly into sound would be a great dream come true for me.
Of course there could be cons of this technology, but that's how it is with all new tools. It's how you use them that matters.
[]mono
Finally, my invention, Dream Tivo will soon be a reality! Yes!
[]MisterFoamy
Think of the communications that we will have! Dreams recorded, think of the art and music! No more computer screen interface. Yes, there are those that will try to exploit it for dark purposes, but in the end complete empathy with one another, for better and for worse! Its a brave new world baby!
[]alvarock
This is the genesis of James Cameron's 'strange days' leit motive.
[]LSK
Jeez, so many of you commenters fail to see what's actually been accomplished here !
[]The guy's research went as far as reconstructing images *seen* by the test subject, not tought. There's a more or less direct mapping between the image captured by the retina and the brain activity recorded, enabling them to recognize what one's eyes see, not directly from the eyes, but through the resulting brain activity.
So here's your world-ending technological leap : they're able to record a few images of what your eyes can see, after extensive calibration and through heavy machinery.
How's that even remotely 1984-esque ? Where's the mind control device so many of you seem to see !?
There's a difference between using someone's head as a (lame) video camera, and reading through it. The guys boast about their research being a first step towards "mind reading", because they need/want to attract public attention and justify their budget, but they're nowhere near it.
Thomas
Strange Days...............
[]someone
@LSK, Rob, and other doubter of danger:
[]You ignore the technological progress. Of course their work, can't be used to read one's mind or to control it. But it is mainly a matter of time, until this is possible, and this work is an important step towards this goal.
So they are preparing the ground for a society where your thoughts aren't free anymore. (as a matter of fact, there are already people who are arrested for (saying) wrong thoughts)
This doesn't mean such a society will really come (after all the atom bomb hasn't been used to destroy the world, until now), but the possibility for it will come, due to studies like this.
Jordan Thomas
And without technological advancement we go the way of the dinosaurs. If you are so looking forward to our species extinction, what is the point of YOUR continued existence?
[]Edward A. Weissbard
I was recently thinking about a device that could playback dreams.....amazing possibilities!
[]Mathew
This is quite interesting for us humans, but I think it would be more interesting for animals. e.g. man's best friend..
[]"A Dog's dreams"
luneale
It is not POSSIBLE ! Don't you see that it is an hoax ???!!!
[]How an electric message between neurones can be seen as an image?
I'm a student in cognition science, and believe me, it's a joke.
Autonova
This is actually quite scary. Governments and corporations will get their hands on this and it will be just another invasion of our lives. Unfortunately in this world, the most marvelous technology is usually used for the most horrific purposes. Is there nothing sacred now that our very thoughts are at risk?
[]sam
this is bs, cause the mind and the brain are distinct entitites. A machine can't process feelings and thoughts, only the neuronal connections.
[]John Doe
argument based on unproved premis.
[]Zappo Zap
I would say this is BS. But I must accept that in the future, the "impossible" becomes "normal". If this is true, some aspects of its implications and possible future uses, are horrible..
[]Sham
This is actually kind of scary... What will the government do if they're able to read peoples thoughts with machines? I don't want anyone reading my thoughts - the mind is the only really private part of us left, what happens when that's taken away too?
[]Jonathan Melusky
Actually if you zoom in with photoshop onto the n's in neuron, the image pixels are very different.
[]Robert
I've seen how this ends. Check out Wim Wenders' "Until the End of the World." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101458/
[]Yarrik
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! All those responses are just HILARIOUS. So many people HONESTLY think that people will be able to pull images directly from the brain without a problem.
It's probably WAY TOO EXPENSIVE and WAY TOO DIFFICULT to have any practical applications ANY TIME SOON.
People, PLEASE be realistic, will you?
