Ok, honestly... this is horrifying.

[captainspud]

Too bad Michael Crichton's dead, or this would totally be his next movie. @_@

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/

[BentonGrey]

This really is rather disturbing....

[Uncle Yuan]

In a very cool sort of way.  All this really needs to be truly effective is more computing power.  Which means full color animated images a year from now . . .

[Zippo]

That's so cool.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD!

*runs off into the night, screaming*

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[zuludelta]

Interesting article, but as far as I know, this kind of tech has been available for several years now, and the underlying physio-anatomical correlates of the visual orientation of vector images have been established for at least a decade (which is probably why you haven't read about this discovery in larger news outlets). Figuring out what a person is looking at by examining neurophysiological and neuroanatomical markers while the subject is actively viewing a known set of images is one thing, "reading" a person's thoughts while while they're doing introspective visualizing is another thing entirely (methinks the article writer probably embellished what he refers to as the researcher's vision of a near future of mind reading machines, but hey, that's science reporting for you).

[thalaw2]

I wonder what industries are investing in this.  Stuff like this makes a future like Minority Report seem more possible.

[tommyboy]

What I'm looking at is not what I'm thinking. It's what I'm looking at.
And visualizing a cup of coffee may mean I decide to have one, or that I decide not to.
This is interesting technology if it actually does what the article seems to be saying, but is quite a long way from any useful mind-reading.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

What I'm looking at is not what I'm thinking. It's what I'm looking at.
And visualizing a cup of coffee may mean I decide to have one, or that I decide not to.
This is interesting technology if it actually does what the article seems to be saying, but is quite a long way from any useful mind-reading.

You would say that though, wouldn't you?  Ameliorate us with your fine placation would you?  That's just what they want us to think!

[tommyboy]

What I'm looking at is not what I'm thinking. It's what I'm looking at.
And visualizing a cup of coffee may mean I decide to have one, or that I decide not to.
This is interesting technology if it actually does what the article seems to be saying, but is quite a long way from any useful mind-reading.

You would say that though, wouldn't you?  Ameliorate us with your fine placation would you?  That's just what they want us to think!

He's on to us!
Guards!
Silence Him!
He Knows Too Much...

[BentonGrey]

Hee-hee...

[Gremlin]

This would be cool...imagine recording your dreams overnight, then watching them the next morning. It'd be a fantastic creative resource.

[Uncle Yuan]

I don't think it works quite like that.  From what I understand this picks up images you are actually seeing with your eyes.  And the visual pathway creates a pretty big signal in the brain.  When a person has an EEG, for example, there is a calibration step where they account for the visual input from the eyes - it tends to overwhelm the EEG otherwise.

[Gremlin]

Oh, okay. Not nearly as cool, but still pretty awesome.

[DrMike2000]

The way I read it, this technology could be used to get people like Frank Quitely to produce monthly comics on time, just by tapping whats in their heads and printing it out.

Thats got to be good for the planet!

[B A D]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Until_the_End_of_the_World

Totally been done.

[Lunarman]

Umm, all this does is reads the neurons that light up at the end of the neural pathway from the retina. So it only shows you what someone else sees (looking through someone's eyes as it were. Thye've been able to do this theoretically for ages :P )