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The Computer That Can Read Your Mind
magacious writes "Gtec has showcased a computer that can read your mind over at the CeBIT trade show in Germany. Designed primarily to help those who can't write or speak, the system makes use of a skull cap and wireless technology to transform brain waves into letters. It's the first patient-ready computer-brain interface, according to its Austrian makers. It takes around 30 seconds per letter for the computer to recognise what you're saying the first time you use it, according to Gtec, but this improves vastly with practice. '"One second per letter is very tough," Gtec's Engelbert Grunbacher said, adding users can usually easily get to five or 10 letters per minute. "You learn to be relaxed, focused. You improve."' It might look quite wacky (pictures here) and at €9,000 the system is not cheap, but it could help enhance the lives of many people who have a great deal to say but no real way of saying it."
As I've understood, mind reading comes down to recognizing certain patterns in the brain. Given improvement in the processing speed and database of patterns, could it be possible to draw a complete picture of what you are thinking? And if yes, would sleeping interfere with such?
It would be great if you could save your dreams and watch them later, especially as they're usually really great entertainment in sleep but you forget them really quick. There's basically three dreams I still remember. First one when I was on first or second grade about a girl I liked then. Second one about a girl in my high school - interestingly, I didn't have feelings for her before this dream where I slept next to her. And third dream about some brazilian I had sex with (a sex dream, and I accidentally cummed on side of my girlfriend back then). But saving all those dreams would be great. Wonder what RIAA would think if everyone started watching their own interesting dreams instead of movies though...
I wonder if it'll work as a TV remote.
If they think it can read minds, they've obviously never tested it on a woman!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
it worrk pretty good
at cebut show rite now
babe at booth acros th isle
gawd shes hot
2 bad im wearin ths goofy hat
TMI! Too Much Information!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
So now if people are thinking about their passwords while typing it in, it could be picked up by this ?
I'm fairly positive the target would notice you placing an electrode-laden skull cap on their head.
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
The kind of mind reading that this article implies, and what some posters are worried about (is it 1984 again?) is a long, long way off, about "50 years" in scientific terms.
I worked with a student on a similar Brain-Computer-Interface to what appears to be shown here. In actuality, the interface barely reads your mind at all, the grid of letters you see flashes while you focus on the letter you want to type. When that letter flashes, your brain registers this, and your 'surprise' at seeing the flash is what's measured. Knowing the time that this happened, it is possible to eventually deduce what letter on the grid the patient is focusing on.
So as you can see, "Computer that can read your mind" is a rather sensationalist article title to say the least. It's also a massive pain in the ass to try to use a device like this, you literally have to focus on the letter you want to type and absolutely nothing else, or it'll take longer and longer to determine what letter you are 'typing'.
I would hope this has to go through the same clinical trials that introducing a drug would. The fact that you can "learn to be relaxed, focused. You improve." means that you're changing the frequency and wavelength of your brain's electrical output to comply with the requirements of this device.
Me, I'd want to be damned sure that wasn't going to introduce long-term side effects before using it.
Geek #1: At my cousin's bar-mitzvah they had this enormous LAN party where everyone was wearing a mind reading computer, which was really sweet, but no one wanted to play with me and everyone was talking in some funny language.
Geek #2: That wasn't a LAN party, you idiot, that was a synagogue.