[DANNY WOOL, SV411]
Intel wants to know what’s on your mind. Really. A project they are developing with Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh will enable computers to read your mind, and avoid the need to type or use voice. Instead, a headset will measure electrical signals in the brain using a combination of EEF, fMRI, and MEG scans, convert them into discernible messages, and relay them to another machine. This may sound like the wildest dream of some science fiction geek, but the technology is not that far down the road. A primitive version of it is already being used in the Star Wars Force Trainer game.
The applications are enormous. Imagine the relief it will give to quadriplegics and stroke victims, who are unable to communicate. They’ll be able to turn their thoughts into words, and together with robots, turn those words into actions.
But the implications are chilling as well. Even in Orwell’s 1984, the thought police were limited to surveillance and psychology to decide if anyone was committing “thought crime.” With the new technology, however, or at least its 2.0 version, employers will be able to keep track of their employees to track how focused they really are on their jobs. And this is not to mention how the police of some totalitarian regime might adjust the technology to track down people who do not follow the party line. How long until the police warn suspects that, “Anything you say or think can be used against you in a court of law”?
It’s a “brave new world” out there, looming on the horizon. Perhaps we had all better take a step back and realize what it means for us.