I do brainwave entrainment in Cool Edit Pro, but not using the brainwave synchronizer. I do it using sine waves. I usually use the left side as the base frequency or carrier, while the right side starts a certain frequency above that (say 25 Hz above the carrier, approximating a lead-in from the normal waking beta state), gradually falling lower and lower until it is close to the base on the left, to a minimum of.5 Hz of difference. You don't really need to be lower than that.. The Hz difference between the waves forms a beat 'pulse' that draws the brain to attempt to synch with it.
There's an interesting thing here: If you play these combined sounds through speakers, to the air, you can hear the beat pulse as you would expect, if you know the physics of sound. The sound waves from each speaker collide somewhere between, and the troughs and peaks that match up will be amplified to a greater or lesser extent, and similarly others that oppose each other will be cancelled. This forms an audible pulse that can be measured as the frequency difference between the two waves. If you listen with headphones, you can also hear this pulse. This means that the brain is taking the two separate inputs and actually combining them properly, according to how it would physically happen with sound waves that collided with each other in the air, but the headphones prevent this, so the pulse sound is being made in 'neurospace'.
I make the sine waves at a quiet volume (-37 dB), making many clips, sloping each one down by 1Hz difference over a certain number of seconds before proceeding to the next clip. You can make a curve with these times: The lower you are the faster you can start dropping. I start around 90 seconds per clip and by the time we're at the destination they might be 15-30 seconds per. What I get from this is an mp3 that goes from 25Hz-0.5Hz in about 21 minutes, with another 9 minutes of staying at 0.5, and a second mp3 does just a straight 30 minutes of continuing at 0.5, so I can set up a playlist that suits what I feel like doing. I've also got a file that goes to about 7 Hz (theta, creativity, state you tend to be in as you wake from a cat-nap) for occasional use when I'm writing. The entrainment signal gets mix-pasted into a CD-rip of pleasing water sounds, with a nice fade-in/out, and the volume such that the entrainment signal is just barely perceptible when the water sound is at a comfortable level. You may find that you 'feel' the pulse more than hear it. This could all be done 'live' with specialized software of course, but I'm more of a crafter than a programmer so this method is easier and more fun for me.
The frequencies you use are important as well. Through experimentation I found that using 140Hz as a carrier for a beginner using this, is appropriate. Maybe 150-160Hz for some people, but I can't confirm that. After a few years I am using 110Hz. This is because as you use it, research done by the Centerpointe Institute indicates that the brain hemispheres will learn to work together on a given carrier over time and thus the endorphin-release effects and whatnot, from the stress, will be reduced, so after several months of daily use it is appropriate to lower the carrier frequency. The stress of resolving the beat in these signals makes the brain release pleasing chemicals as well as raising one's stress threshold in general. According to Centerpointe, the deeper one goes, the longer one should get accustomed before going any further, to where one might stick with one carrier for a couple of years. Centerpointe sells expensive tapes (well, I think they probably do CDs now) that do this but it's not hard to make your own. Don't use too low of a carrier too soon, the lower frequency increases stress on the brain, and can be rather unpleasant if one is unaccustomed. In my experience, a low-enough carrier without being 'ready' for it results in headaches and fatigue. I have heard anecdotes (untested by me, I'm comfortable with what I've found) that anything over 1000Hz for a c
Popular myth says these people were trying to fly (which begs the question, "Why didn't they start from the ground, like ducks?"). While there may have been a few isolated cases that were real, the majority of people that suffer falling deaths while high simply fall off of whatever structure they are on. They're highly intoxicated, after all.
How do you know they didn't already try the 'duck' method? If you're trying the time-honored method of throwing yourself at the ground intending to miss, perhaps the LSD interferes with your ability to be distracted by something else, as the pretty ground is just so fascinating. "Wow, that crack on the sidewalk is just so zig-zaggy!" So the solution would be to throw yourself at it from much higher up, giving you more time to distract yourself with something, like a pretty bird flying by, and then it just might work.
Re:Tripping for a week? I call bull.
on
Death by Coffee?
