Remember that movie The Shining? Well, now it’s completely true. More or less. Researchers at the University of Utah have created a way to use electrodes to read human thoughts (which is basically telepathy–sort of). Redrum, alas.
The research team is working on giving severely brain injured patients the ability to communicate. By placing 16 microelectrodes underneath the skull, but above a brain area known to process speech, the team has managed able to decipher words directly from brain activity. Which, in effect, means reading thoughts.
Right now the tech has only been able to decipher 10 basic words: yes, no, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, hello, goodbye, more, and less. And, as of now, it only correctly guess the words between 76 and 90 percent of the time. This is not practical by any means, but a very promising proof of concept. This is a huge first step on the way to helping people with severe brain trauma and other maladies communicate with the world.
It should also be noted that, down the line, this will inevitably lead to other tech-fueled ramifications. In the future, this technology will allow humans to interact with their phones, TVs, and other assorted electronic whoozy-woos using only their thoughts. In a way, we will all be psychic. Let’s just hoping we all turn out to be nice, wholesome psychics like Sookie from True Blood rather than that head-exploding crew from Scanners.
via Medical Daily
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