[]fisharegood
Think that's scary? Check this out -- and it's 3 years old. Sony patenting a device that controls sensory perception through ultrasound.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18624944.600
[]Jon
The training set for the recognition software is visual as stated in the article, so this doesn't sound like it's doing anything more than picking up on visual perception (which is still a feat for the human mind, even though they've been able to do similar with flies and I think cats before). Personally, I'll take the statements made with a pinch of salt; I'd say they're a little speculative given that visual neurology is fairly well understood whereas I believe that other perceptions are less so.
[]Johnny
B.S.
[]Gab
Sooooooooooo fucking fake
[]george waring
This opens up all new possibilitys for pornography, Just don't let my wife watch them.
[]Neil Thompson
Anyone watch Farscape? If not episode 1x17 or so has a machine in it called "The Aurora Chair" it was a torture and image extraction device used by the "peacekeepers" to map the synapses of the individual sitting in it. You can be lead and interrogated for hours by this device as it slowly breaks down your mind.
"You can't foll the chair. Can only hide it for so long."
That is what this device is and the logical brutal implication of the technology.
[]Palscience
No privacy anymore ha?
[]mikee
Are you kidding ATF or TSA couldn't find a thought in their own brain.What makes you think they could find anything in our Minds.They can't keep track of our luggage.Any one seen my bags by the way?
[]MichelleinHarleml
Doctors and Scientists are sick twisted freaks. You don't need to know what the hell someone else is thinking. It sounds like a great idea to have but in the wrong hands can be extremely dangerous. Mankind is always creating something that is suppose to be used for good but it always ends up using it for the wrong instead of always the right reasons. I have someone doing this to me already(spying by reading my thoughts, seeing what I see, listening to whatever I'm listening to) I have no privacy. i didn't agree to this shit! If I agreed to it I would remember it. It certainly wouldn't create anxiety, stress for me. Why the hell are my neigbor(s) involved. This constant harassment has to stop.
Let me describe to you what I endure daily. Threats of physical or financial harm to me or my family. Also I'm being threatned Murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. This is not a joke. Doctor think I'm psychotic. I can assure you I'm not. I am not suicidal either. For one thing these voices would like me to think I am. O
[]MichelleinHarleml
One day I am at work and the voices decided to tell me what my client was thinking. The first fuck up they make) Another time they tell me exactly what my mother is doing all the way in North Carolina. She was visiting friends this pass summmer and I was home in NYC. Other symptoms I am experiencing anxiety, hearing voices, seeing images of people or shadowy figures all the time whenever I shut my eyes or in a dark room. I see eyeballs staring back at me and even roving around as if they were looking for something. I want this shit to stop and to stop now!!! I know my upstairs neighbor is involved and possibly others. Someone is doing something immoral and unethical. I hear them real close at home and far off when I'm at work or traveling to another state.
If something happens to me or my family my name is Michelle and I'm from Harlem; New York City, NY
[]Dave
OMG, it IS true:
http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(08)00958-6
That's the magazine article they cite, they were only off a day though. Kinda freaky...but think of what can be DONE with it...
(emits evil laughter and shakes fist wildly)
[]MichelleinHarleml
I just want to write will the person or persons whoever has knowledge about this thing please point that probe or whatever the hell it is towards Martin LUther King Towers Projects; particulary building 40. I am consstantly being harassed. I think it is time for someone or some people to get a taste of their own damn medicine. I'm sure whomever created this thing over here in the U.S. has a more sophisticated machine. It's time for me to put their lives on blast. Maybe you can tell me who is harassing me. OR just call the police anonymously. I would appreciate the help. These people keep on harassing me. So what if I suffer from depression. All they need to know is I am not suicidal.
[]All this shit has made me feel more depressed and angry. There is a strong possiblity I will become violent.
