Originally posted by prevenge
Tin Foil Hats for the win!

Yeah - tin foil ought to do it.

The New Scientist link that InvisibleObserver posted describes the current state-of-the-art and its limitations. Notably, none of the reports include the most interesting detail - images or videos generated by the brain scanner. This invites some scepticism about the claims.



[edit on 2-11-2009 by EvilAxis]

Interesting post, though I am forced to think of the duality of this kind of technology. The bright note, is that the potential for great strides in the delving of the human mind and brain is there, the potential for helping those who have suffered from a stroke, or alzheimer or any other degenerative disease that affects the brain, can be used for great good. But on the flip side, this can be used for more darker purposes, such as the ultimate invasion of privacy. What do we give up for the development of this, when reading this I am reminded of 2 movies, one being Minority Report, where a person who has not committed a crime is imprisoned because he/she might. The other is Inherit the Wind, where for every advance there is a price that must be paid.

Originally posted by Teslaforce

Originally posted by kaskade
If you are doing nothing wrong, than you have nothing to worry about =]
[edit on 2/11/2009 by kaskade]

Correction: If you are thinking nothing wrong, than you have nothing to worry about.

I would add to that - If those who use the technology are doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry about.

And that, of course, is a big "if". The idea that citizens only keep secrets from the State because they're up to no good is naive in the extreme, and ignores the long history of struggle against oppressive regimes, lying governments and corrupt corporations. By this view, the East German Stasi shouldn't have been disbanded. How much more effective they could have been with remote thought detection! The Berlin wall wouldn't have come down.

If it follows the pattern of other State spying techniques, the technology (assuming it becomes viable) would at first be regulated and warranted for use on suspected terrorists, criminals, etc. while secretly being used on everyone. Later the State would grant itself permission to legally and openly monitor all citizens ostensibly for their protection - as has occurred with phone tapping and internet monitoring etc.

I agree that the technology could also bring fantastic benefits but with something potentially so powerful and invasive, it's natural first to consider the malign implications.