·
· Score: 1
I was going to say the same thing. LSD has a GIGANTIC tolerance; usually one has to wait a couple days before the next dose. Maybe the guy took some mega-gigantic-huge, but still, it seems unlikely that could last something so long as a week.
I recall reading years ago that the tolerance can be overcome by doubling the dosage each day. If you do say, 5 hits of blotter today, you will have to do 10 tomorrow to get the same effect, 20 the next day, 40 the next, and so on.
Ah yes, you talk of my "anonymous courage" and then say that. What happened to staying on the moral high ground?
Just giving back what I was given... And I stand by my assertion that you would not behave that way in front of me, because nobody ever does that. They know better, unless they're extremely drunk or just plain stupid. That has been my experience for most of my adult life. That's why I referred to false courage, as you seem to feel safe being an asshole when there's all this distance between us. But, as you've also gone back to pre-school with the last line of your latest message, I'm done responding to you since I prefer to interact with adults.
Oh wow, you are so smart pointing out inconsistencies of the English language. I had no idea there were any! Please be the mother of my children, I am truly in awe of your massive intellectual superiority. BTW, STFU.
Uh.. It was a ummm... joke. You know, those things that give one a slight grin sometimes? I am truly sorry if my massive intellectual superiority made you so nervous that your brain shut down. Ok, maybe it wasn't the most hilarious thing you've ever read, so what? If this conversation had taken place in person, and I threw in that quip, you would likely just roll your eyes and carry on. I guess being a faceless entity behind a keyboard really does give one false courage, because you would never respond that way to me in person. So, since you don't really have a 'set' I don't think anyone can be the mother of your children, and I don't have the equipment to oblige you anyhow.
Well, there are going to be elevator shafts all over the place too in order for this to work, so emmission-control could run tandem with that part of the infrastructure. I wasn't thinking of electric cars because we were talking about having to host hybrid traffic. Adoption of alternative vehicles will be slow. Put most of it underground and you get a load of benefits, most notably the lack of weather conditions underground. Exhaust is certainly an issue but not an impossible one, I think. Of course this whole thing is hideously expensive, but a nice dream as I believe it would improve general living conditions on the surface.
Why would that be cool. Well give the train the ability to lower to the ground (a jack like mechanism I'm guessing). Run the tracks over roads in the city.
So it basicly works like the bus system, but only lowers in the bus stop. This would avoid traffic jams and street lights.
The tracks might be on the ugly side. They might look a lot like roller coaster tracks. Power lines would have to be run over them, and street lights might have to be adjusted.
I like that, and yes it would be ugly, too much shadow over too much of the city. So how about instead, build the city 'above' the roads by having the roads underground. Far enough down that you could also have your hanging trains above the car roads, still below street level (hanging from it). Then at street level itself, buses or maybe walkers only. Elevators all over town get you from the underground parking (which there is lots of room for down there) to the storefronts or houses. Your own garage at home would be 50 feet underground like the rest of the consumer vehicles, and you'd have a personal elevator to get you into your home from there.
IIRC, it was Dune2 and not warcraft that did the genre-defining in the area of RTS. Dune2 was a single-player RTS and I remember being blown away by the game. I believe that soon afterward Command & Conquer came out (made by Westwood, the people who produced Dune2), and Warcraft close to that. I could be wrong - is anyone here motivated enough to look up the release dates?
I have no release dates, just my own anecdotes that I was there for that wonderful New game that addicted me terribly. You have the correct order as far as I know. I believe C&C/Warcraft were somewhere in 1994/5. Dune 2 was a few years before that, I'm not exactly sure when but by a good margin anyhow. I found Dune 2000 horribly disappointing, but that was later made up for by Emperor: Battle for Dune (by Westwood of course)
I particularly object to slapping HL2 with this label; if you've seen the previews and the screenshots you know that this game will be revolutionary in many respects (graphics/game-play/physics engine/characters), the fact that it is a sequel is not relevant.
