New Tech being considered for airport security

Xnewsman sends in an article from the Los Angeles Times detailing some of the purposed technology being considered for airport security after the recent aborted attack Christmas Day.

Some of the purposed ideas have already been rejected as too costly or at risk of rights violations. But some, have still managed to garner enough interest to still be considered.
One of the most unusual is for all intents, mind reading. The system that Israeli-based WeCU Technologies has devised and is testing in Israel projects images onto airport screens, such ... symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize. The logic is that people can't help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places.

Read the complete article for other ideas still being seriously considered

Mind-reading Machine becoming a very real possibility

From New Scientist Tech: A device that reveals what a person sees by decoding their brain activity could soon be a reality. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, US, developed a computational model that uses functional MRI (fMRI) data to decode information from an individual's visual cortex – the part of the brain responsible for processing visual stimuli. Research has made substantial advances towards being able to decode mental content from brain activity as measured using fMRI (functional MRI) results suggest it may soon be possible to reconstruct our visual experiences from brain activity. The research also hints that scientists might one day be able to access dreams, memories and imagery.

Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

Computer to Read Minds

Our correspondent Shaun Saunders was perusing the LiveScience.com page and came across this little gem. As odd and funny as it sounds, these people are dead serious!

They're already predicting, mathematically, what you'll want to watch, what you'll want to wear, and who you'll want to vote for. Obviously, the next step is for computers to read your mind. Your computer won't be picking up details about your plans for the evening anytime soon. But researchers with the Human Computer Interaction group at Tufts have, thanks to a $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, come up with a straightforward way for your computer to tell if you are overworked, under-worked or not working at all. The mind reading actually involves measuring the volume and oxygen level of the blood around the subject's brain, using technology called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The user wears a sort of futuristic headband that sends light in that spectrum into the tissues of the head where it is absorbed by active, blood-filled tissues. The headband then measures how much light was not absorbed, letting the computer gauge the metabolic demands that the brain is making.

For more click here

Swiss scientists developing telepathic helmet

The days of keeping your thoughts to yourself may be numbered, as scientists in Switzerland have begun developing a machine that can actually read minds. Adapting the same thought-reading technology that allows paralysis victims to type with their brains, the Swiss managed to go a few steps further, creating a helmet that's, uh, totally mental.

The Telepathic Helmet picks up the thoughts of the wearer, sending them to a computer, which writes them out on the monitor. Although the technology isn't perfect — using it while hungry leads to stray thoughts about food getting jumbled in, apparently — it represents a big leap forward in mind-reading tech. Also in the works is getting the helmet to create pictures from thoughts, though the experiments so far can only discern whether the person is thinking about a big bright blur or a big dark blur.

Mallcity Shaun?

Pentagon working on computers to read minds

The U.S. military is working on computers than can scan your mind and adapt to what you're thinking.

Since 2000, Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research arm, has spearheaded a far-flung, nearly $70 million effort to build prototype cockpits, missile control stations and infantry trainers that can sense what's occupying their operators' attention, and adjust how they present information, accordingly. Similar technologies are being employed to help intelligence analysts find targets easier by tapping their unconscious reactions. It's all part of a broader Darpa push to radically boost the performance of American troops.

submitted by Shaun A. Saunders

Scientists Try to Predict Intentions

At a laboratory in Germany, volunteers slide into an 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 identified people's decisions about how they would later do a high-level mental activity in this case, adding versus subtracting.

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.

Mallcity anyone?