It was reported that researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain. The team has only managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain but they believe that the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people's minds. (http://www.physorg.com/news148193433.html)
It seems like we have opened yet another Pandora's Box. The potential of technology which allows others to read people’s minds is simply mind-boggling and its potential dangers are anyone's guess. It is only a matter of time when such mind-reading devices become as ubiquitous as mobile phones. There will undoubtedly be useful applications of such technology such as in solving crime cases and creating drawings and animations directly by visualizing them in the mind. However, in such a future, personal thoughts will no longer be private anymore as our very last sanctuary of privacy is encroached upon.
Already there are companies which sell commercial brain-computer interfaces (BCI) products such as headphones, based on electro-encephalogram (EEG) technology. Such devices allow the user to control the computer using their thoughts alone; they could control the cursor on the monitor screen, a computer game character or even a robot in the real world. Such technology will make it possible for people who have lost their limbs or wheelchair bound patients to be replaced with robotic prosthetic limbs which can be controlled by their mind. In fact, there have already been patients fitted with such BCI devices such as blind people who have partially regained their sight using electrodes implanted into their visual cortex and linked to an external camera. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface) With the aid of BCI devices, doctors will be able to perform surgeries with better accuracy for longer hours with less physical fatigue from their hands, and astronauts can manipulate tools and conduct delicate experiments in space more efficiently using thought-controlled robotic arms instead of their bulky spacesuit gloves. BCI devices can also contribute a positive impact in the education arena and will enhance the learning experience for students. Uses of BCI in treatment of psychological disorders such as depression, phobias and attention-deficit disorder are also possible. Other applications include marketing uses, advertising, consumer electronics, and entertainment.
In the near future, it is highly possible that there will be groups, organizations or even governments willing to utilize such BCI devices to control others as well. Just as we can control computers and robots using our thoughts, the reverse could probably happen also. The prophetic vision of the future portrayed by the film The Matrix might not be too far-fetched after all. Initially there might be many people resisting the use of such devices for ethical or personal reasons, but the inadvertent tide of science and technology will nevertheless remain an unstoppable force. I foresee a future where even normal people would fit themselves with such BCI devices to enhance their physical and even mental abilities. This may sound repelling to some right now but it may be perfectly acceptable to people of the future. People of the past may never have thought that our generation would be so dependent on electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones, where people carry them along everywhere they go, so much so that some of these devices have become something of an extra limb or appendage to us. It is only a matter of time before mobile communications technology and even computers become available as chips which can be embedded in our brains. There will be no need to carry mobile phones or laptops then, and we will not even need to talk to communicate for our thoughts can be directly transmitted to each another. Perhaps, that is how we will achieve extra-sensory abilities such as telepathy in the future.
BCI technology, as with many other nascent technologies, is progressing at a rate too fast for comfort for many and has engendered numerous ethical issues and controversies. We live in an age of rapid technological advances and must to learn to live with the ever-changing technologies that arise continuously. Technology is a double-edged sword. Will we lose our sense of identity and become mindless cyborgs immersed in the virtual world controlled by others or computers or will we be able to utilize and maintain control over technology for the greater good of mankind in our quest to achieve utopia?
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