The fact that it is a sequel to a game that sold well certainly helps HL2 become that revolutionary object though. More money=more development capital, right? Imagine with me a moment: Would you expect HL2 (We'll call it Third-Life because it's not a sequel in this imaginary world) from a fresh company? I find it unsurprising that game sequels (as opposed to movie sequels) tend to be better than their predecessors, as new technology has been embraced by the time the sequel starts development. And they've got the money to take advantage of that new tech by then.
If their target is the home market, i don't know many people who go around thinking "gee, i wish i could have a hard drive sitting around hidden away, but not inside my computer case."
If that household has more than one network device (which is becoming more common) many of those people would be saying, "Hey cool! We can put all the music on this!" or whatever. This is much more attractive than a dedicated file server PC, in the average household.
3 computers, all IDE, all channels full. I don't want a whole extra server just to have more space, and switching to S-ATA is going to cost more than the $150 to just host an extra drive. Adding drives to boxen you also have to wonder about the power supply handling the extra load. So this looks cool to me, as none of my existing hardware resources need to change for me to wind up with more than I planned for.
I may be splitting hairs here but how I was taught math 4 1/4 is half of 9 1/2 so 4 1/2 is GREATER than half of 9 1/2. Nice try though, didn't have a calculator?
Umm, well when I went to school, 4 1/4 was half of 8 1/2. So I'm not sure why you're asking the guy if he had a calculator, because I doubt that math has changed all that much since I was in school.. 4 1/2 is half of 9. You can check that on a calculator if you don't believe me. It's therefore less than half of 9 1/2 or 9 1/4 or 9 1/64.
Well no, the spelling is fine. See it's a common misconception that fat burns. If it really did that, we'd catch on fire much more often than we do now, and we'd probably contain enough power to fuel a world-wide virtual reality mind-control device. So fat is not burning in your body, and what this means is, when you lose weight, you really loose weight. You are actually loosening up the fat so it can seep out discreetly around your ankles when you're in the shower. I loosed some weight just this morning, it's a fascinating process to watch if you have enough time.
I understand the value of calling a spade a spade, but really, who is going to be taken in in this case, does it really matter? Maybe someone who NEEDS the "not to be taken orally" warning label on the tube of Preparation H, but anyone else?
Whoah dude, there's a blood vessel in your forehead that's just itching to bust. If you honestly believe that speaking in hyperbole will earn you flamewar brownie points, I think it can be safely determined which of us enjoys actual cognition as opposed to merely spewing reactionary crap. You're not the former. I would also like to point out that you need to lighten up a bit. This whole thing started as a joke that I myself would have chuckled at and shrugged off had it been directed towards me. That was one of the first things I learned to do when embracing a lifestyle of alternative thinking.
Regarding your query of my research and experience with alternative thinking and the various nutbars that such fields attract, I will tell you that for the past 14 years I have been active in several occult/pagan communities. That is the source of my apparent auto-reaction. I've met 'you' already, in a few different forms, and have already exchanged a wry glance with my sane friends across the table as we sat and listened, wondering when you'd shut up already so we could get on with having a real discussion.
Your prized point appears to be that the 'tin-foil' joke has been used already. I think that's pretty sad.
Consider the source of your response. It's not original, it's not carefully thought out, it's reflexive and it's designed not just to put me down but to warn others not to think outside certain boudaries lest they stray too far from the herd and be punished through social pressure. All in all, a very effective control method. (For the weak.)
You're making some rather large assumptions here. You are assuming that I have not considered this stuff. You are assuming that I am on auto-pilot. Maybe I'm too far away or something, because you're not picking me up very well apparently.
All this software does is track your mouth as you SPEAK silently. There's no thought reading at all. You are still mouthing the words.
No, what I got out of it was different. When you are thinking in words, your throat is getting the signals that would move it if you wanted to actually vocalize the thought. If I pay close attention when I am thinking (or singing in my head) I can perceive very very slight movements in my throat, my vocal cords tightening and loosening 'sympathetically' with my thoughts. Look inside yourself and try it, I've been aware of this for years.
