Facebook wants to read your mind
Facebook already has your name, your friends and your photographs: now it might want your thoughts too.
Job advertisements posted in California suggest that the social network is planning to develop telepathic technology that can read brain waves - a way of sharing that would go far beyond status updates or sharing holiday snaps.
The vacancies at Facebook’s ‘‘Building 8’’ division include Phdlevel roles for a ‘‘brain-computer interface engineer’’ and a ‘‘neural imaging engineer’’, for a two-year project that will ‘‘accomplish bold things’’. Another ad describes building a ‘‘communication and computing platform of the future’’.
The roles include analysis of ‘‘neuro-imaging and electrophysiological data’’ and ‘‘developing novel non-invasive neuro-imaging technologies’’.
The idea of Facebook being able to read minds may sound like a science-fiction fantasy – and potentially the ultimate privacy nightmare. But the job advertisements are not the first clue that the company wants to make it a reality.
'One day, I believe we'll be able to send full, rich thoughts to each other directly using technology.' Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, has previously described telepathy as the ‘‘ultimate communication technology’’ and a way to capture a feeling ‘‘in its ideal and perfect form’’.
In 2015, he said: ‘‘One day, I believe we’ll be able to send full, rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You’ll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too, if you’d like.’’
Last year, he said that the world would move beyond virtual reality and rather than ‘‘just being able to capture what’s going on in a scene, I think you’re going to be able to capture a thought, what you’re thinking or feeling ...‘‘.
He added: ‘‘Of course it’s really important that people have the power to do this in the way that they want, to be able to share that with other people.’’
While Zuckerberg has said that such technology is decades away, the job adverts suggest Facebook is willing to lead the way.
Academic researchers have already made breakthroughs in decoding brainwaves. Last year, scientists at the University of Washington showed they could detect if a subject was looking at a photograph of a face or of a house. – Telegraph