Mind-reading machine knows what you see

"It is possible to read someone’s mind by remotely measuring their brain activity, researchers have shown. The technique can even extract information from subjects that they are not aware of themselves.

So far, it has only been used to identify visual patterns a subject can see or has chosen to focus on. But the researchers speculate the approach might be extended to probe a person’s awareness, focus of attention, memory and movement intention. In the meantime, it could help doctors work out if patients apparently in a coma are actually conscious.

Scientists have already trained monkeys to move a robotic arm with the power of thought and to recreate scenes moving in front of cats by recording information directly from the feline’s neurons (New Scientist print edition, 2 October 1999). But these processes involve implanting electrodes into their brains to hook them up to a computer.

Now Yukiyasu Kamitani, at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, and Frank Tong at Princeton University in New Jersey, US, have achieved similar “mind reading” feats remotely using functional MRI scanning. "

www.newscientist.com...

How long until man destoys itself as did the "krell" in the movie "forbidden planet". The "id" is the ultimate evil of mankind.

no way!!!! how soon before people start getting jailed for their thoughts? or what someone thinks they are thinking

I smell first amendment violations.

Why am I never able to view News Scientist, I swear either its always down, my ISP blocks it, or they have me blocked for some reason.

Crap just like in Asimov books... the brain probe thingys...now I have to watch what I think.

This sounds like that movie, "Minority Report" where they had the precognative police.