I suppose we all have dreams of seeing certain devices or technology invented and produced within our life-times (the classic most probably being a time-travelling machine). This exciting project happens to be one of my own:

Pioneering scientists in America have developed a computer programme with the ability to read a person’s mind. Although currently still in the experimental stages, results are promising – if somewhat crude – and the technique has already been used to create the approximate outline of a city-skyline, and a man wearing a white shirt. The full results are yet to be published but it was claimed the software is close to the mark.

This may well sound like something from a sci-fi movie to many of us, but scientists claim one day the device will one day be accurate enough to create moving images with such detail that it will be successfully used to solve crime.

.

Source

So, how did they do it?

The discovery came as part of a larger study being conducted to show how brain scans can display private thoughts.

The experiment took place at the University of California, Berkley, where Professor Jack Gallant, the man in charge, released the following statement: “At the moment when you see something and want to describe it you have to use words or draw it and it doesn’t work very well. This technology might allow you to recover an eyewitness’s memory of a crime.”

Image via Wikipedia

The team employed two volunteers, whose brains were scanned with fMRI scanners – the type usually found in hospitals – while they watched two separate videos. They were asked to recreate the images they saw in their mind and the results were displayed by the device as moving pictures.

This is an exciting development and could have massive implications, not just for solving crime, but in other areas: think about those inflicted with illnesses or disabilities leaving them unable communicate with the world – this technology could be used to help them, too. I’m sure there will be many other uses for such a device: the military would no doubt also find it an incredibly helpful tool.

This new technology is also a time machine, of sorts – allowing us to look into the past through the private memories of another individual. It’s certainly an amazing development and it will be very interesting to see how the project moves forward.

You may also like the following:

Mysterious Egregores: The Group Mind Phenomenon