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Scientists Build Mind-Reading Computer
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed what they are calling a "mind reading computer." Using a panel of nine volunteers, the team built a "profile" of 58 test words based on brain scans taken while the volunteers were directed to think about the meaning of each test word. "'If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences,' explains Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department, which lead the study. 'We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning. These building blocks could be used to predict patterns for any concrete noun,' added Mitchell."
The list of words chosen were: funding, grant, tenure, award, patent, contract, ...
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Now that a computer can read my mind I'm waiting for the mind-reading 'puter that knows to change the mouse focus when I look at a new window. I hate looking at one window while typing in another, especially when posting to /. while I have a window open with an email to my boss. It turns out he's not interested in the goatse link.
..THIS is the basis for yet-another-trek-related-invention: the Universal Translator.
I always knew it had to work this way.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Might be fun to watch the expressions on the scientists face as they realize what's going on tho. "That guy was a fluke, the next will about something else I'm sure!"
Hold on, just got handed this printout:
"Thank you, but we already knew you were going to say that.
Sincerely,
Your new mind-reading computer overlords."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Wasn't there an I, Robot short story by Asimov about a mind-reading computer that lied to people in order to avoid hurting their feelings (because that would "harm" a human)?
This area of research has been growing more popular lately. Last year's big language conference had a keynote speaker address the question of brain waves and word recognition. Most of the progress though is based on nouns because they have a core rooted meaning in everyone's head...you basically visualize a generic version of that object in the world. You say hammer, I think of an actual hammer I've seen. It's not really mind reading because the approach falls apart when you start talking about verbs and actions...which are what most conversations and thoughts are about. Actions don't have a stereotypical physical representation in the world, but rather involve several objects with that action, all interacting in some way that defines it. As I understand it, the patterns they observe in the brain then become too complex to capture.
I know it sounds funny but i would like to see the brain activity for pornografic pictures, since it already known that "bad words" are stored in a different area of the brain than regular words... it would be kind of interesting if "bad images (or nice depending on the person)" got also stored on different areas....
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.
What the CMU scientists have done is some preliminary brain imaging using MRI.
Here is a better CMU link with more details and pictures. The scientists hope that this research to could have applications in the study of autism, disorders of thought such as paranoid schizophrenia, and semantic dementias such as Pick's disease. Not once did they ominously dub their research as "mind reading" as claimed by the submitter.
Yeah, but I dunno how easy it would be to use social engineering to convince people to sit underneath an FMRI so you could scan their brain while they type in their bank's PIN number.
I remember my password by keyboard location by my fingers.
That's why you need real 2 factor authentication. Something you know, and something you have works well. So that even if somebody peeks over your shoulder (or into your brain), to figure out the password, they still don't have access.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
By reading his mind, before ScuttleMonkey approved it.
How do you think that subscribers get that "Mysterious Future" stuff, anyways?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Sure!
Here, would you please lie down while I slide you into this multi-tonne magnet. Thank you. Now, please lie very still and think about typing in your password, very slowly, one letter at a time. No more than one letter every ten seconds or so! Now please repeat a couple dozen times. Thank you for your cooperation.
I think it would be easier to just ask.
It's strange, every time a researcher is assigned to go disassemble the prototype, something else comes up right when they come within range of the machine. Yesterday something kept spamming "REDRUM" across the networks broadcast address and causing bandwidth issues. Today several printers in the lab wouldn't stop printing out documents that looked like fake rebates for Newegg ...
My work here is dung.
Not necessarily... If there truly are key areas that only deal with actually thinking about a noun, they should be unaffected by other brain processes like emotion, etc. One may be off daydreaming about that summer when they "experimented" with the neighbor boy in college, but the actual word "rainbow" is still sitting somewhere in his mind. ;)
I would, however, be inclined to believe that our brains are more complex than just having "areas" that have "activity" when certain things happen. Until we can map out each neuron in our brain and read its state, i don't think we're going to ever be able to fully read someone's mind... thank god. -Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
Quoting article:
"We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning. These building blocks could be used to predict patterns for any concrete noun..."
The implications of building blocks would suggest that the french word for "Desk" (bureau) would elicit the same response as the english word for "Desk", instead of some governmental unit.
That would be useful, (once we get cheap portable MRI hats).
However I doubt these building blocks are anywhere near that generic due to the excess emotional baggage that people associate with words. I suppose it might be able to detect the presence of such baggage even if it could not decipher it.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I forsee some lonely nerd using a video-chat application to try and talk with a woman when all of a sudden, his computer reads his mind and says to him:
"I'm reading that you're horny, Jim. Here is a selection of your favorite porn- Princess Leia doing an Ewok. Enjoy!"
Prospective Girlfriend: "You sicko! *exits the video chat*"
Jim: "Oh well... I guess I'll just enjoy this video. Thanks manputer!"
IANAD (but I watch a lot of House)
> I didn't think your brain would psyically change just
> because you were thinking one thing or another.
Your brain doesn't, but the blood flow patterns do.
Just like how your computer doesn't physically change when sitting idle or watching porn, it will use less/more power and different parts of different chips will flow more electrons in different patterns.
Oh, and you need to google up "functional MRI"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
The latest technique in MRI is functional MRI (fMRI) . The doctors can watch the oxygen demand levels of the brain change dynamically as a person thinks. The resulting brain scan image superimposes the oxygen demand levels in red-yellow-green-blue scale over a monochrome image of that slice of the brain. Effectively, they see which areas of the brain are in use from second to second.
In some cases, they have discovered that people in coma's or a persistive vegetable state have been discovered to have been aware of their surroundings.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Not SEX only SEX that SEX, it SEX is SEX possible SEX to SEX use SEX this SEX to SEX type. SEX isn't SEX that SEX wonderful?
Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
Pah! Just plug your controllers into the other slot.
There are just a few physical limitations on fMRI technology.
The most important for this topic is that fMRI scanners measure changes in BLOOD FLOW. They do not measure electrical activity. The flow response is delayed by about three to five seconds and has a certain minimum time duration. Therefore the requirement to enter the password r...e...a...l...l...y s...l...o...w...l...y.
Secondly, in order to get any recognizable imaging signal at all (and if you want to measure letters you're going to need a REALLY high resolution image) you've got to have a uniform, intense magnetic field across the head. The only way we know of doing that is using a magnet that surrounds the head. That places a limit on the minimum size. Note that although my calculator is smaller than a room now, my gloves are still the same size they always were.
Third, the fMRI signal is low amplitude and noisy. The results you see are all statistical. Using a higher field magnet can increase the signal a little, but there are hard limitations on that too. The only way to decrease the noise is by cooling the subject. I know I'd object to typing my password for you if you tried to cryogenically cool my brain.
Maybe some day there will be a way of scanning someone's brain to steal their password unobtrusively. This isn't it, and there's nothing on the horizon that looks promising, so you're not going to have to worry about it for a LONG time.