(CNN) – “My thoughts, they roam freely. Who can ever guess them?”
So goes an old German folk song. But imagine living in a world where someone can guess your thoughts, or even know them for certain. A world where science can reach into the deep recesses of your brain and pull out information that you thought was private and inaccessible.
Would that worry you?
If so, then start worrying. The age of mind reading is upon us.
Neuroscience is advancing so rapidly that, under certain conditions, scientists can use sophisticated brain imaging technology to scan your brain and determine whether you can read a particular language, what word you are thinking of, even what you are dreaming about while you are asleep.
The research is still new, and the kinds of information scientists can find through brain imaging are still simple. But the recent pace of progress in neuroscience has been startling and new studies are being published all the time.
In one experiment, researchers at Carnegie Mellon looked at images of people’s brains when they were thinking of some common objects – animals, body parts, tools, vegetables – and recorded which areas of their brains activated when they thought about each object.
The scientists studied patterns of brain activity while subjects thought about 58 such objects. Then they predicted what the person’s brain would look like if researchers gave them a brand new object, like “celery.”
The scientists’ predictions were surprisingly accurate.
That will never happen, forum gimp. You are thought of as a marginalized, misanthropic, sexual deviant whose charm is completely outmatched by how badly he wants to be charming. You sir, are inadequate. You might have an elaborate fantasy life but it is only elaborate to compensate for your very real short-comings.
That will never happen, forum gimp. You are thought of as a marginalized, misanthropic, sexual deviant whose charm is completely outmatched by how badly he wants to be charming. You sir, are inadequate. You might have an elaborate fantasy life but it is only elaborate to compensate for your very real short-comings.
:haha: ok.
Vector A
I am not quite sure what to make of this. Were the researchers doing something like this?:
(1) Scan each person's brain as they look at certain things, creating a "roster" of scans for that individual. Then try to match up one of the initial scans with a later scan of that same individual and use that to "guess" what that particular person is seeing.
Or more like this?:
(2) Scan all the people's brains as they look at certain things. Use the collection of scans to make generalizations about which parts of the brain are activated by which objects. Then use those generalizations to guess what any individual is seeing (i.e. you need not know the person's identity to guess accurately).
The second seems more impressive, and more ominous, to me, while the first seems like more ordinary, incremental improvement of brain scanning techniques.
mathieu
hey googleman what do you think of my new wiz khalifa remix?
To that thread hell yes I would. Theres this fine little truffle about 14 or 15 who walks by to and from the bus stop that looks similar to Mila Kunis. Im thinking about getting a coloring book and inviting her over.
Vector A
quote:
Originally posted by Direct
To that thread hell yes I would. Theres this fine little truffle about 14 or 15 who walks by to and from the bus stop that looks similar to Mila Kunis. Im thinking about getting a coloring book and inviting her over.
I think you may have the wrong age bracket in mind.
dj_alfi
quote:
Originally posted by Direct
To that thread hell yes I would. Theres this fine little truffle about 14 or 15 who walks by to and from the bus stop that looks similar to Mila Kunis. Im thinking about getting a coloring book and inviting her over.
14 or 15 hell no. Past 16 is okay by law and ok by me. Not that I'd ever find a 16 year old girl willing to me, so then no? But yes.
And mind reading with a machine telling you exactly what thought one mind has is cheating. All real mind readers do it by ear, and should be able to feel it. Mind reading is done by ear, not by eyes! I teach a class on this, I know what I'm talking about.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by Direct
To that thread hell yes I would. Theres this fine little truffle about 14 or 15 who walks by to and from the bus stop that looks similar to Mila Kunis. Im thinking about getting a coloring book and inviting her over.
Considering you have the mentality of a thirteen year-old, this isn't exactly a jaw-dropping surprise.
