New Technology Allows Others to Read Your Mind

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Dr. Mercola

January 20 2009

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New Technology Allows Others to Read Your Mind

Neuroscience has learned much about your brain's activity and its link to certain thoughts. It appears it may now be possible, at least at a basic level, to read someone else’s mind.

Sources:

CBS News 60 Minutes January 4, 2009

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

As you are likely aware I am a fan of technology, especially as to how it applies to health. There is no question that neuroscience is going to continue to take advantage of Moore’s Law and utilize the exponentially increasing computing power to provide remarkable innovations.

While the technology covered by 60 Minutes is still very basic, I wasn’t aware that the field had already developed as much as it had. Additionally, there are more complex programs already underway.

The U.S. Army recently awarded a five-year, $4-million contract to a coalition of scientists from the University of California at Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Maryland to develop “thought helmets.”

The helmets would ultimately be used to capture soldiers’ brainwaves and then translate them into radio waves that could be heard by other troops. The idea is to have a silent form of communication that could be used among soldiers on the battlefield, and TIME magazine reported that the Army hopes the project will "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone."

Delving even deeper into the fairly new world of neuroscience reveals a far more disturbing new trend: neuromarketing.

Should Marketers Have Access to Your Brain?

Marketing agencies have already sprung up all over the world that offer corporations something that was unheard of just a few decades ago: a glimpse into consumers’ minds. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other techniques marketers are trying to figure out why consumers choose to buy certain products, and what area of the brain is involved when they do.

They claim to be able to help companies develop brands and marketing materials that will appeal to people’s deeper emotions, bypassing your brain’s “filters” that normally censor what you see and hear -- and help you decide what is important and worthy of your time and attention.

Experts are predicting that neuromarketing will soon be a part of just about every corporation’s marketing plans. And although companies have already tried novel approaches to get your business -- such as controlling your mind through your sense of smell -- something about delving into your brain seems even more obtrusive and eerie.

The good news is that neuromarketing is still in its very beginning stages, and technology is still a long way off from being able to sway your decisions, or even understand all of their complexities.

At least for now, your private thoughts are still your own.

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Community Comments ( 5 )

AKZ

[ Joined on 10/07 ] [ Posted on

January 8, 2009

]

4 Points

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Novice User

Wow! This is extremely scary. What could those rays that go into our foreheads without our knowledge do to our brain cells? How many cells would die from that kind of invasion? Will they say, "Oh, it doesn't hurt you."? This from the same government that approves putting toxic mercury in our mouths and toxic drugs in our systems that they call vaccinations!
I think I will start working on a helmet that blocks those rays. I wonder what toxic chemicals I can put in the helmet that would seep into your head? AAAHHHH!
Is nothing sacred anymore?

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stoic

[ Joined on 03/07 ] [ Posted on January 8, 2009]

4 Points

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improving herd control is sacred....be sure to get the HEAVY tinfoil, lol....

Katee Roux

[ Joined on 07/07 ] [ Posted on

January 9, 2009

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Savvy User

I saw this on 60 minutes when it actually played. Neither my husband or i were impressed with their "science" of claiming to know what someone was thinking. There are still far too many variables involved.

And the man who claimed we will "know" in 2 years or so, he's joking surely. I don't think we will know in 50 years. There are too many complexities involved. This again, is junk science.

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Islander

[ Joined on 03/07 ] [ Posted on

January 8, 2009

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This video feed was so choppy that it was simply unviewable. Am I the only one this happened to? I had to find it on YouTube, where it streamed nicely for the first 3 minutes or so, till the sound quit. I read about it elsewhere, though, so I think I got the gist of it. Incidentally, the military has had this technology in development for years; they have far more sophisticated ways of messing with your brain than this.

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Sheila C

[ Joined on 12/06 ] [ Posted on January 9, 2009]

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Apprentice User

Hi Islander, that was happening to me too, I needed more memory on my computer. I have been saving parts of websites (mostly the FDA) so I can prove that they posted something that was later deleted.
At the end of 60 Minutes they figured they would have a machine available to read thoughts in about 5 years. Like you said the military is already capable of it. I know my herbalist who practises www.bodytalksystems.com is able to do it without the use of any machine. Just years of training and I have to say, she knows me better than I know myself. She has told me things about myself that I have told no one. She is also able to do this by remote. The most awesome thing is when she does it on my kids. This allows me to understand them better and be able to discuss it with them.

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