Brittany
I don't see the reasoning behind all of the commotion. I understand this is a startling topic to think about...but just imagine the possibilities it will bring! When I first heard of a supposed "machine that can map images of what people are dreaming about" and that "it can only process simple images at the moment", or something of the sort on television, I was astonished and excited! I would absolutely LOVE being able to relive my dreams, especially the vivid, amazing dreams, half of which I forget after awaking from my sleep! Now, people are complaining, worried about not being able to keep their thoughts secret anymore...that's absurd. Honestly, I think if we got to the point of having a complete thought and dream image-processing machine, and scientists were able to reproduce them to make millions, maybe to sell to the general public, I would assume these machines would cost millions! With all of that hard labor and expensive machinery that would be going into just one machine, reproducing millions more to sell, would be unthinkably expensive. How many of your close friends or enemies has that kind of money...? And how many of them would be one of these machines instead of a Lamborghini?
[]MichelleinHarleml
You have to experience what I am going through. I am not a willing volunteer. I didn't ask for this. You may love for someone to know what you thinking but, come on all the TIME!!! No that wouldn't be pleasant at all. What is happening to me is malicious. I know some of you believe this is a great invention. It's not. Give it enough time and you will then see how really scary and dangerous. The only thing absurd is some of you are blatantly naieve. To think that no one can deliberately hurt you. I didn't say they have to have a whole lot of money to have this machine. They could've stolen it or have permission by some university, military, government etc. to you this machine and can have I'M GOD COMPLEX and start fucking with people mind who they don't like. It's okay you don't have to respond to this entry or my other paranoia sounding entries. At least I know someone knows the truth. They love to use and say the word spastic or I'm psychic. Neither one is true about me.
[]Carol
lol...when do we get a DC-Mini?
[]Privet Thoughts
ok this is a good & bad we're talking about! this is good for people who are blind,coma..etc the list go on, but...thoughts are meant to be privet! is this thing goes in our brain reading it like an open book then there's no hope nor dream to acumplish what u want in this life!. WE all know someday this thing well be used for really REALLY bad things in the near future!...i hope not controlling us as we speak,eat & even dream!. human kind is always inventing something to distroy humanity in any kind, so, let's see where is thing going!.
[]Tobias Fox
Is there any video, animation on any patient where it worked?
[]Givrix
What a surprising news ! I saw this concept in these tv series "The magician", stories of a genius dwarf, do you remember that ? I thought it quite clumsy concept even for science fiction at the time...
anyway, i have answer to your question Mike. People were seeing "letters" but no words. So the captured letters for neuron are probably the best shots among the letters N E U R and O.
So it's logical they used twice the same N as it was the best result.
But this implies another question : what is the average quality / loss of the rendering ? If one N is well shaped on 1000, it would be almost identical to random noise rendering...
[]icywindow
Alright, now we just need to do some old fashioned brain-hacking, then those people who have bad eyes can have cameras see for them, interpreting the images into quantized data serialized and quantized with appropriate noise. The applications of Fourier. Fantastic.
[]psilocybe
Awesome! I've been wanting a dream recorder ever since watching Red Dwarf! This is my kind of technology.
[]Brendan Allison
Hi, Some replies to other comments.
[]The article is sound. I am a neuroscientist who has been doing brain-computer interface (BCI) work for over 10 years. I read the article in Neuron and checked it with one of the most respected figures in the field. Neuron is a good journal and the authors are reputable. The figure in which both ns in neuron are identical is in the article (figure 1A), but this fact is noted in the figure legend.
Whenever an article like this comes out, there are always people who attack such efforts as if only they considered the ethical implications. Boy, those doctors and neuroscientists sure are stupid! In fact, we talk about ethical implications all the time. Have you considered the ethical implications of discouraging technologies to help severely disabled people communicate? Have you ever told a patient, and his wife and kids, I am sorry, but you will never be able to communicate again because our BCI is just a couple years away from working for you, and you will probably be dead by then? I have. Please go to the CBS news website and look for the 60 Minutes article by Scott Pelley that ran on Nov 2, 2008 about BCI technology and its impact on people's lives.
And no, there is no such thing as literal mindreading device that can determine whatever you are thinking against your will. We are many years away from such a device, for many reasons, both technological and ethical.
Brendan Allison, PhD
Ruffnekk
It doesn't matter. We're all slaves any way.
