Thought Helmets Contracted By The Army

Is anyone else a little scared? The U.S. military is apparently very interested in telepathy and the possibilities for its use in soldier communication, so they awarded a contract for the development of a thought helmet device that could potentially aid in this endeavor.

The idea is that sometimes soldiers are in situations where they cannot speak or make any sort of gesture for communication. In such situations, being able to think a command or relay information and have it received would be extremely helpful. Scientists at UC Irvine, Carnegie Mellon and University of Maryland are working on this project.

Initially, the system would work like this: a solider would think a thought, the system would break down the thought based on brain network activity, then a computer voice would verbally relay the message on the other end. However, the ultimate goal would be to have commands given in the person having the thought's own voice. Yikes! It sounds like sci-fi, and will probably take a long time to be developed, but the way it's described does make it sound possible.

[via Gizmodo]