And also, it's a tough when you are around people who are aware in the same ways. --If you want to keep your thoughts private, you have to stop your mind from being so sloppy and loud. On the other hand, it gives you a whole spectrum of very useful awareness and self-control when dealing with people who have no idea about this stuff.
It's not like you're just mumbling so quietly that nobody can hear. Your vocal cords aren't actually engaging, your tongue is not actually moving.. But the neat thing here is that, as you normally think in words without intending to talk, those parts *want* to move but don't. That's the signal that the device picks up. If I understand correctly, the effort required is to think things the device can recognize and not just give it noise like "Hmmm, did I feed the cat this morning?"
It is basically reading thoughts. Think of a psionicist in AD&D. When they do a mind probe on someone, they don't just indiscriminately read any thought you are able to have, it's an interactive process where they subtly get you to think of something they want more information about. Your inner chatter in response to the suggestion is what they are able to pick up. This device is the same result, without the probing.
We live in an information age. You would think if evolution were still in full swing, that smarter people would proliferate. I am surrounded by an ever increasing horde of idiots. If we were animals, the stupid offspring would be culled and the higher rates of reproduction among these lower order members would be cancelled out by their propensity towards dying earlier. The human species as a whole has apparently decided that everyone, no matter how stupid or disease ridden, needs to be kept alive and allowed to not only survive but to reproduce. It seems that we as a species are devolving.
Sure, because evolution is about who gets to mate. Intelligence doesn't seem to be the great guarantee we might like it to be. I had one that was totally turned on by brains, but she flaked out on me. But maybe it's not all bad... If there were more geek-types in the world, the Slashdot effect would be greatly magnified, and it's bad enough already. Dumber people equals more bandwidth for everyone!
Slashdot Mirror
I do brainwave entrainment in Cool Edit Pro, but not using the brainwave synchronizer. I do it using sine waves. I usually use the left side as the base frequency or carrier, while the right side starts a certain frequency above that (say 25 Hz above the carrier, approximating a lead-in from the normal waking beta state), gradually falling lower and lower until it is close to the base on the left, to a minimum of .5 Hz of difference. You don't really need to be lower than that.. The Hz difference between the waves forms a beat 'pulse' that draws the brain to attempt to synch with it.
There's an interesting thing here: If you play these combined sounds through speakers, to the air, you can hear the beat pulse as you would expect, if you know the physics of sound. The sound waves from each speaker collide somewhere between, and the troughs and peaks that match up will be amplified to a greater or lesser extent, and similarly others that oppose each other will be cancelled. This forms an audible pulse that can be measured as the frequency difference between the two waves. If you listen with headphones, you can also hear this pulse. This means that the brain is taking the two separate inputs and actually combining them properly, according to how it would physically happen with sound waves that collided with each other in the air, but the headphones prevent this, so the pulse sound is being made in 'neurospace'.
I make the sine waves at a quiet volume (-37 dB), making many clips, sloping each one down by 1Hz difference over a certain number of seconds before proceeding to the next clip. You can make a curve with these times: The lower you are the faster you can start dropping. I start around 90 seconds per clip and by the time we're at the destination they might be 15-30 seconds per. What I get from this is an mp3 that goes from 25Hz-0.5Hz in about 21 minutes, with another 9 minutes of staying at 0.5, and a second mp3 does just a straight 30 minutes of continuing at 0.5, so I can set up a playlist that suits what I feel like doing. I've also got a file that goes to about 7 Hz (theta, creativity, state you tend to be in as you wake from a cat-nap) for occasional use when I'm writing. The entrainment signal gets mix-pasted into a CD-rip of pleasing water sounds, with a nice fade-in/out, and the volume such that the entrainment signal is just barely perceptible when the water sound is at a comfortable level. You may find that you 'feel' the pulse more than hear it. This could all be done 'live' with specialized software of course, but I'm more of a crafter than a programmer so this method is easier and more fun for me.
