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Comment by Salvatore | Hacker News Reader

On one hand, this is great. It will lead to new technology which will inevitably lead to better video games.

On the other hand, this provides the opportunity for total loss of privacy. Forget freedom of speech, people might start to attack the freedom to think certain thoughts. In other news, China and Iran are thrilled at this new science.

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The first thing I thought when I saw this was:

"Oh shit- now nothing is private."

Don't get me wrong- it's amazing stuff, and I'm all for the advancements it can bring. But the mind really is the last bastion of privacy in our increasingly policed world.

Think about it:

1) When you make a call, it can be logged and recorded.

2) When you walk into a bank (or a million other locations), your actions are on camera.

3) When you visit a site, your IP address, as well as other information, is logged.

Almost everything is monitored.

Granted the advancement of technology has brought FAR more benefits than costs, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in the 1800s, when you could do something and not have to worry about your actions being "logged" to some eternal database.

Of course, it's fairly easy to control actions. Don't send really personal stuff via email, don't scratch your crotch in front of a security camera. But when it comes to thoughts, it's a different story. Try not thinking about something, and you'll find you can't do it.

I'm sure every single person in this world has had thoughts he/she would not want to reveal.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. It will probably be a while before we have to seriously worry about the implications of this technology.

Try not thinking about something, and you'll find you can't do it.

People say this, but I find it's not true. Just think of something else. Works most of the time.

I just lost the game.

It works until they can read the subconscious and can detect the thought you're trying not to think.

Granted the advancement of technology has brought FAR more benefits than costs

So far.

I don't think we've given it enough of a trial run. Global warming and overpopulation are two results of technological advancement that could potentially outweigh all the benefits of progress if they get bad enough.

We're all doomed to carry around thousands of pounds of 3G connected MRI.

In the long term technology like this will end privacy for those who want to participate in the modern economy. But you shouldn't assume it will happen in a 'top down' way that will benefit totalitarian governments. Totalitarian governments require secrecy to do their evil deeds.

Look at the spread of mobile cameras (mostly in phones). These have allowed many an injustice to be exposed. The police no longer feel like they have immunity to do whatever they want.

Consider the benefits of being able to scan the brains of those accused of crimes against humanity. If people understood that in the long term there are no secrets they would hesitate to do evil deeds.

Not only that, but it should be perfectly clear now that if this technology is perfected and inexpensive in the future, then doing things now that you wouldn't want people to know about in the future is usually a bad idea as well. Act and think as though everything about your thoughts and actions will eventually be known to everyone who might be interested.

I guess how you think and act, then, will be a measure of whether you want to be thought of as moral or interesting. ;)

I think that our exposed thoughts would fall under freedom of speech in America. That, and the 5th amendment ("...nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself...").

I'm not sure how relevant the constitution will be in a future where you can read peoples minds among other things.

But don't forget the part about "without due process." I think that in the future, we will definitely see the use of technology like this to read the minds of accused felons. I also predict the court will declare this perfectly consitutional, as your right to privacy is effectively waived given the right court order (and the motivating "probably cause").

TRULY innocent people will probably like this tech a lot.

Then we'll have to encrypt our thoughts.

Our thoughts aren't standardized, so you get encryption for free.

That's not at all clear.

It'll go both ways.

"In other news, China and Iran are thrilled at this new science."

Why? Are they having problems with people imagining politically undesirable images?

I would think the West, with its insane war to protect the cartoon children, would have more use for such technology.

I wouldn't claim the West lacks political repression but it seems obvious that any repressive states would love have such technology. Your argument seems to discount this.

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