[]jessica
Am I the only one finding this DEEPLY disturbing? It opens the doors to some of the resimler scariest 1984-style total-control future predictions. Imagine you can’t hide your f#&%!ng MIND!
[]David Edwards
Do you have a reference to a peer reviewed scientific paper containing this material? Only I'm having trouble finding one at the moment. If you can provide a DOI, even better.
[]Ominous
i find this incredible! lol but the fact that people are shitting themselfs make me laugh. you got something to hide?...
[]Jamie
You are officially cretinous.
Why do you have curtains in your house if you have nothing to hide? Privacy of what you do (and more importantly, what you think) isn't about having something to hide - its about having the freedom to do something, whatever it is, without everyone else watching.
[]the scalies
This will be so good in the future. Now it's crap and can hardly do much but when they develop the systems enough then we will READ MINDZ
[]Another
This is NOT A HOAX.
The research exist and is published in the science journal "Cell".
Do a search on this page for http://www.cell.com to see the PDF.
NOT A HOAX!!!
[]Another
On a side note...
To all those who disagree with this technology. A day will come when you will cease to disagree with it. When your thoughts are rewritten to like it.
Scary?
[]Gary
Technology will power over us as we age. We will become lazy, we all having chips in our head, and the government dictating what we can and cannot do.
[]Martin
FANTASTIC! SAVE THE DREAM, DREAMS REVIEW AUTHORITY ON A SCREEN IS SIMPLY WONDERFUL!
[]IT WILL BE OUR CINEMA, OUR CREATION? OUR PURE IMAGINATION!
HURRY? DEAR SCIENCE, I encourage you to find the solution
Ben
Why are you all scared?
I would love to have this as an alternative to my dream journal.
[]Oh god this would be amazing, think of some of the films that people could produce
XRO
To all of you who are afraid - you should see your doctor to treat your paranoia.
This is a great breaktrough and we're all looking forward to more sophisticated devices !!
[]Micalith
This was my favourite post so I'm re-posting it:
Angry Scientist
2008.12.12 ::: 18:52
I love how peoples’ first response to science they don’t fully understand is fear.
This article describes researchers who have taken advantage of the already established idea that there are neurons in the primary visual cortex that are laid out in a manner which roughly correlates to the image on a person’s retina.
Aside from the fact that this is nowhere near or even related to being able to “read thoughts”, the whole process is exploratory, not practical. fMRI equipment is huge and expensive. This will likely be true for several decades to come. Furthermore, MRI can only measure brain activity via blood oxygen level, which is a slow response. This is why the subjects had to stare at the same image for 12s.
Even if a “portable MRI” were to be invented any time in the near future, such a powerful magnet would be unsafe to use outside of controlled conditions.
Technology for reading minds, if it ever comes will be a very, very long way off. For those of you who are afraid of this article, you can rest soundly knowing that you will be long dead before your unfounded fears become reality. As for me, I’m still waiting for my flying car.
[]Matthew L.
Wow, amazing! Where's my flying car?
[]Jake
People are already doing this all over the U.S. They are studying people from within thier homes. Can't do anything about it, but just watch what you think or have done, or they will come after you...
[]Malachi
And do what exactly when THEY get you?
You silly goose
[]Ed
So, I had this dream. You know how your eyes takes images and plants them in the brain. This reverse retina scanner/viewer works in reverse. You look into this viewer and it pulls your past images from your brain into the viewer. The ultimate truth machine.
[]ScooterBeast
Okay,this is awesome.
The "HOLY FUCK BIG BROTHER MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TIN FOIL HAT *foams at the mouth* *takes a swig out of whatever is wrapped up in that brown paper bag*" people need to take the following steps:
1)Chill the fuck out.
2)Shoot yourself to remove crazy genes from gene pool
3)???
4)PROFIT!
