One of my assignments for an Ethics in Psychology class I am taking was to write a response to a news article. I found one that discusses the future of mind reading technology. Below is the response I wrote for class, but I'm curious to know what other people think of this stuff too!
This article strongly follows up with many class discussions
on brain scans used to read minds. This type of technology is in very early
stages of development, and there is a long way to go until the technology
exists to read minds with non-invasive methods. As this type of technology becomes
more of a possibility, there are more and more fears instilled in the general
public, mainly due to a lack of understanding about how difficult understanding
the deeper operations of the human brain truly is. In spite of this, there is
still great research being done to “read minds” and learn more about brain
structure and function. An example of this, discussed in the author, is a study
lead by Allan Cowen which uses fMRIs to reconstruct a face that an individual
in the scan is viewing. These recreations aren’t perfect, but have been
generally recognizable. Similar technology is also being used to reconstruct
viewed videos. This information suggests then that it is possible to “decode dreams
based on brain activity” though this is something that would still require a
great deal more research before this happened.
Researchers have also begun working on further ‘brain
reading’ technology which could have great implications for our futures. Chun,
a Yale Psychology professor, is studying attention, and specifically what
happens with brain functions when people essentially zone out. This could have
great implications for disorders such as ADHD where these types of experiences
are far more common. Another researcher, Stanford neurologist Dr Parvizi, is
studying memory retrieval. It is found that we can detect the retrieval of
memories, but cannot yet dictate what those memories are. If this technology could
be altered so that memories could be retrieved from an individual, on the basis
of a brain scan, there could be great implications for individuals with memory impairment
disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
Through all of this, as technology continues to advance,
there will be great concerns with privacy and autonomy. At some point, people
will likely be asking “what if I don’t want my thoughts read, or my memories
accessed?” This is going to be a concern pressing forward that will only be
able to be addressed through adequate education. And even if it were possible
to properly educate individuals about this technology, people would still have
fears and concerns. This is something that will happen in time, and it is with
that technology that, over time, will require a great deal of education.
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