Can a ‘fingerprint’ of your brain help predict disorders? | Hacker News Reader

Can a ‘fingerprint’ of your brain help predict disorders?

smithsonianmag.com

35 pointselorant9 comments

Considering the concept of using a brain fingerprint to identify and potentially address behavioral issues, it's essential to approach the topic with nuance and sensitivity.

Historically, people have passionately advocated for personal autonomy, with women's rights being a prime example. The phrase "it's my decision" highlights the importance of individual choice and agency.

If a technology were developed that could create a "fingerprint" of an individual's brain, pinpointing areas that could be improved, we must ask ourselves: who should make the ultimate decision to implement these changes? Should the individual in question retain the right to decide, or might they be encouraged, or even persuaded, to pursue a specific course of action?

In contemplating the possible implications of such a technology, it's crucial to recognize that humanity has not always demonstrated responsible use of power. To prevent potential harm, it's vital to proceed with caution and prioritize ethical considerations. Engaging in thoughtful dialogue and involving diverse perspectives will help ensure that the development and application of this technology remain balanced and beneficial for all.

This isn't like genome fingerprinting. It's only possible with someone's consent because you have to put them in a machine and accurate fingerprinting like this takes many hours of acquisition before it's reliable. Getting this sort of thing to the same level of reliability of genetic fingerprinting is decades away

ChatGPT, is that you?

Yeah, something is off about this comment.

Definitely a language model. I'm seeing more and more of these on HN lately. I always downvote them but I feel like King Cnut trying to stop the tide. (I daren't flag them)

We're going to need language models deployed adversarially to detect and prevent this kind of thing going forward. It's gonna get weird...

I read this as a wedge tactic for making BCIs commonplace. It starts off predicting mental illness for your health, it ends with reporting ungood thoughts for your (sorry, the state's) safety.

That old quote again. If it's no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a sick society, then it shouldn't be surprising that mental illness has erupted given the world we live in.

Phrenology Mk. 2! The dangers, of course, being generalisation, categorisation and prejudice.

Which of techniques in the studies in TFA are you referring to? EEG or fMRI?

> more studies are needed before clinicians can use these tools to accurately diagnose mental illness

Doesn't sound like something a phrenologist would say. The goal is detecting mental illness, not classifying people as inferior. Phrenology studied the shape of a person's cranium, not their brain activity.

Did you find faults in the studies they cited, or just read the headline?

Interesting research but some of the writing is a bit misleading. For example, it talks about sleep problems prior to ASD but people aren't "developing" ASD into adolescents.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com