Like everyone else has said, they can't read your thoughts, just what you see, and only with a shit-ton of calibration and a huge-ass MRI thingamajig. Sure, this is just the first step, and the technology will certainly improve, but if they ever do figure out a way to read thoughts remotely against your will, instate a thought police-like organization, and round up all the 'wrong thinkers', then you will actually be very happy. In fact, you will love Big Brother.
Honestly, I hate it when people say "Oh no 1984 is here!" without having actually read it.
Also, love the batshit crazies on this comments page. I don't even mean the paranoid ones, I mean the ones that go on 5 post rants about how they are being controlled by the government or some shit.
[]SnowBeast
Preach it brother. Agreed on every point. Check out Zod \/
[]zod
there is a portable mind reading device out since about 2004. the images of it are also very black and white and unclear but you can also speak into peoples minds with it and hear their thoughts it is supposed to be a secret but ive had dealings with the people that use these things they use it to destroy freedom you might think im a crack pot i dont care im telling the truth you should be scared of this technology it means no more secrets in the wrong hands this could be deadly.
[]bpm
Exactly. Just think of all the minds that will be and already are programmed to assassinate the people who do not agree with this technology and are not well liked. Images will be put in their minds to destroy without remorse; as if it's just a daily chore. It is definitely time for Divine intervention.
[]zod
i think it is cell technology
[]zod
this device is used to read peoples minds when they sleep and can also be used for insider trading a hackers tool this machine was a very bad idea for the future of the world and peoples freedom. everyone has the right to privacy and freedom of thought that is what democracy is.
[]Whoa Nelly
Lay off the crack Zod
[]gina
This is a gross oversimplification
[]Moji
This is so obviously BS. Even if it were true, which it's not, it would be impossible to capture images thought up in the mind like it's a real image or video.
[]Renae
I have been waiting for something like this to finally be possible, only for the sole purpose of being able to show someone a crazy or enlightening dream, or an artistic idea. I think its exciting, and just with any new capability we humans discover, there is always a line of ethics that shouldn't be crossed. It IS a scary thought that something neat like this could be used in such a way as to invade someones mind without consent. So lets hope this doesn't fall into the wrong hands and people stay ethical about it.
[]Cyanide
How exactly does this help get me a sandwich?
All joking aside, I find that the people that are saying that this is going to turn into people seeing your every thought, I don't really see it as all that bad. Sure, you're able to fully function and speak your mind to people, but what about the people that can't? What about the autistic people that can't seem to process outward expression?
Go ahead and only think of how this is going to affect YOU, and not someone that could use it as help to connect to an outside world that they don't understand.
[]j
Aaah, so cooool. Look at the "e", it doesn't just look like the picture, it looks more rounded like how people usually picture an "e".
I hope the public gets access to this technology in my lifetime~~
Moji: this is not BS. Well, this one instance MIGHT be, but it is NOT impossible to get images from the human brain. It's just a computer like the one you're seeing these images on right now. The images are in there in some form, the challenge is translating them to a real image on a screen.
[]david lee
hi there ive been having problems lately and it might be from this. i believe people are stealing my ideas and places ive thought up for movies and scientific facts.i remember falling asleep for 2 days and been having wierd but really facinating dreams that would go good in movies, i wonder if they could do this wirelessly to someone i would like to know. i feel like im being watched and that they are in my head seeing special things i should be seeing and not telling me do u think this could happen to me i mean people doing some hidden project for movies or government experiments i would like to hear what u ppls think thanks p.s wierd things happen to me and i feel and hear things in my head
[]B
Won't be long before the Americans turn it into a weapon lol
[]ryan
OH MY FUCK!
[]LORI
haha all this bs really is true there are mind readers, I am one, but I dont know how i am haha u guys suuuck jk lol but i really am, who knows how
[]stefano
I do not believe it.
[]they found shapes in the blood flow?
there is no way for a liquid substance like blood to be shaped fast enough to draw all the images an eye captures in milliseconds.
