Some of the feedback I received about last week’s post on Brain Interfaces was worried queries about what lies ahead. The possibility for anyone with the right tools being able to see exactly what you’re thinking, or extract your memories of events is frightening. Well, I do believe that one day such technology could exist, but this is a long way off. Let me explain.
The type of brain-reading interfaces needed to manipulate objects or to activate virtual interfaces is relatively rudimentary. The technology does not need to map the entire brain, or extract complex imagery in order to work. It only needs to translate basic commands and directions; commands which would be actively “expressed” by your brain. For a machine to read your mind, or your memories, it would either need to have a complete mapping of all your neurons, or to intensely trigger various parts of your brain in order to elicit all the memories that are stored. Either way, it would be very invasive and extremely difficult.
Consider a lie detector (polygraph) machine. It cannot actually detect whether you are lying, but simply measures various physiological responses (such as blood pressure, pulse, etc), and from the variability of those responses, the operator can deduce whether you are lying. It is just informed guess work. Simple brain-reading interfaces will be the same. Complete mind-reading is several orders of magnitude more complex.
To understand how close we are (or more precisely, how far we are) from fully understanding the brain — let alone being able to fully read someone’s mind — take a look at this great article from the IEEE Spectrum (which is part of the amazing singularity special report from June 2008. If you have a few hours to kill, I urge you to dive in).
Having said all that, authorities do take the study of the brain seriously. This article takes a look at the advances in neuroscience which could have implications on how intelligence services will interact with the brain. The military clearly views brain warfare as part of future battlefields.
I’ll end this edition on a lighter note; consider this ultrasound machine which amazingly ages wines and whisky. I really, really want one of those. If you can take a regular bottle of wine and make it magically age, think of what you can do with a 12-year old single malt. Yeah, it might be just a scam, but imagine the possibilities if it’s not…
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