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With a simple scan of your brain at rest, scientists can now guess whether — on average — you are naughty or nice.
"We have now begun to see really strong evidence of a connection between measures of brain function, connectivity and many aspects of people's lives and personality," says lead author Dr. Stephen Smith, a biomedical engineer at the University of Oxford.
The surprisingly strong correlations, published last week in Nature Neuroscience, are the first to emerge from the ambitious Human Connectome Project (HCP), a global effort that seeks to map all the pathways between the brain's hundreds of regions and millions of neurons, and then to relate those connectivity patterns to personality and behavior.
Personal brain scan result: bad to the bone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2015, @07:55PM
Phrenology was junk science, I'm sure you wouldn't doubt an MRI if they were looking for a tumour? This is good news; Psychopaths be gone or at least easier to identify and have locked away for their pathetic bullshit.
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday October 13 2015, @08:15PM
Locking people away who have committed no crime whatsoever simply because they may do so at some unspecified point in the future is something more fitting for police states.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:06PM
Having a psychopath locked away on mental health grounds is not pre-crime. Abusive personalities are abusive - always.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday October 13 2015, @11:31PM
Having a psychopath locked away on mental health grounds is not pre-crime.
It is if they haven't committed any actual crimes.
Abusive personalities are abusive - always.
You're making shit up. And abuse isn't always criminal, anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @12:19PM
Except we already do this when individuals are a danger to themselves and others.
Depends on the jurisdiction and the problem is in proving it. Confirmation from an MRI scan that an individual has the pathology of an anti-social shit would help in these cases and then... off they fuck! [legislation.gov.uk]
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday October 14 2015, @12:48PM
Except we already do this when individuals are a danger to themselves and others.
If they haven't committed any crimes, it is unjust.
Depends on the jurisdiction and the problem is in proving it. Confirmation from an MRI scan that an individual has the pathology of an anti-social shit would help in these cases and then... off they fuck!
Well, you're clearly a hardcore authoritarian who has absolutely zero respect for the liberties so many people fought hard to obtain. Why not just move to North Korea if you want a thought crime police state so badly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:19PM
How is sectioning somebody experiencing a severe manic or depressive episode "unjust"? Is arresting a public drunk "unjust"? Put it in context as we interpret that crime. Most of us have been drunk in public yet only a few have elevated it to anti-social or criminal levels.
LOL. It's not authoritarian to penalise individuals for anti-social behaviour. Is it authoritarian when a school teacher punishes somebody for bullying? Is bullying somebody to the point of suicide a liberty you think your forefathers fought for?
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:44PM
How is sectioning somebody experiencing a severe manic or depressive episode "unjust"?
Did this somebody take actions that truly harmed anyone, or did they try to harm anyone? If not, then it is unjust.
Is arresting a public drunk "unjust"?
Did this public drunk take actions that truly harmed anyone, or did they try to harm anyone? If not, then it is unjust.
LOL. It's not authoritarian to penalise individuals for anti-social behaviour.
The entire concept of thought crime is authoritarian to the core. And so is the idea of punishing people merely for having a state of mind that you don't like.
Is bullying somebody to the point of suicide a liberty you think your forefathers fought for?
You're changing the topic, which is about punishing people merely for having a certain state of mind, even when they have not yet done anything.
I have a truly revolutionary idea that is entirely compatible with a free society: Punish people when they take actions that actually break the law, not when they merely could potentially break the law at some unspecified point in the future because they have certain mental disorders or other such things. Of course, don't create laws that violate people's fundamental liberties, either.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Dunbal on Wednesday October 14 2015, @12:15AM
I wouldn't doubt a set of calipers if it was measuring the thickness of sheet metal, either. Your point?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2015, @12:57PM
Of course not. Nor would I doubt a caliper on accurately measuring the form of my skull.