Example:
in the 60's they tried the same with memory devices based on fluid versus the transistor semiconductors technology.
results?
the fluid-stor signal was propagating signals at sound speed and the electronic transistors at light speed (i.e. almost 900,000 time fsster).
curiousvulcan
i beleave to every problem there is a cuase and effect, ok let be optimistic for a sec it would be pretty nice to see scientist use this technology to help and understand the mentally disabled it would be a groundbreaking accomplishment in science, but like most of you in this forum who are reading this understand the potetial danger/DAMAGE!! it can really do to a person by invading an spying on sombodys thoughts, but lets say that our worse nightmare did come true.... how would you react to it?
[]Paul
There is such a thing as human rights remember! I very much doubt that the powers that be would be allowed to impeach on peoples privacy unless it was deemed by higher officials or was necessary by courts of law, cases of serious psycological & criminal behaviour I think would be the first implications for use of this contraption. I do believe that people are over reacting at this very early stage of development in this scientific breakthrough & are forgetting the positives of it's usage. It's natural to fear the unusual but once it becomes common knowledge and people have a better understanding for it's possibilities then it will be viewed upon as something useful like going for an x-ray or an MRI scan!
[]I hope this opinion helps you in your quest for knowledge :)
curiousvulcan
how would you react too somthing........ kowing that your not in control, or have no power, or say for this immoral unethical crime! as humans we gain knowledge so we can interact,create,entertain one another and most importantly understand somthing but....... does this power limit us make us.... obsolete or is this somthing that no matter how much you try to immitate or copy or understand someone character. the individul person is somthing special? LOVE TO HEAR PEOPLES OPINION PLEASE!!!!
[]Md. Ibrahim Arafat
To sir Dr. Kang Cheng I am a Bangladeshi student of Computer Science And Engineering reads this thesis result and I'm feeling very excited about it and sir I'm very interested about it from the very beginning of my CSE study, since 2008 and sir i want to work with u on this project. Sir please guide me what should i do for working with u and I assure I'll do all things what you'll say and I'm mentally prepare for this research. Sir please respond my request and please give mailing address and website name. My email address is marafat_121@yahoo.com.
[]Roderick Scheule
excellent luck being you
[]m2bat1
You all don't realise the fact, of ethical or not or what happens in the future weather this will be used to read peoples minds or condeme people before they even act like in "Minority Report". What about the people like me who have weird, wonderful, and real life dreams, I somedays wish I honestly would never wake up because my dream world is better then real life. I save people, I fall in love with old flames, etc, so on and so on. I just want some day a device I can were when I go to sleep that will record my dreams for my own personal use, hooked to like a recorder and the next morning I can watch again and again what I just dreamt about. Stop looking at ethical or moral. There are people out ther who will take the best idea and make it somthing bad. All we can do is be prepared for when that happens, but don't judge the technology or the sciecn behind it.
[]bpm
It is good to think of the amount of good this can do. As with the medical field, how it is to remedy and not just treat; but there's no money in the cure, right? This is only another way to remove the freedom of human beings and discriminate against unsuspecting victims from the deepest level. This kind of technology is what every clear thinking individual opposes in order not to be reduced to a mere fraction of self, no different from a copy or fax machine.
[]Has anyone stopped to think how this type of technology promotes a fearful society? How it will only create criminals where there otherwise were none, due to such unfair and unjust discriminations? Perhaps not, since the free and fair thinkers are being quieted in advance.
Why the need for such control? That's a very fearful way to live to begin with and frankly, I do not want such insecure individuals determining my fate and that of future generations (if they are allowed to exist).
Jordan Thomas
"Free thinking individuals" invent technology and advance society, not try to push it back.
[]Jordan Thomas
Wow...I feel like I'm in the middle of a second ludite movement. Has anyone ever taken a history class? Because if you had then you'd know that humans have been doing horrible crap to each other for much longer than we've had technology. Technology does not make dictatorships, in fact the more advanced a society is the harder it is to oppress its citizens since advanced technologies can't be monopolized as easily as...say the very first formula for gun powder. It was only through technological advancement that our modern free societies came into existence (think, how would the American Revolution gone if the printing press hadn't existed to disseminate revolutionary ideas). In the end, this technology is neither good nor evil, any more than a hammer is ever good or evil, what counts is how people use it. Of course for the true anti-technology ludites nothing I just said matters because their brains are still stuck on "ugg...technology bad, make brain hurt".
