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[Bohandas]

I'm serious, this hearlds the beginning of a new era of 
...
2.) more outlandishly expensive cool shit for the rich to lord over the poor

Furthermore, when the prices of new devices developed with this technology eventually come down, it will usher in a new era of jadedness and banality* that will make even the current mindset of the developed world's people seem to be filled with excitement and whimsy by comparison.


*What do I mean by banality? I believe the villian from The Incredibles put it best, "When everyone is super, no one will be"

[SalmonGod]

So I've been reading the hype on this all day and finally watched the video on my lunch break.

I'm kinda disappointed?... I was expecting to be blown away by an insightful glance into someone's mind, but all I saw was the limitations of the technology.  I'm not at all creeped out by the horror movie-esque distorted imagery, given the process that is creating those videos.  It may have access to a huge database of images from which to pull reference, but any artist should realize how very difficult this still is.  I've spent hours upon hours glancing through tens of thousands of images in search of X body type in roughly Y pose, just to use in the creation of a single still image that is remotely similar, much less identical.  This software is going through that same process, but superimposing and rapidly switching between equally large volumes of imagery in attempts to construct not just one, but hundreds of images that are as identical as possible to hundreds of references.  Of course it's going to look creepy and weird.

Anyway, this does have me thinking about a lot of things...

1.  My favorite TED talk, where a neurochemist talks about the experience of one entire side of her brain shutting down during a stroke.

How does this factor in?  As I understand it, our brain is two completely separate entities that communicate very intimately with each other.  As a balanced T/F (only very slightly favoring F) on the Myers-Briggs scale, I am often very aware of the differences between my objective and subjective sides, to the point that I've often felt like they're two living beings constantly debating with one another.  How does this software interpret differing input between the left and right sides?  They're not always in sync, and I can't imagine how a computer that doesn't understand the human experience could mash these together into a single cohesive thing.

There have been many cases of people who have had the membrane connecting the two sides of their brain severed.  There was a case where one such man had one hand that would try to attack his wife any time he went near her, while the other hand seemed to harbor no such malice.  What would happen if you put that guy through this process and showed him videos of his wife?  The software would either have to compile two separate videos, or... well... one video that is actually two separate videos superimposed on each other I guess.

Come to think of it, maybe this is the real reason why those videos look the way they do...

2.  I'll also be one of the doomsayers who sees huge potential for abuse of this sort of technology in the future.  We haven't even figured out how to handle privacy issues on the internet, and our leaders still believe that torturing someone to the point of permanent mental disability is a good way to get reliable information.  And what about the effects on our culture, if it becomes possible to eavesdrop on someone's mind?  Everyone has a public face, and with population density and surveillance technology both on the rise, it seems like we're less and less able to ever be ourselves.   This has deep effects on how we interact with one another and our basic mental health.  What happens to us when we can't even relax in our own minds?

However, I'm still fascinated by the positive potentials...

3.  Somewhere, there is a Desty Nova laughing

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait... that article mentioned Christopher Walken as a neuroscientist in a movie... and this is a picture of Walken as Desty Nova....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It all fits together... somehow...

Furthermore, when the prices of new devices developed with this technology eventually come down, it will usher in a new era of jadedness and banality* that will make even the current mindset of the developed world's people seem to be filled with excitement and whimsy by comparison.


*What do I mean by banality? I believe the villian from The Incredibles put it best, "When everyone is super, no one will be"

I've thought the same thing but for different reasons.  I'm thinking this could sort of in a way turn the entire world into 4chan.

[UltraValican]

This is all fine a good but the real question is, How close are we from being able to make porn just by thinking about.

[Itnetlolor]

This is all fine a good but the real question is, How close are we from being able to make porn just by thinking about.

I'd say as suddenly as a good beta/pre-release is tested by one of the makers.

Sounds like a plot to a cheap porno actually.

Furthermore, when the prices of new devices developed with this technology eventually come down, it will usher in a new era of jadedness and banality* that will make even the current mindset of the developed world's people seem to be filled with excitement and whimsy by comparison.


*What do I mean by banality? I believe the villian from The Incredibles put it best, "When everyone is super, no one will be"

I've thought the same thing but for different reasons.  I'm thinking this could sort of in a way turn the entire world into 4chan.

That's a scary thought.

EDIT: ↓
I get a nagging feeling that most-every person's, at least first draft, would come out sounding like Peterotica.

[Bohandas]

This is all fine a good but the real question is, How close are we from being able to make porn just by thinking about.

Do you mean erotic fiction, or like dirty pictures? Because making dirty pictures by thinking about them doesn't seem like it is a particularly viable product line, because if people could visualize them that clearly in their heads they wouldn't need the porn in the first place.

