Mind reader

Ever wonder what it would be like if people can read your thoughts and observed what your brain visualize on a giant screen? This is no longer science fiction. Japanese scientist reported that they had created the technology that is capable of displaying on the computer screen what’s on a person’s mind.

See http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hjZBkNJ5qofmg0Qw3vHSfpNdKPfQ

Thus Hollywood science fiction movies on capturing or recording a person’s dream on a computer system for subsequent digital playback and interpretation are neither far fetch nor a possibility of the distant future. It is going to be reality sooner than we think.

Come to think of it, it is kind of scary isn’t it? Certainly I would not want my personal thoughts and dreams to be a public viewing content. Such technology would prove invaluable to solving crimes along the breakthrough technology such as the like of DNA identification and lie detector test though.

No one knows for sure the consequences of such a technology on human social impact. On one hand, this technology brings along with it a whole plethora of new exciting applications and challenges. For instance, a teacher could immediately know if a student understood the subject being taught or the student is day dreaming. A pastor or preacher would know if any church member attendee is asleep or day dreaming during the sermon.

In another 10 years or so, such technology might probably become mature enough to be economically deployed in cheap portable gadgets. Everyone can read anyone’s mind via such and such miniature mind reader gadgets. I wonder what the world is going to become when that time comes. Perhaps there could be some form of regulation to restrict deployment of such technology but as usual, there will always been some smart Alex around who is able to go around hacking and cracking security protection around such devices.

What is going to become of the world by then with such technology within the reach of the common mass? Well, no one knows for sure, it is such an exciting technology and at the same time worrying too.