[]Jcp
People get flooded by unwanted Thoughts 24/7. The brain runs and provides thoughts coming from our senses. What we see, hear, touch etc... If I see something that's perverted, it would actually trigger bad thoughts... But actually, it's when you do perverted actions that make you a pervert. The most unfair thing that some1 could do is judge a persons thoughts because I could hate helping the homeless, helping them people will call you fake... But if some1 actually thinks of it, fake sincerity or not, another needy got helped. Action speaks louder than anything
[]warnerman
To those who say "the people would totally protest and never stand for it if this technologically eveloved into something govts could actually use on us without any individual actually having to 'volunteer' to be applied on them" is SO underestimating how 'sheep'-like/in-denial society can actually be given our history! Just like telling 'little' 'white' lies someitmes can soon evolve into telling far greater lies on a regular basis, being 'sheep' over less-significant and terrifying issues can only serve as stepping stones for allowing such a potentially horrific issue such as THIS to slide as well! Granted, this probably will never come into fruition and perhaps if it were society may indeed take a stand (you never know) but at the same time never underestimate. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE!
ps - as for these scientists even investing the time and effort to experiment on such a thing as well as trying to improve this prodecure along with those investing the MONEY for such a thing to be done really need to look at themselves in the mirror before moving on and if not, will have to answer to something Greater who will hopefully not ALLOW such a thing to happen even if it would mean ending the world before it does happen!
[]kobus
Well,I do think that this can be a great break through!I am starting to freak out about my toughts and that I can't really explain them,image wise or in any other way,meaning that This is actually good coz now if this tech can be mastered,I would like to use it for creativity,knowing that it will be something very expensive I suppose?
Every time I close my eyes I see a picture,drawing or real life things,almost like a dream..but how on earth can you make that move?so I think I wouldn't mind to do a better study on this subject for myself and the future,who knows maybe I can put a hand in...
I think the brain is one of the most spectacular body parts!
Let's hope to hear more about this scientific development soon!
[]jfox43921
This is really amazing. I would love to use something like this in the future to create pictures and blue prints and even 3d parts and such in animation software. It would be a whole new form of art.
As far as what people are saying about the government looking into your mind. LOL
[]I have nothing to hide and I personally am crazy so I am positive they would stay away from me lol
Jarrence
This is what I've always dreamed of. Imagine a Youtube of our most fantastic dreams.
In dream time I've written the most fantastic original music, complex layers and harmonies,
[]hauntingly beautiful melodies and in the dreams I don't even realise it's mine. But I wake up
and there's no way I can ever remember it or reproduce it. So I've always wished for a brain
interface that could record audio and visuals from dreams. It would be a revolution for artists who have the power and vision but not the coordination to realise their work.
chiller
wtf ? ppl are talking about freedom and privacy , i want to tell them don't worry no one *actually* cares about you. there s/w algo also sucks and never even come close to your personality
[]manija
impossible!!
[]kendra
As an artist I find this extremely exciting! I always face the problem of seeing beautiful images in my minds eye, but lacking the talent required to put them on paper. Years down the road, this could be te technology that helps artists like me create amazing works of art, and all from simply thinking about it!!
[]I say this is definitely a scientific progression for the better.
:)
Canelo Forum
Hah. Scientists think this will let them see what people are thinking? how foolish. It will only allow them to decode signals being sent through the brain to the mind, not see what actually occurs in the mind. The science of determining how brains "create" thought is bogus since it is only a relay device.
[]acha
wtf ? ppl are talking about freedom and privacy , i want to tell them don't worry no one *actually* cares about you. there s/w algo also sucks and never even come close to your personality
[]