In terms of creating erotic fiction with your mind, on the other hand, I think that I heard that several companies are already working on telepathic interfaces that presumably could be adapted to word processing. Of course, as last I heard (which was a while ago, mind you) all of the ones that could accept any kind of detailed input required the users to shave their heads so that electrodes could be attached directly to their scalps.

[TheBronzePickle]

What of us who CAN visualize things clearly inside our heads? I wouldn't volunteer myself (my mind tends to wander into some scary territories when I daydream, god forbid I accidentally mindrape any observers) but I'm sure I'm not the only one who can make the pictures bright and clear.

[Flying Dice]

Geez, these threads are pretty much removing the need for suspension of disbelief for half the old SF I read. I actually recall IIRC an Asimov short story that used this exact concept as the next stage of television, where "Dreamers" created what were essentially programs that other people could view in their own minds.  Don't remember much about it beyond that, but the (remembered) similarity struck me.

[Glowcat]

Do you mean erotic fiction, or like dirty pictures? Because making dirty pictures by thinking about them doesn't seem like it is a particularly viable product line, because if people could visualize them that clearly in their heads they wouldn't need the porn in the first place.

And here I thought other people just had lazy imaginations.

[SalmonGod]

People actually have greatly varying ability to mentally visualize things.  I've heard that most people can't even do so in 3d, even something as simple as imagining a 3d cube and then rotating it.  I can do that, but maintaining a static image of anything complex with clarity is difficult for me.

[TheBronzePickle]

It takes me a minute of meditation before my imagination is running at full capacity, but after that point I can play a feature-length movie in my head if I want to. I just can't have my concentration broken, or I have to warm up again.

[Bohandas]

And there's the problem of being able to consciously choose to visualize a specific thing even if you can visualize it. The things that you can visualize most easily might not be the things you most want to visualize.  I can visualize rooms in my house and my workplace pretty well, but not so much complex and/or non-stationary objects or creatures.

[Pnx]

This is actually significantly less impressive than I thought it was initially.
To break it down the computer is looking at the flow of blood in the brain (which I imagine is a less than perfect way of measuring activity) while a bunch of movie trailers are played over and over and over again.
Then the trailers are played again, and the computer looks at the flow of blood and says, "It looks kinda like it was looking when this movie was playing at that particular moment". The final image you see is where it's superimposed a bunch of what it thinks are the most likely images over each other.

The artefacts you see are what the computer thinks it's looking at rather than what the brain is thinks it's looking at. Which is much less interesting than I initially thought it was.

My knowledge of analytical algorithms tells me that you'd need ludicrous amounts of data to be able to actually "lift" images from a brain with this technique, if it's even possible to do with any amount of accuracy with this technique.
But then of course it's only for that brain, the patterns are going to be different for other people, although with enough data it may be possible to "tune" it to another person's brain relatively quickly. I honestly don't know though, it depends on how different the visual areas of people's brains are.
Then of course the patterns are likely to be very different depending on viewing circumstances... So when it comes to practical applications I don't see this really having any.

It's still very interesting though. And it may provide insight useful for further technologies in this area.

[Sensei]

Is there an alternate link to the video? It's not showing for me.

[Grakelin]

YAY! Dream recorders might be in the works. This can get pretty interesting once mastered. So long film careers. Provided audio also gets translated (We already have visual mind reading, now for the audio/inner-vocals), this can get really crazy provided enough time and effort is put into it.

Have someone with plenty of crazy recurring dreams occur, edit the footage, and compose it all, and we have ourselves blockbusters out the wazoo.

Now let's take a look at that dream thread again, and imagine if we can submit videos of those descriptions and share the experience. Wow.

Maybe I would actually be able to release Alien 3(: Redux) like I watched in a prior dream that was actually a good movie (as it was supposed to be set on Earth) compared to the original Alien 3 we were stuck with (prison world).

Have to stop you right there.

Most of us don't often come up with interesting or creative entertainment ideas. Even to amuse only ourselves. If a Dream-Reading machine existed, the film industry would still thrive, but there would be 'Dream-Novelists' who would simply think up great things.

We like to watch more than just psychological thrillers and psychedelic cult classics, as well, so that would ruin things for us as well.

Also, if we assumed a perfect Dream-Reader existed, legislation would pile up on top of it, since, after all, there would be nothing stopping you from making pornography featuring people you know.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Also, if we assumed a perfect Dream-Reader existed, legislation would pile up on top of it, since, after all, there would be nothing stopping you from making pornography featuring people you know.

I didn't even think of the possibilities for blackmail. This is even better than Photoshop.