UFO Impulsivity & Paranormal Phenomena

[mike]

I still think all of this is still just jumping to wishful-thinking, science-fiction, conclusions. I don't see any 'mind-reading' going on in any of these reports, mainly because no one has precisely defined what a 'mind' is.

So you are saying this quote is wrong

Scientists have discovered how to “read” minds by scanning brain activity and reproducing images of what people are seeing — or even remembering.

or this one

If a database was built up identifying various neurons with concepts, objects and people it would allow them to "read the subject's minds", according to Dr Cerf

Scientists are one step closer to knowing what you've seen by reading your mind.

Though practical applications are decades away, the research could someday lead to dream-readers and thought-controlled computers.
"It's what you would actually use if you were going to build a functional brain-reading device," said Jack Gallant, a University of California, Berkeley neuroscientist.
<!-- Module ends: article-text-1-->

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-25/...laris-jack-gallant-neural-activity?_s=PM:TECH

 

[SRL+]

Yesterdays SciFi is tomorrows SciFact.......



Again, weve already figured out the brain can be reverse engineered, and interfaced with via technology.
These systems in development as they are now, are like a candle compared to a lighthouse, but an advanced technological species would be able to do this in a way that would seem like magic.

The very fact that our (human) research has provided proof of concept is very significant.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...Scientists-plan-to-record-peoples-dreams.html

The ability to "read" whats in our minds is just the start, remember when CD's were Read Only ?
Now we can both read and write to CD's . Its only a matter of time and research.

The implications for humanity are profound, but then the same was said of powered flight once, now its common place. Personally i think its a natural thing for any sufficiently advanced species to do.
we are already getting a taste of this, we can now communicate with each other all over the planet.
we swap text, audio ,video in real time. Direct mental transfer via technology is the logical next step.
Powered flight and space travel were once the realms of fiction too.

Given that "screen" memorys are part of the genre already, id say its a good bet they have this ability, which in turn could explain an awful lot of the strangeness associated with this enigma.

Ever heard of Michael Persinger, (AKA) inventor of the "God Helmet". He was teaching in Canada & his lab was shut down.
Research and academic work

Much of his work focuses on the commonalities that exist between the sciences, and aims to integrate fundamental concepts of various branches of science<sup class="Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from March 2009" style="white-space: nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup>. He organized the Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, which became one of the first to integrate chemistry, biology and psychology<sup class="Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from March 2009" style="white-space: nowrap;">[citation needed]</sup>.
[edit] Research in parapsychology

Dr. M.A. Persinger has published reports of rudimentary 'telepathic' communication between pairs of subjects in the laboratory.<sup id="cite_ref-telepathy1_0-0" class="reference">[1]</sup> <sup id="cite_ref-telepathy2_1-0" class="reference">[2]</sup> He has also measured increases in remote viewing accuracy of remote viewer Ingo Swann<sup id="cite_ref-sampleRef_2-0" class="reference">[3]</sup> during stimulation with complex magnetic fields using a circumcerebral (around the head) eight-channel system. In 2010, Persinger (et al.) published a report of his work with the psychic Sean Harribance <sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[4]</sup>, and found that blind-rated accuracies in his psychic insights correlated with specific Quantitative Electroencephalography profiles; specifically, congruence between activity over the Left temporal lobe of those being 'read' by Mr. Harribance and his right temporal lobe <sup id="cite_ref-harribance_2010_4-0" class="reference">[5]</sup>. "The results indicate even exceptional skills previously attributed to aberrant sources are variations of normal cerebral dynamics associated with intuition and may involve small but discrete changes in proximal energy"
[edit] Research in neurotheology

