Your Brain on Computers: Readers Respond

My Disruptions column this weekend looked at a nascent technology through which you can control computers, smartphones and robotic arms with your mind.

Although some people are clearly excited by this nearing technology, where they can change channels on their television just by thinking about it, other readers were mortified by the idea of a gadget reading their brain waves.

“Yeah, well, currents flow two ways. You turn your lights on with your brain; the lights turn your brain off,” wrote Tom from San Diego in a comment on the column. “Me? Leave me disconnected.”

Another, Tony from Pennsylvania, seemed downright scared. “I actually find this a little on the scary side,” he wrote. “If technology can be controlled by thought, who’s to say our thoughts can’t be read the government?”

It seems these readers aren’t alone.

On the frequently asked questions area of Muse, a lightweight, wireless headband that can engage with computers and mobile devices, there is one particular question that stood out. “Can a brainwave sensor read my mind?” the question asks. Trying to put the reader at ease, Muse answers: “Absolutely not. It cannot read thoughts. A brainwave sensor is a non-invasive device.”

James Temple, a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, wrote in a column over the weekend that some researchers fear that the rise of brain-reading gadgets will bring with it a new genre of hacker who could try to steal people’s thoughts.

Mr. Temple cited research published last year where scientists tried to siphon A.T.M. codes from students’ minds by flashing bank logos, A.T.M. machines and debit cards, all while monitoring the student’s thoughts using brain-scanning technologies.

“Some of these tests worked better than others,” but over all the researchers’ ability to predict the right A.T.M. code “improved by anywhere from 15 to 40 percent, compared with random guesses.”

Scary stuff indeed. One of the comments on my column predicted how this all might play out.

“What a difference a generation or two makes. When I was a young man, the notion of having a computer chip implanted in your head was cause for alarm,” wrote Holmes from Middletown, Conn. ”Now I can easily see young people doing so in order to access their beloved devices, in fact, lining up in order to be the first among their peers.”

As for those who opt not to use brain-reading technology,  they might instead choose to wear tin-foil hats.