Mind Reading

read this story about a machine that reads people's minds!

http://news.aol.com/topnews/article...t/20070306140009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

and do u think mind reading is ethical? or is it invading privacy?

 

No, I don't believe mind-reading is ethical; the only case in which it should be used is in criminal investigations. The mind is one of the few secure havens to which we can retreat without fear of judgement or recrimination, and if that is taken away... what do we have left?

~Jade

 

...

 

but if u have nothing to hide, why should u worry?

 

ehh...i wouldn't want to look into people's minds anyway. some stuff shouldn't b said to others. i mean, do you really want to know some, lets just say, very embarrasing moments in someone's life?

 

Agreed. It would be very useful for CSI work, but for personal use it would disrupt privacy...

 

I agree. If people really do have the power to read other people's minds, it should be used for something useful, like crime investagations, as RoxasvsRiku and Jade mentioned. Using it to read others minds would abuse it.

 

becuz it would be kinda funny to know if someone peed in their pants recently, lol

 

I agree completely.

Wow, I should read others' posts more often to save myself the work. . .

But yeah, I agree on everything that Jade says. Mind is a place for us to have privacy when all other privacy fails. . .imagine if we didn't even have that. =[

 

I say mind reading is okay only if the person agrees to it, like the polygraph test (lie detector). But I am still not sure if it should be used as admissible evidence, because juries may take it as completely fool proof and they should doubt each piece of evidence at least a little.

And let us not forget the 5th amendment, that says that people do not have to testify against themselves.

 

It's not right to invade someone else's mind. It's just not, the only time I think it can be justified is during EXTREMELY IMPORTANT crime investigation.

 

Hey Zexion what do you mean by "justified?"

 

I think he means when it's totally ok. Which it is. Zexion has a really good point.

 

Agreed. To narrow it down to what's "justified" would be in a murder case, or perhaps interrogations into terrorist attacks? I think any time it is absolutely critical to have the truth, or someone is being hurt by the information being withheld.

Yes, I realize that we're treading into grey area with the personal privacy thing; indeed, if you have nothing to hide, why worry? However, there is the threat of abuse of power associated with a machine that can read someone's mind.

Let's try and clarify my post here... anyone off the street should have to give their permission first, while anyone in jail would NOT be given a choice, IF it's a serious crime. And what defines a "serious crime"? In my opinion, any time someone else has been hurt by the criminals actions; physically or mentally.

 

No way! Should people in jail for serious crimes be allowed to be tortured by the interrogator? No, even if the person does have information that could be used to help people, you could never find out until the process has been done. The same with mind reading, you could not know if the person actually has anything of value in their head until looking in there.

People thoughts are their most private and personal things and should not be used against them. Plus, I know that I sometime think thing that I do not mean, or only have certain thoughts because I do not want to have them. So, if someone admits to a crime in their head, how can we tell if their brain only said that because it was what the person did not want to think and did not mean.

 

that's true. but it could lead to a reduction in crime

 

Funny to think that people believe that the mind is so powerful,researchers 'took' away a monkey's brain,and the monkey was able to move about 321/656 of its muscles,thats enormous to be capable of doing without a brain.Poor monkey.

[When I say took,I dont really mean the took it out,I mean they use medicals to neutralise some of its major brain cells.]

 

I think it is an invasion of privacy, b/cuz who actually wants their mind invaded?

 

I would consider that mind reading should be only used in the most dire of circumstances such as with interrogations to reduce torture methods when say a person will not break and some information is vital. Also, if someone were to agree to mind reading for criminal activities, for court purposes, I don't see why it couldn't be admissible in court. Otherwise, I do not think it should be used on a person unless that person would be willing and say it was for some kind of entertainment purpose later on. If a person is against it, it would be wrong to do on any account but for the most dire of circumstances such as people's lives are at stake, because if it is forced, it's like being mind raped. People's personal thoughts should be considered their own private property basically.

 

Stupid necro bumpers!

I think old people should be able to read minds because they're at the end of their lives and alot of funny WTF moments would break out around the world.