• Question: Could we make sunglasses that read minds and then tell the wearer what the person is thinking?

    Asked by to Anna, Elaine, Fiona, Kevin, Darren on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Elaine Cloutman-Green

      Elaine Cloutman-Green answered on 13 Jun 2014:

      This isn’t exactly mind reading but I think you make glasses that could register when people are doing things like lying. People make unconscious movements when they are lying and having other emotions and there are often changes in temperature etc. There should be a way for these to be read by a camera and these can then be processed using mathematical algorithms. Maybe if they could miniaturize this technology into some glasses you could then have a kind of mind reading…………

    • Photo: Kevin O'Dell

      Kevin O'Dell answered on 15 Jun 2014:

      Not entirely within my comfort zone, but I’d start with some normal google glasses and put some sunglass lenses in. Then I’d use some facial recognition software to help interpret peoples facial expressions. This would at least give me some kind of clue as to the mood someone was in. Finding out what they are thinking in detail is much harder, but in a sense it’s what our brains do all the time.

    • Photo: Zhiming Darren Tan

      Zhiming Darren Tan answered on 15 Jun 2014:

      There are people who have done amazing “mind reading” by being very observant about the body language of others. So if someone is telling you that they have this awesome pair of sunglasses and prove to you that they can use them to read minds, be careful. Always be the child in the story about the emperor’s new clothes.

    • Photo: Anna Bramwell-Dicks

      Anna Bramwell-Dicks answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      I hope not! I don’t want people to know what I am thinking…

      This actually poses a very interesting ethical question!

      I am sure that it is in the realms of possibility that someday mind-reading sunglasses will be possible. But, is that really a good thing?

      My thoughts are my own, and unless I choose to share them with someone I would like them to remain private. The thought of a device like this, slightly terrifies me!

    • Photo: Fiona McLean

      Fiona McLean answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      I think we definitely could make them! Put in some facial recognition to read emotions and then tap into the internet and you could download information on the person and the computer could pull all that information together a make a pretty good guess. It would be a bit scary for people to have that technology though! Especially if your parents had it! Maybe it could just be for spies?

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