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Saturday 26 September 2015

Scientists Figure out How to Transmit Thoughts Over the Internet

“In the experiment, two participants (an ‘inquirer’ and a ‘respondent’) played a question-answering game similar to ’20 Questions.’ The respondent is given an object (e.g., ‘dog’) that is unknown to the inquirer and that the inquirer has to guess.

The inquirer asks a question about the object by selecting a question (using a mouse) from questions displayed on a screen. The question is then presented visually to the respondent through a web interface. The respondent answers ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” directly through their brain signals by paying attention to one of two flashing LEDs (‘Yes’ = 13 Hz; ‘No’ = 12 Hz).

The BBI uses EEG to decode the respondent’s answer, and a TMS apparatus to convey the answer to the inquirer by generating a visual percept through stimulation for ‘Yes’ and the absence of percept for ‘No.’ In the figure, the BBI system is highlighted in red.”

Researchers Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat say the experiment shows it’s possible to take information from one person’s brain and stick it in another person’s brain without much communication at all.

The participants could only send “Yes” or “No” answers to one another, but they got the answers right an astonishing 72% of the time. That’s kind of incredible, considering the inquirer and the respondent were a mile away from each other during the experiment.

Researchers outfitted the respondent with a cap connected to an electroencephalograph (EEG), which picks up signals from the brain and records brain activity. The inquirer also wore a cap with a magnetic coil placed behind the area of the brain that controls the visual cortex. NBC News explains:

“The questioner sent one of the three questions to the respondent via computer, the respondent looked at the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ light, and that signal went back to the TMS machine. A ‘yes’ answer would elicit a strong TMS pulse, which creates a signal perceived by the brain as a pulse, a blob or a line called a phosphene.

A “no” answer sent a weaker signal, too low to create a phosphene.”

Stocco from UW’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences says:

“This is the most complex brain-to-brain experiment, I think, that’s been done to date in humans. It uses conscious experiences through signals that are experienced visually, and it requires two people to collaborate.”

Now the researchers are preparing to try to transmit more complex data. They believe the process could be used for “brain tutoring” – transferring signals from healthy brains to developmentally-impaired ones. They say it may also someday allow an alert individual to transmit his brain state to someone who has difficulty paying attention. [1][2]

brain-brain-interface

The possibilities are endless, both good and, well, terrifying. Iris-scanning technology is being utilized in our schools; we just found out that Twitter may not only read our private messages, but may alter them; some companies are requiring their employees to get microchips implanted; and the government can listen in on our cell phone conversations. Mind-reading could certainly be used for good, but the ways in which it could be misused are endless.

PBS reported in 2009 that the NSA was developing a device capable of gaining insight into what people are thinking. The author of the article wrote that “the system is so potentially intrusive that at least one researcher has quit, citing concerns over the dangers in placing such a powerful weapon in the hands of a top-secret agency with little accountability.”

PBS warned that it may someday be possible for people with nefarious intentions to not only know where you are and what you’re doing, but also what – and how – you’re thinking. [3]

And as The Atlantic once pointed out, mind-reading may one day make our rights virtually useless:

“Last year, a Maryland man on trial for murdering his roommate tried to introduce results from an fMRI-based lie detection test to bolster his claim that the death was a suicide. The court ruled the test results inadmissible, noting that the ‘fMRI lie detection method of testing is not yet accepted in the scientific community.’”

In a decision last year to exclude fMRI lie detection test results submitted by a defendant in a different case, the Sixth Circuit was even more skeptical, writing (PDF) that ‘there are concerns with not only whether fMRI lie detection of ‘real lies’ has been tested but whether it can be tested.’”

We can’t truly “remain silent” during an arrest if we are no longer entitled to our own thoughts, the article notes.

This article originally appeared at Natural Society.

Study Finds that Meth Crime Spikes in Counties Where Alcohol Sales are Banned

Study-Finds-that-Meth-Crime-Spikes-in-Counties-Where-Alcohol-Sales-are-Banned

According to a recent study, counties that ban the sale of alcohol have a higher rate of meth crime than counties where booze is legal. Researchers at the University of Louisville determined that if all dry counties in the state permitted the sale of alcohol, the total number of meth lab seizures in Kentucky would decline by about 25%.

In a paper titled “Breaking Bad: Are Meth Labs Justified in Dry Counties?” researchers at the University of Louisville found that over a fourth of the 120 counties in Kentucky are dry, which means that the sale of alcohol is banned in all forms. The researchers also discovered that the alcohol control laws describe potentially severe penalties for violating local alcohol prohibition. Although the first criminal offense is a class B misdemeanor, the third offense is a felony with up to $10,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.