The frequencies you use are important as well. Through experimentation I found that using 140Hz as a carrier for a beginner using this, is appropriate. Maybe 150-160Hz for some people, but I can't confirm that. After a few years I am using 110Hz. This is because as you use it, research done by the Centerpointe Institute indicates that the brain hemispheres will learn to work together on a given carrier over time and thus the endorphin-release effects and whatnot, from the stress, will be reduced, so after several months of daily use it is appropriate to lower the carrier frequency. The stress of resolving the beat in these signals makes the brain release pleasing chemicals as well as raising one's stress threshold in general. According to Centerpointe, the deeper one goes, the longer one should get accustomed before going any further, to where one might stick with one carrier for a couple of years. Centerpointe sells expensive tapes (well, I think they probably do CDs now) that do this but it's not hard to make your own. Don't use too low of a carrier too soon, the lower frequency increases stress on the brain, and can be rather unpleasant if one is unaccustomed. In my experience, a low-enough carrier without being 'ready' for it results in headaches and fatigue. I have heard anecdotes (untested by me, I'm comfortable with what I've found) that anything over 1000Hz for a c
Popular myth says these people were trying to fly (which begs the question, "Why didn't they start from the ground, like ducks?"). While there may have been a few isolated cases that were real, the majority of people that suffer falling deaths while high simply fall off of whatever structure they are on. They're highly intoxicated, after all.
How do you know they didn't already try the 'duck' method? If you're trying the time-honored method of throwing yourself at the ground intending to miss, perhaps the LSD interferes with your ability to be distracted by something else, as the pretty ground is just so fascinating. "Wow, that crack on the sidewalk is just so zig-zaggy!" So the solution would be to throw yourself at it from much higher up, giving you more time to distract yourself with something, like a pretty bird flying by, and then it just might work.
I was going to say the same thing. LSD has a GIGANTIC tolerance; usually one has to wait a couple days before the next dose. Maybe the guy took some mega-gigantic-huge, but still, it seems unlikely that could last something so long as a week.
I recall reading years ago that the tolerance can be overcome by doubling the dosage each day. If you do say, 5 hits of blotter today, you will have to do 10 tomorrow to get the same effect, 20 the next day, 40 the next, and so on.
Ah yes, you talk of my "anonymous courage" and then say that. What happened to staying on the moral high ground?
Just giving back what I was given... And I stand by my assertion that you would not behave that way in front of me, because nobody ever does that. They know better, unless they're extremely drunk or just plain stupid. That has been my experience for most of my adult life. That's why I referred to false courage, as you seem to feel safe being an asshole when there's all this distance between us. But, as you've also gone back to pre-school with the last line of your latest message, I'm done responding to you since I prefer to interact with adults.
Oh wow, you are so smart pointing out inconsistencies of the English language. I had no idea there were any! Please be the mother of my children, I am truly in awe of your massive intellectual superiority. BTW, STFU.
Uh.. It was a ummm... joke. You know, those things that give one a slight grin sometimes? I am truly sorry if my massive intellectual superiority made you so nervous that your brain shut down. Ok, maybe it wasn't the most hilarious thing you've ever read, so what? If this conversation had taken place in person, and I threw in that quip, you would likely just roll your eyes and carry on. I guess being a faceless entity behind a keyboard really does give one false courage, because you would never respond that way to me in person. So, since you don't really have a 'set' I don't think anyone can be the mother of your children, and I don't have the equipment to oblige you anyhow.
Well, there are going to be elevator shafts all over the place too in order for this to work, so emmission-control could run tandem with that part of the infrastructure. I wasn't thinking of electric cars because we were talking about having to host hybrid traffic. Adoption of alternative vehicles will be slow. Put most of it underground and you get a load of benefits, most notably the lack of weather conditions underground. Exhaust is certainly an issue but not an impossible one, I think. Of course this whole thing is hideously expensive, but a nice dream as I believe it would improve general living conditions on the surface.
Why would that be cool. Well give the train the ability to lower to the ground (a jack like mechanism I'm guessing). Run the tracks over roads in the city.
