How a 1960s Discovery In Neuroscience Spawned a Military Project

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 11, 2012 @11:36AM from the did-you-see-that dept.

Harperdog writes "This is pretty fascinating: The Chronicle of Higher Ed has an article about a DARPA project that allows researchers to scan satellite photos, video, etc., and have a computer pick up differences in brain activity to tell whether an image has been seen...images that might flash by before conscious recognition. From the article: 'In a small, anonymous office in the Trump Tower, 28 floors above Wall Street, a man sits in front of a computer screen sifting through satellite images of a foreign desert. The images depict a vast, sandy emptiness, marked every so often by dunes and hills. He is searching for man-made structures: houses, compounds, airfields, any sign of civilization that might be visible from the sky. The images flash at a rate of 20 per second, so fast that before he can truly perceive the details of each landscape, it is gone. He pushes no buttons, takes no notes. His performance is near perfect.'"

3 of 112 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

See, the brain is a great computer by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-11 11:39 · Score: 5, Funny

It just has a terribly documented API.
1. Re:See, the brain is a great computer by EvolutionInAction · 2012-07-11 14:38 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Doubly appropriate, since the user manual is always written after the fact, and inconsistent with the rest of the documentation.
New Airport Scanner by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-11 11:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

Sir, please sit down and stare at this screen for 60 seconds.
(13.18 seconds later)
BEEP! Warning: this person has seen pedophile material!
After weeks of research to prove he's innocent, the man brings his family photo album in which we can see naked baby pictures that look very similar in decor, photo angle, etc.