Civil asset forfeiture can also become quite expensive, even for first-time offenders. According to the law, any premises or vehicles involved in “unlawfully selling, transporting or possessing alcoholic beverages in dry territory” must be seized by law enforcement and forfeited to the state, regardless of whether anyone is convicted of a criminal offense.

Due to these harsh punishments over a bottle of booze, many people are switching to methamphetamine abuse. Since many black market dealers in dry counties sell alcohol at a higher cost and offer drugs as a cheap substitute, meth lab seizures and meth-related crimes have been occurring more frequently in dry counties.

According to a 2005 paper in the Journal of Law and Economics, Texas counties that changed from banning alcohol to permitting it, decreased the rate of drug-related mortality by 14%. Kentucky State Police records revealed that dry counties have higher rates of DUI-related crashes. And a 2010 report found that binge-drinking rates were higher in Alabama’s dry counties.

Studying DEA meth lab seizure data in Kentucky between 2004 and 2010, the researchers found that meth lab seizures and meth-related incidences occur nearly twice as much in dry counties than wet ones. By continuing to prohibit alcohol, Kentucky has increased the prevalence of meth labs in dry jurisdictions. After reviewing the data, the researchers concluded that if all the dry counties in Kentucky legalized booze, the number of meth lab seizures in the state would decrease by 24.4%.

Study Finds that Meth Crime Spikes in Counties Where Alcohol Sales are Banned from The Free Thought Project

Study-Finds-that-Meth-Crime-Spikes-in-Counties-Where-Alcohol-Sales-are-Banned

According to a recent study, counties that ban the sale of alcohol have a higher rate of meth crime than counties where booze is legal. Researchers at the University of Louisville determined that if all dry counties in the state permitted the sale of alcohol, the total number of meth lab seizures in Kentucky would decline by about 25%.

In a paper titled “Breaking Bad: Are Meth Labs Justified in Dry Counties?” researchers at the University of Louisville found that over a fourth of the 120 counties in Kentucky are dry, which means that the sale of alcohol is banned in all forms. The researchers also discovered that the alcohol control laws describe potentially severe penalties for violating local alcohol prohibition. Although the first criminal offense is a class B misdemeanor, the third offense is a felony with up to $10,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.

Civil asset forfeiture can also become quite expensive, even for first-time offenders. According to the law, any premises or vehicles involved in “unlawfully selling, transporting or possessing alcoholic beverages in dry territory” must be seized by law enforcement and forfeited to the state, regardless of whether anyone is convicted of a criminal offense.

Due to these harsh punishments over a bottle of booze, many people are switching to methamphetamine abuse. Since many black market dealers in dry counties sell alcohol at a higher cost and offer drugs as a cheap substitute, meth lab seizures and meth-related crimes have been occurring more frequently in dry counties.

According to a 2005 paper in the Journal of Law and Economics, Texas counties that changed from banning alcohol to permitting it, decreased the rate of drug-related mortality by 14%. Kentucky State Police records revealed that dry counties have higher rates of DUI-related crashes. And a 2010 report found that binge-drinking rates were higher in Alabama’s dry counties.

Studying DEA meth lab seizure data in Kentucky between 2004 and 2010, the researchers found that meth lab seizures and meth-related incidences occur nearly twice as much in dry counties than wet ones. By continuing to prohibit alcohol, Kentucky has increased the prevalence of meth labs in dry jurisdictions. After reviewing the data, the researchers concluded that if all the dry counties in Kentucky legalized booze, the number of meth lab seizures in the state would decrease by 24.4%.

Syria Claims Tacit Deal Between US, Russia On Ending War

Smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 .(AP Photo/ Manu Brabo)

Smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012 .(AP Photo/ Manu Brabo)

In an interview on Syrian state media today, top Syrian government adviser Bouthaina Shaaban claimed that there is a “tacit agreement” between the US and Russia on coming to some sort of agreeing on the ongoing civil war, and that some sort of negotiated settlement could happen soon.

The Russian government has been making claims to this effect for months, but the latest comments come just a day after State Department officials publicly disavowed the notion and condemned Russia, suggesting they oppose the Russian strategy of negotiated settlement unless it includes unilateral surrender of the Assad government.

Yesterday’s State Department denial was particularly noteworthy, however, because months of other comments to the same effect came without an official peep, and with private suggestions from US officials that they were indeed warming to the idea of a “unity” deal before suddenly declaring their opposition to it.

If that wasn’t confusing enough, Pentagon officials are now talking up the idea that there are “overlaps” of interest between the US and Russia on Syria, suggesting the two sides could work together. They also, however, talked up the need for a “transition” to a new pro-US government.