"Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind," wrote the playwright John Milton in 1634.
But, nearly 400 years later, technological advances in machines that can read our thoughts mean the privacy of our brain is under threat.
Now two biomedical ethicists are calling for the creation of new human rights laws to ensure people are protected, including "the right to cognitive liberty" and "the right to mental integrity".
Scientists have already developed devices capable of telling whether people are politically right-wing or left-wing. In one experiment, researchers were able to read people's minds to tell with 70 per cent accuracy whether they planned to add or subtract two numbers.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday May 15 2017, @03:21PM (1 child)
To be fair, the studies I assume are being referenced aren't just dealing with "right wing vs. left wing," but general "conservative vs. liberal" or "Democrat vs. Republican" as they show in brain scans. (See my post above.)
As others have already noted, the one-dimensional liberal-conservative spectrum is a pretty poor way of classifying political opinion, though. Some multi-dimensional models [wikipedia.org] have had more success than others, but none has really penetrated mainstream news discourse.
(Score: 1) by Revek on Monday May 15 2017, @10:55PM
I was thinking more in terms of a bell curve with the left and the right at the edges and the majority grouped into the center. With myself playing the part of Joe Bauers [wikipedia.org] of course. Most of my problems are caused by liberals and conservatives. I can see how it would be seen as a one dimensional argument. This country really needs a centrist push for public office. To bad centrist are usually to busy living their lives instead of tell other how to live theirs.
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