Dec 17 2008
Scientists Can See Your Dreams
Scientists in
Japan have developed software that can map brain activity to an image. Chief researcher Yukiyaso Kamitani stated that “by applying this technology, it may become possible to record and replay subjective images that people perceive like dreams.” The software focuses on the image recognition procedures in the retina of the human eye. The eye’s retina is able to recognize an image which is then converted into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.
The device that has been created allows the processing and imaging of thoughts and dreams as experienced in the brain to appear on a computer screen. According to a scientific study conducted by the Telegraph dreams are shaped by events of the past week.
Imagine the possibilities with this type of software and essentially mind reading? This could mean that you could record your dreams and play the images from them back to be able to fully remember the dream. You could use this device to try to figure out why you had the dream in the first place. This could possibly get ugly though, because that means they can pretty much read your mind or at least this is the beginning of technology that can do so in some form. It seems to be the very beginning of technology that I’m sure will most likely continue to grow and progress. What will or could be next?
A software program or device that not only can read simple images but also put thoughts together intelligently and communicate another’s thoughts to you? It’s kind of a scary concept to think about what the possible outcome of such software could be. Nowadays we have technology in every part of our lives, so much so, that the only private place we have anymore is our mind. If the privacy of the mind is taken, what kind of world would it be that we would live in?
Could this technology be a threat to people or society, a threat to privacy, and a threat to the individual? Could thoughts or images possibly be planted into one’s brain then? Maybe this technology is still far off from being completely developed and used in such a manner, but it still makes you think and question the possibilities of the future. Could there be thought police? What about bad dreams or sexual dreams? Could they possibly censor and control our thoughts and our dreams? Talk about being programmed! This technology could make it possible. People’s lives and thoughts could be programmed to follow, without any individual desire to do anything else.