So it basicly works like the bus system, but only lowers in the bus stop. This would avoid traffic jams and street lights.
The tracks might be on the ugly side. They might look a lot like roller coaster tracks. Power lines would have to be run over them, and street lights might have to be adjusted.
I like that, and yes it would be ugly, too much shadow over too much of the city. So how about instead, build the city 'above' the roads by having the roads underground. Far enough down that you could also have your hanging trains above the car roads, still below street level (hanging from it). Then at street level itself, buses or maybe walkers only. Elevators all over town get you from the underground parking (which there is lots of room for down there) to the storefronts or houses. Your own garage at home would be 50 feet underground like the rest of the consumer vehicles, and you'd have a personal elevator to get you into your home from there.
If America makes Americans, then it should be Mexicons, Canadans, Francens, and Englandns.
I have been playing FarCry, and I think half-life 2 would have to kick it up a BIG notch to be a lot "better" than farcry.
:)
I haven't played FarCry, but just went and looked at the movies on the site and, well I'm buying it as soon as the stores open.
IIRC, it was Dune2 and not warcraft that did the genre-defining in the area of RTS. Dune2 was a single-player RTS and I remember being blown away by the game. I believe that soon afterward Command & Conquer came out (made by Westwood, the people who produced Dune2), and Warcraft close to that. I could be wrong - is anyone here motivated enough to look up the release dates?
I have no release dates, just my own anecdotes that I was there for that wonderful New game that addicted me terribly. You have the correct order as far as I know. I believe C&C/Warcraft were somewhere in 1994/5. Dune 2 was a few years before that, I'm not exactly sure when but by a good margin anyhow. I found Dune 2000 horribly disappointing, but that was later made up for by Emperor: Battle for Dune (by Westwood of course)
I particularly object to slapping HL2 with this label; if you've seen the previews and the screenshots you know that this game will be revolutionary in many respects (graphics/game-play/physics engine/characters), the fact that it is a sequel is not relevant.
The fact that it is a sequel to a game that sold well certainly helps HL2 become that revolutionary object though. More money=more development capital, right? Imagine with me a moment: Would you expect HL2 (We'll call it Third-Life because it's not a sequel in this imaginary world) from a fresh company? I find it unsurprising that game sequels (as opposed to movie sequels) tend to be better than their predecessors, as new technology has been embraced by the time the sequel starts development. And they've got the money to take advantage of that new tech by then.
If their target is the home market, i don't know many people who go around thinking "gee, i wish i could have a hard drive sitting around hidden away, but not inside my computer case."
If that household has more than one network device (which is becoming more common) many of those people would be saying, "Hey cool! We can put all the music on this!" or whatever. This is much more attractive than a dedicated file server PC, in the average household.
I have a revolutionary idea, we take a wireless base station and put it in a backpack and.. oh wait.
3 computers, all IDE, all channels full. I don't want a whole extra server just to have more space, and switching to S-ATA is going to cost more than the $150 to just host an extra drive. Adding drives to boxen you also have to wonder about the power supply handling the extra load. So this looks cool to me, as none of my existing hardware resources need to change for me to wind up with more than I planned for.
I may be splitting hairs here but how I was taught math 4 1/4 is half of 9 1/2 so 4 1/2 is GREATER than half of 9 1/2. Nice try though, didn't have a calculator?
Umm, well when I went to school, 4 1/4 was half of 8 1/2. So I'm not sure why you're asking the guy if he had a calculator, because I doubt that math has changed all that much since I was in school.. 4 1/2 is half of 9. You can check that on a calculator if you don't believe me. It's therefore less than half of 9 1/2 or 9 1/4 or 9 1/64.
Well no, the spelling is fine. See it's a common misconception that fat burns. If it really did that, we'd catch on fire much more often than we do now, and we'd probably contain enough power to fuel a world-wide virtual reality mind-control device. So fat is not burning in your body, and what this means is, when you lose weight, you really loose weight. You are actually loosening up the fat so it can seep out discreetly around your ankles when you're in the shower. I loosed some weight just this morning, it's a fascinating process to watch if you have enough time.
