Mind-Reading – it's not science fiction anymore

By Dick Pelletier

      

    "As you slowly awaken from a restful night's sleep, you notice a flashing alert on your bedside 'mind-scanner'. You quickly hit play and the dream you experienced last night begins to appear on the machine's display along with comments on why your mind created this dream, and how it can be used to improve your life."

    Today, the above scenario is fiction of course, but scientists around the world are developing ways to determine what image a person is seeing, thinking, or dreaming just by analyzing their brain activity.

    Mind-reading systems are only in beginning stages now, but the implications are huge. By 2015, experts say, this revolutionary science will be able to identify thoughts and recognize those that are friendly or hostile; record last night’s dreams as they occur; and even restore voice to the paralyzed.

    In a recent 60 Minutes broadcast, correspondent Leslie Stahl interviewed scientists from Carnegie Mellon University, Emory University, and the Bernstein Center in Germany who are all using functional MRI systems to peer directly into the brain to read out the physical make-up of our thoughts, some would say to read our minds.

    This technology makes it possible to see what's going on inside the brain while people are thinking. Though today's computers are not powerful enough to create a fluent brain-reading machine, they will one day be able to read complex thoughts like "I hate so-and-so" or "I spent time in an al Qaeda training camp".

    UC Irvine researchers received a $4 million military grant to produce a telepathy system that benefits soldiers on the battlefield and could also help paralysis and stroke victims. The scientists are building a brain-computer interface that lets people communicate their thoughts. Soldiers “think” a message and a speech recognition system decodes the signals and transmits them to the intended target allowing "thought-talking" between the two.

    Homeland Security will soon use a similar technology to identify bad guys. "MindReader 2.0", originally developed by the Russian KGB, covertly scans minds to measure reactions from subliminal messages sent. For example, terrorist responses to images of Osama bin Laden or World Trade Center differs from those of innocent people.

    Here's a more positive use of mind-reading technology. Boston University researchers implanted electrodes in a patient's brain who has been "locked in" – conscious but paralyzed – since a car crash eight years ago. The system records pulses in speech areas of the brain and converts those signals to voice. The victim can now talk again.

    But some wonder if this technology infringes on human rights. In the 60 Minutes piece, Stahl said that Americans have the right to not provide testimony that incriminates them, so should it be legal for an investigator to "read" a person's mind to get evidence to convict him? This issue will probably require a Supreme Court decision.

    Positive futurists believe that mind-reading technologies will lead to a time when people share thoughts and emotions directly from mind-to-mind. By 2020, it may be possible to link neural structures via transducers and electromagnetic signals to provide "thought talking", which would be easier to use than the telephone. Can this "magical future" happen? This writer believes that it can.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.