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DangerMouse Special user LONDON CITY 509 Posts |
Taken from the UK Broadsheet newspaper The Guardian:
A team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act. The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists' ability to probe people's minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future. The team used high-resolution brain scans to identify patterns of activity before translating them into meaningful thoughts, revealing what a person planned to do in the near future. It is the first time scientists have succeeded in reading intentions in this way. "Using the scanner, we could look around the brain for this information and read out something that from the outside there's no way you could possibly tell is in there. It's like shining a torch around, looking for writing on a wall," said John-Dylan Haynes at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, who led the study with colleagues at University College London and Oxford University. The research builds on a series of recent studies in which brain imaging has been used to identify tell-tale activity linked to lying, violent behaviour and racial prejudice. The latest work reveals the dramatic pace at which neuroscience is progressing, prompting the researchers to call for an urgent debate into the ethical issues surrounding future uses for the technology. If brain-reading can be refined, it could quickly be adopted to assist interrogations of criminals and terrorists, and even usher in a "Minority Report" era (as portrayed in the Steven Spielberg science fiction film of that name), where judgments are handed down before the law is broken on the strength of an incriminating brain scan. "These techniques are emerging and we need an ethical debate about the implications, so that one day we're not surprised and overwhelmed and caught on the wrong foot by what they can do. These things are going to come to us in the next few years and we should really be prepared," Professor Haynes told the Guardian. The use of brain scanners to judge whether people are likely to commit crimes is a contentious issue that society should tackle now, according to Prof Haynes. "We see the danger that this might become compulsory one day, but we have to be aware that if we prohibit it, we are also denying people who aren't going to commit any crime the possibility of proving their innocence." During the study, the researchers asked volunteers to decide whether to add or subtract two numbers they were later shown on a screen. Before the numbers flashed up, they were given a brain scan using a technique called functional magnetic imaging resonance. The researchers then used a software that had been designed to spot subtle differences in brain activity to predict the person's intentions with 70% accuracy. The study revealed signatures of activity in a marble-sized part of the brain called the medial prefrontal cortex that changed when a person intended to add the numbers or subtract them. Because brains differ so much, the scientists need a good idea of what a person's brain activity looks like when they are thinking something to be able to spot it in a scan, but researchers are already devising ways of deducing what patterns are associated with different thoughts. Barbara Sahakian, a professor of neuro-psychology at Cambridge University, said the rapid advances in neuroscience had forced scientists in the field to set up their own neuroethics society late last year to consider the ramifications of their research. "Do we want to become a 'Minority Report' society where we're preventing crimes that might not happen?," she asked. "For some of these techniques, it's just a matter of time. It is just another new technology that society has to come to terms with and use for the good, but we should discuss and debate it now because what we don't want is for it to leak into use in court willy nilly without people having thought about the consequences. "A lot of neuroscientists in the field are very cautious and say we can't talk about reading individuals' minds, and right now that is very true, but we're moving ahead so rapidly, it's not going to be that long before we will be able to tell whether someone's making up a story, or whether someone intended to do a crime with a certain degree of certainty." Professor Colin Blakemore, a neuroscientist and director of the Medical Research Council, said: "We shouldn't go overboard about the power of these techniques at the moment, but what you can be absolutely sure of is that these will continue to roll out and we will have more and more ability to probe people's intentions, minds, background thoughts, hopes and emotions. "Some of that is extremely desirable, because it will help with diagnosis, education and so on, but we need to be thinking the ethical issues through. It adds a whole new gloss to personal medical data and how it might be used." The technology could also drive advances in brain-controlled computers and machinery to boost the quality of life for disabled people. Being able to read thoughts as they arise in a person's mind could lead to computers that allow people to operate email and the internet using thought alone, and write with word processors that can predict which word or sentence you want to type . The technology is also expected to lead to improvements in thought-controlled wheelchairs and artificial limbs that respond when a person imagines moving. "You can imagine how tedious it is if you want to write a letter by using a cursor to pick out letters on a screen," said Prof Haynes. "It would be much better if you thought, 'I want to reply to this email', or, 'I'm thinking this word', and the computer can read that and understand what you want to do." · FAQ: Mind reading What have the scientists developed? They have devised a system that analyses brain activity to work out a person's intentions before they have acted on them. More advanced versions may be able to read complex thoughts and even pick them up before the person is conscious of them. How does it work? The computer learns unique patterns of brain activity or signatures that correspond to different thoughts. It then scans the brain to look for these signatures and predicts what the person is thinking. How could it be used? It is expected to drive advances in brain-controlled computers, leading to artificial limbs and machinery that respond to thoughts. More advanced versions could be used to help interrogate criminals and assess prisoners before they are released. Controversially, they may be able to spot people who plan to commit crimes before they break the law. What is next? The researchers are honing the technique to distinguish between passing thoughts and genuine intentions.