I understand the value of calling a spade a spade, but really, who is going to be taken in in this case, does it really matter? Maybe someone who NEEDS the "not to be taken orally" warning label on the tube of Preparation H, but anyone else?
Whoah dude, there's a blood vessel in your forehead that's just itching to bust. If you honestly believe that speaking in hyperbole will earn you flamewar brownie points, I think it can be safely determined which of us enjoys actual cognition as opposed to merely spewing reactionary crap. You're not the former. I would also like to point out that you need to lighten up a bit. This whole thing started as a joke that I myself would have chuckled at and shrugged off had it been directed towards me. That was one of the first things I learned to do when embracing a lifestyle of alternative thinking.
Regarding your query of my research and experience with alternative thinking and the various nutbars that such fields attract, I will tell you that for the past 14 years I have been active in several occult/pagan communities. That is the source of my apparent auto-reaction. I've met 'you' already, in a few different forms, and have already exchanged a wry glance with my sane friends across the table as we sat and listened, wondering when you'd shut up already so we could get on with having a real discussion.
Your prized point appears to be that the 'tin-foil' joke has been used already. I think that's pretty sad.
Oh I just thought of something fun. Walk around thinking hard, "Can you hear me now?" "How about now?"
Consider the source of your response. It's not original, it's not carefully thought out, it's reflexive and it's designed not just to put me down but to warn others not to think outside certain boudaries lest they stray too far from the herd and be punished through social pressure. All in all, a very effective control method. (For the weak.)
You're making some rather large assumptions here. You are assuming that I have not considered this stuff. You are assuming that I am on auto-pilot. Maybe I'm too far away or something, because you're not picking me up very well apparently.
All this software does is track your mouth as you SPEAK silently. There's no thought reading at all. You are still mouthing the words.
No, what I got out of it was different. When you are thinking in words, your throat is getting the signals that would move it if you wanted to actually vocalize the thought. If I pay close attention when I am thinking (or singing in my head) I can perceive very very slight movements in my throat, my vocal cords tightening and loosening 'sympathetically' with my thoughts. Look inside yourself and try it, I've been aware of this for years.
Mod parent up. That's a really cool idea man.
And also, it's a tough when you are around people who are aware in the same ways. --If you want to keep your thoughts private, you have to stop your mind from being so sloppy and loud. On the other hand, it gives you a whole spectrum of very useful awareness and self-control when dealing with people who have no idea about this stuff.
Sounds like somebody needs a tinfoil hat..
It's not like you're just mumbling so quietly that nobody can hear. Your vocal cords aren't actually engaging, your tongue is not actually moving.. But the neat thing here is that, as you normally think in words without intending to talk, those parts *want* to move but don't. That's the signal that the device picks up. If I understand correctly, the effort required is to think things the device can recognize and not just give it noise like "Hmmm, did I feed the cat this morning?"
It is basically reading thoughts. Think of a psionicist in AD&D. When they do a mind probe on someone, they don't just indiscriminately read any thought you are able to have, it's an interactive process where they subtly get you to think of something they want more information about. Your inner chatter in response to the suggestion is what they are able to pick up. This device is the same result, without the probing.
We live in an information age. You would think if evolution were still in full swing, that smarter people would proliferate. I am surrounded by an ever increasing horde of idiots. If we were animals, the stupid offspring would be culled and the higher rates of reproduction among these lower order members would be cancelled out by their propensity towards dying earlier. The human species as a whole has apparently decided that everyone, no matter how stupid or disease ridden, needs to be kept alive and allowed to not only survive but to reproduce. It seems that we as a species are devolving.
Sure, because evolution is about who gets to mate. Intelligence doesn't seem to be the great guarantee we might like it to be. I had one that was totally turned on by brains, but she flaked out on me. But maybe it's not all bad... If there were more geek-types in the world, the Slashdot effect would be greatly magnified, and it's bad enough already. Dumber people equals more bandwidth for everyone!