Mind Reading
June 28, 2009 4:50 PM
Neuroscience has learned so much about how we think and the brain activity linked to certain thoughts that it is now possible - on a very basic scale - to read a person's mind. Lesley Stahl reports.
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- I know the clip is on MRI machine, but both usagator and I are speaking of satellite based spying.
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- Part 3. Finally, if you read my above post carefully, you can see another major limitation of the fMRI machine. In order to allow it to work, you need a cooperative patient, who is willing to hold very still. If the patient is moving, forget about getting your information. A terrorist could easily foil this machine, and sedating him woulld just defeat the whole purpose of the machine! Also, consider that culture is another major stumbling block. Perhaps software engineers could build hundreds of software programs based on algorythms for particular cultures. Software engineers might try to build software for interpreting thoughts from someone from Russia, someone from China, someone from Canada, etc. . . If a person loves poetry and tends to think in poetic thoughs, oh boy, what a mess! Are you following me? This is not impossible, but it is not 5 years away, as the scientist claims in the clip. He is trying to hype his work and make it look sexy. I guess you can't blame him, if he is hungry for funding and recognition. But, in all reality, this could only be a pseudo-science, at best, even after many decades of progress.
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- Part 2. Having said that, let me back up, a little. If you go to any big city hospital and see their MRI room, you will see it is a huge, extremely heavy million-dollar machine that is very noisy, and it is enclosed in a special room. It is also very expensive to operate. It costs about a thousand dollars to get an MRI done. The idea of making this machine small, portable and quiet for spying purposes is hundreds of years of away, if at all, I am guessing. Keep in mind, the patient has to lie near motionless for up to a half hour or more to get a good MRI reading done. I know, I have had to sit in on the long process and watch patients try to keep still and hopefully try to sleep. An fMRI is basically an MRI that processes faster. That's all it is. You can compare it to a camera that engineers have built one year that takes 10 shots per second. Next year, the engineers develop this same camera to take pictures even faster, at 32 shots per second. Suddenly it is no longer a camera. It is now labeled a video-camera, because video appears in "real time" to the naked eye at 32 shots per second. It's the same analogy with the fMRI. The most compelling part of this interview was that the scientist ran a test in which the subject was to visualize 10 objects and let the fMRI map the heat signature of the brain as the subject did this. The scientist claimed that when the subject rethought these objects, supposedly at random, the computer, based on the fMRI stored information--for that particular subject--guessed 10 for 10 correctly on what the subject was visualizing. If true and reproducible, that certainly is exciting. But even so, it is perhaps decades or more before developing a program that could even try to decode whole sentences of thought, if at all. Every human thinks differently which will always make this more of an art than a science. If we all thought the same, perhaps it could one day be a firm science. But since that is certainly not true, this technology will always be stuck in psuedo-sciene land. But, it could make one hell of a lie detector!
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- Budgie and Usagator, when I was in college years ago, My Psychology professor reminded us that brain signals operate on such tiny electrical signals that the idea of wirelesly receiving them is kind of a joke. Please pick up a book on how the brain works, and stop worrying. Also, I am very familiar with MRI's, having once trained to be a radiologic technician. An fMRI is indeed a new, advanced type of MRI, that gives clues in the most general sense of what a person could be feeling. For instance, it might show that he may be angry, or it may show that she may be sad, etc. . By no means could it ever hope to show sentences of thought, such as: "I wonder if they know that I stole money, when I lived in Atlanta?" It is impossible. So please don't worry. You can also feel comfortable to know that the FBI, NSA, and other government agencies are usally swamped with tracking down real criminals on the run who have commited serious felonies, foreign war threats and terrorists. They just don't have time to waste resources on peaceful citizens, nor would it be legal, either.
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- Forget x-ray glasses to view women naked. I want to read their minds. Where can I buy fMRI glasses?
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- usagator, you are very correct in saying this technology was developed quite some time ago. You know who uses this technology against unsuspecting individuals? The FBI, via satellite technology. This was used against me, and and my children. My thoughts were shared with the public as well. My children and I was on PC's via satellite too. It was an invasion. It all starts from people in your life;family and especially people from your job. The FBI have people to say or do little things to aggrevate you, and to hurt you mentally. No one will ever know the suffering i had to endure from my co-workers when the FBI got involved in my life. I still to this day hate every one of those bastards!! How did I find out? Well, when the FBI saw that I just could NOT take the mental abuse they decided to "let me in" on what was going on in my life, my home, and my job. They decided to let my know the very reason I was having a nervous breakdown...aww, how sweet of them. Anyhow,the FBI, hijacked my computer,lured me in to any chat rooms by instant message; every time I entered a chat, there they were, FBI agents, people from my job, and various other people-hundred, if not thousands. Even though I changed my screen name a dozen times, they still found me...my computer was hijacked. They made fun of me, talked about things I did during the day, etc. Everyday I logged on and entered chat, people would be talking to me about what I done durring the day, what I talked about, what my home looked like. I got real scared. I got rid of the computer real fast! I even put black trash bags over my bathroom window so no light would filter through. Thats the FIRST thing I did! You would not believe the hell I had to go through with the public as well. Why did this happen to me? A divorce with children involved. My ex's people knew people that knew people that worked for the FBI. I feel, although not physically, my children and I were raped.A home invasion. It took about a month or so before I figured out they could and even shared my thoughts. I really do not want to go into details about that, because this technology is EVIL, and needs to go back to the pitts of hell!! I suffered mental abuse from the public when I found out they could hear my thoughts as well. Like I said, I do not like to talke about it...it's evil. The ONLY thing I DO NOT understand is this many people involved, and yet no one says a thing. There was; however,my boss at my NEW job that saw my hurt, even though I NEVER told her anything,she looked at me in disspare and shook her head and said, "That many people involved." How did she know? Well, she was involved, but atleast she did show me sympathy. They allowed the public to watch my and my children in my home! But,what makes me wonder how the FBI can silence this huge group of people, and yet no one says a word. People act like your insane. phhhst, yeah right!! I KNOW what we suffered!! My children, by parental rights, have to see their father. I swear I do not see how he and especially that EVIL mother of his can look at these kids with out any consequences of knowing what they had done to them. This is like having to conversate everyday with one's rapist. I told my kids alllll about this, and of course they don't believe me. They only thing I can tell them to do is when they ask the evil grandmother, or dad about this is to watch their body language. I told them you can tell when people are lying. I hope one day this will allll come out, so my babies will know the truth!!!
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- I am sorry I missed this show. This technology was developed quite some time ago. The NSA has this capability and can also control an individuals mind remotely by using extra low frequencies. It is referred to as Remote Neural Monitoring and has been installed in airports and these signals are transmitted using ELF. Honestly, I really expect better information from CBS and 6o Minutes. Who is controlling your minds anymore. Why not do a show featuring mind control victims like Harlan Girard or myself. I think a 1hr show would be in order. Is CBS afraid of the government?
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