Neuroresearchers are interested in mind-reading techniques

People should be given the legal right to protect their ideas from outside access. Even neuroscientists working on realizing so-called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have said so in interviews Under the darkness required.

The statements of two researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, who have already succeeded in developing a BCI that can rudimentarily translate brain waves into text, are particularly telling. “Oh my gosh, it actually works,” said Alexander Huth, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas, who worked on brain-to-brain interfaces for nearly a decade until his discovery in 2020.

According to his confession, he was particularly shocked by the fact that these were his own thoughts. Hoth often tested the devices on himself.

“Oh my God,” the neuroscientist thought as he told Ondark, “We can look inside my brain.”

Huth's BCI isn't the only device that can read minds (in a still primitive form). There is now a lot of other successful research into devices that can literally read the minds of those wearing them.

After all, technology is very useful. For example, it can help people who cannot speak or write due to medical problems communicate. On the other hand, concerns about the “Big Brother” approach to mental surveillance are growing significantly.

To address these concerns, some experts have begun to advocate for so-called neuro-rights, that is, the right to intellectual privacy. “The loss of mental privacy is a battle we must fight today,” Columbia University neuroscientist Rafael Yuste was quoted as saying. Yusti initially worked on BCI research himself, but then realized its risks.

Yusti becomes clear: “This may be irreversible. If we lose our mental privacy, what else do we have to lose? That's it, we lose the essence of our identity.”

That's why Yost founded the Neurorights Foundation with human rights lawyer Jared Gencer in 2017. However, he fears the group's work will not be enough as technology continues to advance.

Huth and his team are currently investigating ways to technically put an end to brain reading BCI. “I think the range of possibilities includes things that are — I don't want to say scary enough — but miserable enough that I think it's definitely time for us to think about it,” he says.