Intel Unveils Mindreading Computer

Using software that scans brains to determine what items people are thinking about, technology with "mindreading" capabilities was showcased Wednesday by Intel (News - Alert).

The software "analyzes functional MRI scans to determine what parts of a person's brain is being activated as he or she thinks," the Associated Press (News - Alert) reports, adding that in tests, "it guessed with 90 percent accuracy which of two words a person was thinking about," quoting Intel Labs researcher Dean Pomerleau.

Investor's Business Daily reports that "Such technology could help the severely disabled to communicate. It also could enable people to one day control machines with just their thoughts."

Pomerleau sees it as an early step toward one day being able to control technology with our minds. We're sure the CIA and Defense Department don't see any possibilities for it.

'The vision is being able to interface to information, to your devices and to other people without having an intermediary device,' Pomerleau told the AP.

The technology in its current form hasn't been adapted to analyze abstract thoughts. The way the AP explains it, the system "works best when a person is first scanned while thinking of dozens of different concrete nouns -- words like 'bear' or 'hammer,'" then are asked to "pick one of two new terms and think about it," so the software can compare to the baseline information it's gathered.

Intel also previewed cell phone technology that "would use motion, GPS and audio data gathered through users' cell phones to track what they're doing and who they're with," the AP reported before giving a lot of innocuous examples of uses to try to make it seem less creepy.

Another product in gee-whiz stage is 'Dispute Finder,' which monitors users' conversations and Internet browsing "to warn them when they encounter contested or inaccurate information. The software mines the Internet to find instances in which writers have claimed something is untrue. It then uses speech recognition technology to monitor conversations."

We can't think of a way to soften that last one, to their credit the AP doesn't even try, either.