Would you mind someone reading your mind? The last bastion of privacy, where we explore and evaluate scenarios in the imaginative sandbox known as our minds - is about to be revealed.
Yes, it does sound like science-fiction but we assure you that it is very much science fact. And with fast developments in computer technology and sensors, it will soon become possible at a distance and in real-time. Apart from the implications to civil liberty and personal privacy, will psychologists become increasingly redundant or evolve to challenge or embrace such techniques?
In recent years, various studies (below)have suggested that scientists are successfully developing and testing methods to access our private thoughts. Whilst current studies work by implanting electrodes directly into the participants' brains, external sensors are in development. And, with current trends, it is envisaged that remote sensors will follow.
Professor of Neuropsychology, Barbara Sahakian, qualifies "A lot of neuroscientists in the field are very cautious and say we can't talk about reading individuals' minds, and right now that is very true, but we're moving ahead so rapidly, it's not going to be that long before we will be able to tell whether someone's making up a story, or whether someone intended to do a crime with a certain degree of certainty."
In 2011, a team led by Shinji Nishimoto used the brain recordings of volunteers to partially reconstruct what they were seeing. The researchers applied a new model, about how moving object information is processed in human brains, while volunteers watched clips from several videos. An algorithm searched through thousands of hours of external youtube video footage (none of the videos were the same as the ones the volunteers watched) to select the clips that were most similar. The authors have uploaded demos comparing the watched and the computer-estimated videos.
In the clip below, at the top of the screen the original presented clips are shown. Below them are the computer compilations based on best fit equivalent material from user uploaded clips. Some of the correlations are eerily accurate. The ability to choose from standardised set of images and clips might well yield more accurate results. Given that increases in computing power will also improve the accuracy, Moore's Law suggests this could increase exponentially as well.
Like all great inventions, there comes a moment when someone must decide whether to use it for positive or negative purposes. With the discovery of fire, came the realisation that it can burn. It was only the well-motivated individuals who found that it could sterilise and cleanse versus others who applied it to raze and destroy. How will these be applied? In a time when the traditional champions of justice and democracy are doing away with habeas corpus, will Governments simply try to convict individuals of pre-crime? Thought-crime is already here and George Orwell did try to warn of this possibility. Will these development further impact our right to freedom of thought?
In 2008, researchers (full PDF) were able to predict with 60% accuracy, whether a subject was going to push a button with their left or right hand. This is significant because the accuracy was better than consistently 50% chance. Also noteworthy was the fact that the scientists were able to make these predictions up to 10 seconds before the subject acted. This was well before the subject felt they had decided upon their course of action. This data is even more important in that other research suggests that the decision to act and possibly the ability to veto that action at the last second, may be the results of unconscious processing.
And finally, here is a thought to consider... If the temptation to act rashly is detected but the choice to curb such behaviour is not, could an individual be charged with pre-crime? Time will tell.
Matsuhashi, M., & Hallett, M. (2008). The timing of the conscious
intention to move. European Journal of Neuroscience , 28, 2344-2351.
Professor of Neuropsychology, Barbara Sahakian, qualifies "A
lot of neuroscientists in the field are very cautious and say we can't
talk about reading individuals' minds, and right now that is very true,
but we're moving ahead so rapidly, it's not going to be that long before
we will be able to tell whether someone's making up a story, or whether
someone intended to do a crime with a certain degree of certainty."
Would you mind someone reading your mind? The last bastion of privacy, where we explore and evaluate scenarios in the imaginative sandbox known as our minds - is about to be revealed.