Adventures in Convergence XVII: 11:11: What Was I Thinking?

While writing this post, it just so happened to be 11:11, and I made my wish. I visualized it – saw it at the forefront of my mind and hoped and prayed it would be granted true. What if, someone with the right technology was able to predict exactly what it is you were thinking of? Exactly what it is you want and see in your mind?

Now, now…Hold your horses….that’s worlds away…..but not Universes.

What researchers HAVE accomplished thus far is an MRI scanner that can utilize neuronal activity in the visual cortex of the brain to predict what is being seen! Wired states the following:

“One day it may even be possible to reconstruct the visual content of dreams,” Gallant said. After that, the decoding model could be harnessed for more visionary purposes: early warning systems for neurological diseases or interfaces that allow paralyzed people to engage with the world.

“Other uses may not be so noble, such as marketing campaigns crafted for maximum mental penetration or invasions of mental privacy mounted in the name of fighting terrorism and crime.

…But Gallant warned of technological malfeasance. In the courtroom, mental readouts could have the same problems as eyewitness testimony, which is often unreliable and biased even though witnesses believe they’re telling the truth.

The allure of reading minds to prove innocence or guilt, Haynes said, could override concerns about mental privacy — an ethically ambiguous conflict. More obviously dubious is the possible use of mind-reading machines by marketers.“

These are really quite valid ethical considerations. What astounds me the most is the first statement – about harnessing the visual potency of dreams into something tangible. Think of how difficult it is to remember some of your dreams. Maybe you’ve invented a few really useful things in the process, but when you wake up you just forget. Maybe you have nightmares but have trouble describing it to a psychiatrist for analysis. It would make it worlds easier to describe the workings of the unconscious mind.

At the same time, everything that such technology would generate would seem too overabundant. In considering the expanse of the human populace, and the effects of reading what everyone might see seems random and purposeless. However, considering those with disabilities, such an advancement brings great foresight into what technology can achieve.

Maybe, just MAYBE, it might be possible to reverse the process and make the blind “see?”