Cheese is nothing but thick milk.
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Looch Inner circle Off by 3362 Posts |
Massively provoking article, Thanks for posting this Curt. I have loads to talk about regarding this, but none of them mentalism related, so I will probably just call you instead.
Mentalism Products: https://www.readmymind.co.uk/ Learn Mentalism with the Pro's: https://www.mymind.rocks
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phil in KC Regular user 199 Posts |
Wow! I had no idea that research had progressed this far.
"Here, sit in this special chair. In a minute, I'm going to show you two numbers. You can add them together, or subtract the smaller from the larger. Your choice. Add or subtract. Make your decision...now! Yes, I see you've made your decision. Let me write down my prediction. Okay, here are the two numbers..." Come to think of it, we're talking a 50-50 chance here -- not exactly world-beating mentalism. But I can see this research working its way into a lot of patter in the coming months. -Phil in KC |
Malchat Special user The Kingdom of Croiset and Wonder 885 Posts |
I love the article, but I'm not buying the hype. I see tons of useful and realistic applications and spin-offs, especially in human-machine interfaces
But Minority Report societies..? I'll believe it when I see it - right now it sounds like Victorian criminal phrenology for the 21st century. I give the creativity, flexibility and sheer deviousness of the human mind a bit more credit than that.
“You are what you pretend to be.”
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Tom Jorgenson Inner circle LOOSE ANGLES, CALIFORNIA 4451 Posts |
A flash from the future.
Once the scientists can understand, WITHOUT FAIL, whether a person is lying or telling the truth, all society's criminal laws can immediately change. Streamline. All of Criminal law is based on one thing: the attempt to discern truth. All the checks and balances (lawyer's full disclosure, etc) are based on the fact that we cannot tell whether a defendent is lying or truthful. Once this can be truly determined, juries can be done away with. Punishments can be givin within days. Who shot who? Instantly determinable. Imbezzling the loot at work? Not a chance when you go thru your weekly Brain pan-scan. Political backstabbing? Nope. Halliburtoning a war? You're ALL going to jail! Life will be much more simple and clean. but without the 'old west' ability to get away with lying, cheating, stealing, etc. Our politicians can finally weed out the criminals, in society and in politics. We are gliding towards unimaginable world changes...and this is only one of the new things acomin'. Cool article.
We dance an invisible dance to music they cannot hear.
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Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
Big Brother is watching
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Dr Spektor Eternal Order Carcanis 10781 Posts |
Big Sister (pc)
"They are lean and athirst!!!!"
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Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
I don't remember her in 1984.
Was she a nun? |
airship Inner circle In my day, I have driven 1594 Posts |
Played by Whoopi Goldberg.
'The central secret of conjuring is a manipulation of interest.' - Henry Hay
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Tony Iacoviello Eternal Order 13151 Posts |
Ah, that's why the Doc said it the way he did. But I though Kathy Najimy was bigger than her, And wasn't that 1992?
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Jim Reynolds Elite user Special Guest 431 Posts |
I've actually done fMRI research (my other job) and can tell you there is nothing really new with this article in terms of what researchers have been doing over the last decade.