Main article: God helmet
During the 1980s he stimulated people's temporal lobes artificially with a weak magnetic field to see if he could induce a religious state (see God helmet). He claimed that the field could produce the sensation of "an ethereal presence in the room". The only published attempt, by a research group in Sweden, to replicate these effects failed to do so and concluded that subjects' reports correlated with their personality characteristics and suggestibility.<sup id="cite_ref-Granqvist_5-0" class="reference">[6]</sup>
Persinger published two papers in response. The first addressed the reasons why the Swedish group's attempt at replication failed, primarily citing an incorrect computer setup.<sup id="cite_ref-Link_to_full_text_of_Persinger.27s_first_reply_to_the_Swedish_research_group._6-0" class="reference">[7]</sup> The second paper (appearing in International Journal of Neuroscience), published in response to the Swedish group re-analyzed 19 of Persinger's experiments, and concluded that the magnetic configurations, and not suggestibility were responsible for the sense of a presence.<sup id="cite_ref-Persinger_second_rebuttal_7-0" class="reference">[8]</sup>
This research has received wide coverage in the media, with high profile visitors to Persinger's lab Susan Blackmore and Richard Dawkins reporting positive<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference">[9]</sup> and negative<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference">[10]</sup> results respectively. Dawkins reported a range of minor effects (relaxation, sensations in his limbs, etc.), while Blackmore <sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference">[11]</sup> reported "One of the most extraordinary experiences" she had ever had.
Michael Persinger has also contributed to research into the Miracle of the sun at Fatima and other Marian apparitions. He theorized that the stimulation of the cerebral-temporal lobe may have been the actual cause of the Marian apparition phenomenon. He believes the religious content of the experiences many have been a result of their obsession with religious themes and their lack of education. He has contributed to 2 papers about The Miracle of the Sun.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">[12]</sup>
[edit] Tectonic Strain Theory

Persinger has also come to public attention due to his 1975 Tectonic Strain Theory (TST) of how geophysical variables may correlate with sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Persinger argued that strain within the Earth's crust near seismic faults produces intense electromagnetic (EM) fields, creating bodies of light that some interpret as glowing UFOs. Alternatively, he argued that the EM fields generate hallucinations in the temporal lobe, based on images from popular culture, of alien craft, beings, communications, or creatures. In the UK, Paul Devereux advocates a variant geophysical theory similar to TST, the Earthlights theory. However, unlike Persinger, Devereaux generally restricts such effects to the immediate vicinity of a fault line. Devereux's approach also differs from Persinger's in holding triboluminescence rather than piezoelectricity as the "more likely candidate" for the production of naturally occurring UFOs. Devereux doesn't advocate, as in Persinger's TST, that the phenomenon might create hallucinations of UFO encounters in people, instead proposing an even more radical hypothesis: that earthlights may possess intelligence and even have the ability to read witness' thoughts.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference">[13]</sup>
UFO researchers critical of the tectonic strain theory admit that, while, observations of diffuse lights during (and sometimes before and after) very severe earthquakes may give some weak support to some parts of TST and Earthlights theory (see Earthquake lights), they question the ability of fault lines to generate luminous effects and hallucinatory experiences under much less severe conditions(as cited above). Nonetheless, even TST critics such as Rutowski think such theories may hold some promise for explaining a small percentage of UFO phenomena, although they doubt that they can ever offer a comprehensive explanation for the vast majority of unexplained UFO cases. Other UFO researchers (mainly in the U.K) believe this very limited interpretation of the TST is brought into question by the clustering of UFO reports within areas prone to faulting - such as the Pennine region of northern Britain. While acknowledging the drawbacks of Persinger's theory, they feel that amended versions of it may account for a significant proportion of "True UFO" reports.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference">[14]</sup>

 

[mike]

You ever heard of Michael Persinger, (AKA) inventor of the "God Helmet". He was teaching in Canada & his lab was shut down. Wikimedia Error

Very interesting stuff, any ideas why they shut him down ?

 

[SRL+]

I'd have to check, but someone didn't want him to conduct consciousness research.

 

[softbeard]

So you are saying this quote is wrong Scientists have discovered how to “read” minds

Well, the quote is correct; but it's how you interpret it. Notice the double quotes around "read" minds. Sure you can get an idea of what's going on in the brain by scannning its electrical activity. But that's a long way off from 'reading a persons's mind'.

