Paul Root Wolpe wants his privacy, and so do most of us. Wolpe wrote an opinion piece on new technology, and how it might, in a short time, completely take away our privacy. "Neuroscience is advancing so rapidly that, under certain conditions, scientists can use sophisticated brain imaging technology to scan your brain and determine whether you can read a particular language, what word you are thinking of, even what you are dreaming about while you are asleep," says Wolpe. He argues that our dreams and our thoughts are completely personal, and a machine reading them takes away the last bit of privacy in the world. He talks about the fact that although technology now is not as advanced as to actually read minds, the technology has developed far enough that, through machines, what people are thinking about can be read. That's a different level of mind reading. He suggests that eventually, as technology comes up to reading all the way into peoples minds, the machine will be used at airports, and other travel places, as a fool-proof security gadget.
I am afraid of flying on an airplane. It just so happens that any time I have a flight, I hear about a plane crash a few days earlier. I start thinking about whether someone on my flight has explosives with them and will send the plane down to a fatal crash. How does anyone know they don't have something that could kill the people on board, or that they don't have the intention of wrecking the plane.
What does this have to do with Wolpe's article? Everyone has to go through scanners; at an airport, or at a government building, a train station, lots of places. A few years ago, new technology introduced a security machine that would take an x-ray of people as they stood in a cubicle-type-thing, while someone in another part of the airport is looking at you, making sure you have nothing on you. An uproar occurred when this machine was put in a few airports, because people felt their privacy was being invaded. If that was privacy being invaded, then what is a machine reading your mind? Definite privacy invasion. Mind readers should not be placed anywhere, because although they could bring a very accurate conclusion in, say, a court case, the general public do not need to have their minds read.
1. Decipher
a. In fact, the idea of being able to decipher what is going on in that three pounds of grey mush between our ears seemed an impossible task even a couple of decades ago.
b. succeed in understanding, interpreting, or identifying (something)
c. The teacher tried to decipher the language the two students were using in their notes.
2. Labyrinth
a. Now, for the first time in human history, we are peering into the labyrinth of the mind and pulling out information, perhaps even information you would rather we did not know.
b. a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze
c. The new students had difficulty finding their way through the labyrinth of hallways.
3. Inviolable
a. My mind must remain mine alone, and my skull an inviolable zone of privacy.
b. never to be broken, infringed, or dishonored
c. The honor pledge is said to be an inviolable promise, but the council still has to deal with new cases.
I am afraid of flying on an airplane. It just so happens that any time I have a flight, I hear about a plane crash a few days earlier. I start thinking about whether someone on my flight has explosives with them and will send the plane down to a fatal crash. How does anyone know they don't have something that could kill the people on board, or that they don't have the intention of wrecking the plane.
What does this have to do with Wolpe's article? Everyone has to go through scanners; at an airport, or at a government building, a train station, lots of places. A few years ago, new technology introduced a security machine that would take an x-ray of people as they stood in a cubicle-type-thing, while someone in another part of the airport is looking at you, making sure you have nothing on you. An uproar occurred when this machine was put in a few airports, because people felt their privacy was being invaded. If that was privacy being invaded, then what is a machine reading your mind? Definite privacy invasion. Mind readers should not be placed anywhere, because although they could bring a very accurate conclusion in, say, a court case, the general public do not need to have their minds read.
1. Decipher
a. In fact, the idea of being able to decipher what is going on in that three pounds of grey mush between our ears seemed an impossible task even a couple of decades ago.
b. succeed in understanding, interpreting, or identifying (something)
c. The teacher tried to decipher the language the two students were using in their notes.
2. Labyrinth
a. Now, for the first time in human history, we are peering into the labyrinth of the mind and pulling out information, perhaps even information you would rather we did not know.
b. a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze
c. The new students had difficulty finding their way through the labyrinth of hallways.
3. Inviolable
a. My mind must remain mine alone, and my skull an inviolable zone of privacy.
b. never to be broken, infringed, or dishonored
c. The honor pledge is said to be an inviolable promise, but the council still has to deal with new cases.
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