Helmet to Convey Messages by Thought

Discovery News ^ | Oct. 13, 2008 | Eric Bland

[MarcoPolo]

Oct. 13, 2008 -- Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an email, dial a phone or even speak a word.

Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.

"I think that this will eventually become just another way of communicating," said Mike D'Zmura, from the University of California, Irvine and the lead scientist on the project....

[MarcoPolo]

This is disturbing, albeit not surprising. This technology is ready-made for misuse.

[farlander]

What do you mean ? What misuse do you envision ?

[JennysCool]

Soon noobs on Free Republic will be able to post vanities by thought alone!

[Westlander]

[weegee]

Good. Let’s put one on both candidates to wear at the next debate. I’d like to know what is on Obama’s mind as he attempts to deceive the public. Put one on the moderator too.

THAT would make for great television (although the whole thing would be subtitled only).

[Westlander]

[txroadkill]

No good can come from this, what if you forget to turn it off? Can you imagine the e-mails you would accidentally send your boss?

[weegee]

I know what you're thinking...

"Maybe I should do this for halloween this year..."

[weegee]

And I know what y’all are thinking “Yeesh!!! What IS he wearing underNEATH that?!!!!”

[spetznaz]

You must think in Russian!

Clint Eastwood, FireFox.

[MarcoPolo]

The fact that this has been a project of military hints at the uses that are intended. If successful (and I suppose that is a rather large if), this technology will be used as an agressive tool and a spy machine rather than simply a tool for communicating messages.

They say it can be turned off. We know however that technology does exist to turn on (or at least access) certain devices through remote means by unauthorized persons. This is shown by the report that came out in the last couple of years that the government can in fact remotely trigger a microphone in a person's cell phone, even when the cell phone is turned off, giving the government the ability to listen to everything the person is saying. These are but some of the misuses I can envision. There are more that seem to me not outside the realm of possibility.

[Global2010]

Not disturbing if you can not speak and are a quadroplegic.

If you dont have the agility to use switches or other means to access computers but can read and are cognitive this helmet deal would be a real break through.

[allmost]

Good idea. Don't want to read your mind as you are eviscerating me. Just a thought

[SatinDoll]

Just imagine wiping a blackboard clean repeatedly. Nothing can be discerned. I learned that trick when I dated a man, an Airforce specialist, who could read minds.

[LibWhacker]

Great tool for the thought police.

[MarcoPolo]

Indeed. But this is also the sort of rationale which makes many people support fetal stem-cell research. It appeals to the emotional side in all us with the question, "But what about the sick people it may help?" It ignores the fact that there may be far greater numbers of people harmed by the research, or, in this case, technology, than those (far fewer) who will be helped. Besides that, there is usually a better way to help the sick and disabled than the one they are being used to justify, and the fact that the worst possible method is proposed shows plainly that the reasons that the developers of the new technology want it are far from altruistic.

Not being a scientist or a doctor, I don't know what other possibilities may be out there for Gehrig's patients, but I wouldn't be shocked to find that other proposals (of equal likelihood to work) do exist but aren't being touted---just like adult stem cell research is so often ignored (despite its greater promise) by those who push for fetal stem-cell research.

[paudio]

One thing I’m sure. The ACLU will sue to prevent the police or the military from using this on the Islamo-facists that are captured by the US.

[Cymbaline]

Fire rearward missile!

[MarcoPolo]

They should. It is never more than a step between what they do to "them" and what they do to "us." It's the old adage that if you give them an inch they'll take an ell.

I'm reminded of the poem "First They Came..." by Martin Niemoller which reads:

"When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

"When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

"When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I was not a Jew.

"When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out."

We have to be careful and extremely hesitant about what we support our government doing to anyone (including terrorists, criminals, prisoners of war, etc.), mostly out of pure principle, but also because it will most certainly be us next.

[Global2010]

Oh now hold on one second MarcoPolo.

Huge diff IMO between using fetal stem cells and a helmet.

Emotional oh hell yeah but we would never think of taking what would have been a life and using that to heal.

Placing a chip or other non tissue type of tech to enable communication (independently) in a heart beat.
We have been so lucky to benefit from space tech for seating and other medical devices to live independent in the world and have an active life and not be home-bound.

30yrs MarcoPolo we have been blessed to lived a life that many non disabled never aspire too.

Unless I missed in the article where this technology is using fetal stem cells I have to strongly disagree with your comparison.

Guess we should not have technology that gives wheelchair lifts/switches and other devices that give the severely disabled some level of Independence either.