Decoding silent reading from non-invasive EEG
arxiv.org
arxiv.org
You might possibly convince decent democratic countries to not do it, but if you think China, Russia, etc, would hesitate to get hold of this power we don't live in the same universe.
We laugh hearing that the library of Alexandria was noisy with people reading the texts out loud, thinking 'how dumb were they?' -- just as they considered it a miracle when they came upon one who read silently. But though there is training the difference is slight; the advance to keeping one's mouth shut pretty much boils down to keeping one's mouth shut and doing everything else the same.
I wonder whether a subject could poison the process by consciously thinking about something unrelated in the same way that public speakers used to get past stage-fright. As you look out across the audience picture something funny, like your boss in a pink tutu.
Can you imagine the sheer horror of being stuck in your body and unable to communicate? Being literally incapable of telling someone that you're in pain or where it hurts, for every waking second? Or, knowing that the end is near, not being able to tell your children that you love them? Or that you're sorry for not being a better parent?
May none of us ever need such technology.
We can all see how it can be used for good but we should never blind ourselves to the reality that it will also be used for evil without firm guardrails and tight controls.
It's probably best in the current environment if you refrain from making any more of the "think of the children" type of arguments. We all understand where that leads.
Deemphasizing the humanities in STEM education is turning into a disaster.
Like… how can you be planning a 401k at a time where humanoid robots and *mind reading* are suddenly possible? We’re going to have to redesign our whole society if we want to survive.