The Future of Eavesdropping – Mind Reading

A Japanese research team has revealed it had created a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams.

Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron.

While the team for now has managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people's minds. (more)

Yawn, and your laptop goes to sleep

What if you could simply think about an action, and the computer would respond?

Emotiv is currently fine-tuning a mind-reading headset called the Epoc, which should ship late this year. The $299 device purports to eavesdrop on your thoughts and translate them into computer instructions, so you can play a game or arrange photos without using your hands or speaking words.

Epoc "neuroheadset" has 16 sensors embedded in its crossbars that communicate wirelessly with your PC. There are no messy smears or tangles of wires. But in order to get correct readings, the sensors must make just the right contact with your scalp, which can take a fair amount of fiddling. And once the headset is in place, you have to be careful not to move around too much or the sensors will slip, preventing the computer from getting a clear signal. (more)
...and you were self-conscious about wearing your Bluetooth earpiece.
Seriously, you are witnessing the future of eavesdropping. Near-term... physical motion replacement, a boon to the seriously handicapped. Mid-term... Doors that auto-lock if the person approaching is of the wrong frame of mind. Far-term... TiVO your life whenever you want. I can't wait.

FutureWatch - Brain Eavesdropping Progresses

Mind-reading with a brain scan
Scientists have developed a way of ‘decoding’ someone’s brain activity to determine what they are looking at.

“The problem is analogous to the classic ‘pick a card, any card’ magic trick,” says Jack Gallant, a neuroscientist at the University of California in Berkeley, who led the study. But while a magician uses a ploy to pretend to ‘read the mind’ of the subject staring at a card, now researchers can do it for real using brain-scanning instruments. “When the deck of cards, or photographs, has about 120 images, we can do better than 90% correct,” says Gallant. (more)

Eavesdropping via Mind Reading - One Step Closer

Hitachi has developed a technology to allow users to control devices by thinking. The system is currently being used to move a toy train back and forth, but the company and other manufacturers see a future for it in TV remote controls, cars and artificial limbs. A key advantage to Hitachi's technology is that sensors don't have to physically enter the brain. (more)

The Ultimate Eavesdropping Tool?

...now on ebay! (ugh)

"Haunted 925 Silver Ornate Chalcedony Ring - Witch Spell - Read Other's Minds! Telepathy! Pick Up on Thoughts."

"This is a Ring that Albina imbued with an incredible spell!. She says that Chalcedony has always been highly regarded beacuse of it's natural power to increase thought transmissions. As a result, Albina consecrated this ring with her "Mystical mind reader" spell. This powerful spell allows one to actually "read the mind's of others as well as hear their thoughts and pick up on their feelings". She says that this is a form of psychic ability only it is focused solely on mind reading and not the ability to see future events.

In turn, Albina says that wearing this ring will allow one to "tune into and pick up on other's thoughts and feelings" which is as she says "very beneficial in many situations. She does caution one however, to using this power to "eavesdrop on the feelings and thoughts of those who dislike or are an 'enemy' to one. She says that she herself has 'felt hurt' by some of the information she has received. Yet, overall, she says "this power offers one a great advantage especially in business and career matters. She goes on to say that this ability is "key" when one is facing important decisions and chioces. Albina says that before purchasing a summer home, she wore this ring and was able to "hear the realtor become fearful" that she would discover the 'bad' plumbing in the lower level of the home! She adds that this is only ONE example of how this imbued ring has "given me information that I was VERY grateful to receive". This is a VERY special piece and my GREAT Thanks and Blessings go out to Albina for donating such a cherished item!

My reader says that the energy emitted from this ring is "very consistent and carries a low, humming frequency". She said that the piece "gave me the chills and seemed to open a door" that allowed her own ability to increase.

She went on to say that she could feel the ring "connecting to those around one on a level in which one would be able to read thoughts". She added that the longer she held the ring, she felt the ability getting stronger, and this was only within a few minutes. She went on to say that "if this ring can allow this within such a short period of time, one who wears this ring often should be able to achieve geat abilities and gain a very clear pathways to another's mind".

She adds that she senses that this particular ring "knows it's true owner" and that the person it will go to "will feel a pull towards this piece and not rest until it is in their possession'. She also could view a brilliant green and dark, sharp pink aura around this piece. (more) ...currently, only $20.50 - whattabargain :)

FutureWatch - Mind Reading

At a laboratory in Germany, volunteers slide into a donut-shaped MRI machine and perform simple tasks, such as deciding whether to add or subtract two numbers, or choosing which of two buttons to press. They have no inkling that scientists in the next room are trying to read their minds - using a brain scan to figure out their intention before it is turned into action.

In the past, scientists had been able to detect decisions about making physical movements before those movements appeared. But researchers at Berlin's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience claim they have now, for the first time, identified people's decisions about how they would later do a high-level mental activity - in this case, adding versus subtracting.

While still in its initial stages, the techniques may eventually have wide-ranging implications for everything from criminal interrogations to airline security checks. And that alarms some ethicists who fear the technology could one day be abused by authorities, marketers, or employers. (more)

Describe the future of eavesdropping...

Mind reading, of course!

(from hack247.co.uk)
Hitachi Develops Mind Reading System Hitachi Electronics Advanced Research Labs have developed a system that can read peoples minds, albeit in a very primitive way.

It works by flooding the brain with near infra-red rays which are harmless but allow the system to measure blood flow in the frontal lobe areas. This blood flow changes in response to a persons thoughts and this change can be measured and interpreted as images which can in turn be used to trigger electrical devices.

They admit their ‘optical-topography’ system is in the early stages but hope to use it to develop remote control systems for disabled people, allowing them to control wheelchairs and other aids using only their minds.

They plan to develop the system into a usable application by 2011. (more)