Uncle Sam Wants to Read Your Mind

Okay, maybe it’s not your mind Uncle Sam wants to read. The U.S. military, though, is working hard on brain-computer interfaces meant to enable reliable mind-reading.

Several years ago, the Defense Department began working with Battelle, a private non-profit research firm, to help paralyzed patients control their limbs with neural bypasses. Their first experimental subject, Ian Burkhardt, had crushed several neck vertebrae in a diving accident. As a result, he couldn’t move his arms or legs, though he still had feeling in his hands.

To help Burkhardt, Battelle’s research team first had to measure his brainwave activity, and they needed extreme accuracy in their measurements. They drilled into his skull and attached a ‘Utah device’ to his head. With this they could record his brainwaves 30,000 times per second.

With this information, Battelle refined its algorithms over and over again. Eventually, the team built a cable system connecting a device at the base of Burkhardt’s skull to an electrode-laden sleeve wrapped around his right forearm. With this system, Burkhardt could move his right hand. Eventually, he learned to lift and pour from a bottle. He even learned how to remove his wallet from his pants and open it.

Battelle is now working on developing sensors so sensitive, they can receive and decipher the muddled ‘noisy’ brain signals from outside of the body. Researchers won’t need to drill into the skull.

Where does the research go from here?

Brain control of a subject’s limbs is only the beginning. Before long, we will see direct brain control of external objects. Within a few years, a soldier could control a swarm of drones or a small fleet of tanks merely by thinking of doing so.

The Defense Department wants much more than this. Developing a brain-computer interface for Ian Burkhardt required close reading of his brain activity. With slight tweaking of the algorithm, the DoD could soon learn how to read thoughts and intents of its subjects. Interrogating terror suspects and enemy combatants won’t require hearing their responses to questions, let alone believing them. With an electrode-lade cap, an interrogator can read the suspect’s mind and learn everything he needs to know.

Of course, this raises a troubling question. Would this technology be confined to military purposes? Given what we know about our political and bureaucratic elites, we ought to worry that our would-be rulers will try to read the minds of law-abiding, peaceful civilians.

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