Like Malchat says, don't believe the hype. A pixel element used for imaging brain activity is just too big to capture the billions of neurons that are firing simultaneously at any given moment. Although great progress has been made to determine lies vs. truth telling, there is still much debate over establishing a true baseline for truth – which is needed to determine lies – and there has been virtually no research on counter measures the way the traditional polygraph lie detector can be fooled. The process involved in these studies is cumbersome and delicate. It’s not like placing some kind of helmet on. Slight movement in an MRI scanner will degrade images to the point of being useless. The cost involved is also prohibitive. You may be interested to know that some advertising agencies are starting to use fMRI to determine why people prefer some brands over others. A long way from Minority Report levels….so far. |
magicmind Inner circle My fence has 20, 3218 Posts |
I had worked on a routine based on this back in 1984 and actually was about to release my "machine" that I had built. Oh well.....back to the drawing board.
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Dr Spektor Eternal Order Carcanis 10781 Posts |
1984 again? 1+9+8+4=22=2+2=4.... 4... SEE?????
"They are lean and athirst!!!!"
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Carlos the Great Inner circle California 1234 Posts |
I'm with Malchat and Jim Reynolds on this one.
First of all, articles not written by subject experts are always wrong. They always get something wrong or make a "reasonable" leap of logic that isn't valid. Second, the technology being discussed really isn't all that revolutionary. They've been able to determine action versus non-action decisions since right after the polygraph became popular. Third, the promises made by technology are made when the technology is young and people really have no idea what to expect (and they are subject experts). A few ones from the recent past: gene therapy (came and went, for the most part; easier ways to accomplish the same thing nowadays), treating disease with info from human genome project (nope again; DNA is being used as a diagnostic, not a treatment), monoclonal antibody therapy (found to be more effective when combined with chemo, not in lieu of), and so forth. Oh, and by the way, they already have artificial limbs that respond to nerve impulses to open and close. Replacing them with this new technology would take at least 50 years (if everything goes right AND the FDA streamlines the products through clearance). Fourth, none of this matters since it can be used as a hook for some of us. I would not expect to see much in terms of anything but diagnostics from this technology. I would love to be proved wrong but I just don't see it. Great story, though. -Carlos
Cognite tute
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Dr Spektor Eternal Order Carcanis 10781 Posts |
For example, as I keep going on about Quatermass and the Pit - in that story there is a helmet you can put on someone and see on a electroimpulse screen what the person is seeing - or dreaming - or hallucinating. As Carlos says - it is a great hook and a segue into creating your own pseudoscience mentalism devices.
"They are lean and athirst!!!!"
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ragingcalm Elite user 428 Posts |
I studied Neuropsychology under Colin Blakemore at Uni. This kind of technology has been around for a long time. Essentially the only novelty is in the type of decision being analysed. Until now poorer resolution of imaging machines haven't allowed this type of decision to be examined.
Far more advanced studies are carried out in Monkeys. WHy? Becuase we can stick electrode directly into their skull. For example, in a simple motor decision task the activity of a network of motor cells were recorded. Then by mimicking the responses in the task, we were able to directly elicit the same motor responses by stimulating the electordes implanted in the monkeys brain. So basically a remote controlled monkey. The technology may be at it's infancy, but Carlos you're wrong to say it wont deliver. I'm not talking about fMRI (although fMRI has provided an unbelieveable amount of information about the plumbings of the brain) in particular but neuropsychology methods in general. At the moment fMRI is the machine of choice because it's non invasive. However, the most informative studies come from group neuronal recordings (where you implant electrodes into single neurons). Current theories of consciousness and information processsing are placing increasing emphasis on the importance of neural oscillations (gray&singer 1995). Modelling neuronal circuitry in computers is also becoming fairly complex (read anything by Kim Plunkett on Neural Networks or computational psychology) Have a read of my post in the FATE thread if you want a possible scientific take on determinism for a mentalism presentation. |
ragingcalm Elite user 428 Posts |
The advance of neurophsyiological techniques in the last 40years is absolutely breath-taking by the way. Computer/Human integration isn't too far off
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Rory Raven Special user Providence, RI 514 Posts |
While I always enjoy reading articles like this, I'm a bit skeptical when they tell us we're on the verge of some breakthrough That Will Change Everything, because they so rarely pan out.
I remember my mother tellng me that as a girl, she was told someday she'd be going to work in her own flying car. But a good article -- thanks for posting it! R
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx
visit www.roryraven.com today! |
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