 

[SRL+]

I dug this up.Zeitgeist: Persinger Locked out of Lab

 

[mike]

Very interesting, it reminds me of the scuttlebut about the alleged project blue beam, and the beaming of messages into the brains of the population

and on the subject

Sony has a patent that may take game playing to a whole new level. The patent covers the use of ultrasound to target areas of the brain in order to create the experience of seeing images, experiencing tastes, and hearing sounds. The technology would use ultrasound pulses to modify firing patterns within the human brain to create those experiences. The patent application was filed in 2000, awarded in March 2003, and has been updated steadily (most recently in December of last year). Though exciting, the patent has not been utilized in any experiments to test its validity. If the patent is one day used in an actual device, we may see the PlayStation Portable (see our review) offer a whole new level of entertainment for its users. It's also feasible that the technology could eliminate the need for physical displays on mobile devices, relying instead on images beamed into the brain. Read more from the New Scientist article.

IMAGINE movies and computer games in which you get to smell, taste and perhaps even feel things. That's the tantalising prospect raised by a patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain - granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony.
The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.
While brain implants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the only non-invasive ways of manipulating the brain remain crude. A technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation can activate nerves by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue

Sci Fi ? or WiFi.....................
Seems the ability to "write" directly to the brain is just around the corner, like it or not

 

[plumbbob12]

No one is saying that the brain is "supernatural". I do however think that the AI folks are a long shot off understanding the human brain much less the mind. In my experience, (which is small, as my professional focus is in physical chemistry, and not bio-chemistry, however I have had the required organic chem), most AI folks that I have met, make AI there religion. By that I mean that AI will make us eternal, and solve all of our problems once we reach singularity. Just my thoughts.
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[mike]

found this by pure chance today

http://www.kurzweilai.net/mind-control-puts-you-in-charge-of-driverless-cars

<H3>Mind control puts you in charge of driverless cars

February 22, 2011


Source: New Scientist One Per Cent — Feb 21, 2011
[+] (New Scientist)

Engineers at the Free University of Berlin in Germany have developed a largely autonomous car whose speed and direction can be reportedly overridden by the driver’s thoughts.
Using laser radars, microwave radars and stereo cameras, the car can perform 360-degree obstacle detection and sense a car in front up to 200 meters away.
The FU Berlin team got a volunteer to wear an off-the-shelf mind-control headset containing 16 electroencephelogram (EEG) sensors. Made by Emotiv of San Francisico, the $300 system is supplied with a software development kit that allows users to train it to sense brainwave patterns indicative of certain thoughts. The team got their brain-controlled Passat working well in trials at an abandoned airport.

</H3>
Sounds a bit like the accounts of ET using similar devices to pilot their craft doesnt it ?

On the subject of making AI a new religion, i actually think those who doubt science's ability to reverse engineer the brain, do so from a religious aversion to the idea that we are just bio-organic machines, nothing more.
Complex units to be sure, but with enough computing power i'm of the mind lol, that it can be done.

But getting back to the original premise i posted, we have shown proof of concept for both "reading" and "writing" to the human brain via a technological mechanism.
It therefore strikes me as logical that ET technology would be able to do so with a degree of finese that would make it seem like magic, or highly strange. paranormal even.
But its Para - normal only in the context of comparitive technology, weve already taken the first steps.

Sony has a patent that may take game playing to a whole new level. The patent covers the use of ultrasound to target areas of the brain in order to create the experience of seeing images, experiencing tastes, and hearing sounds. The technology would use ultrasound pulses to modify firing patterns within the human brain to create those experiences.
IMAGINE movies and computer games in which you get to smell, taste and perhaps even feel things. That's the tantalising prospect raised by a patent on a device for transmitting sensory data directly into the human brain - granted to none other than the entertainment giant Sony.
The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds.

Isnt this what we are talking about ?
using advanced technology to create experiences ?

 

[softbeard]

On the subject of making AI a new religion, i actually think those who doubt science's ability to reverse engineer the brain, do so from a religious aversion to the idea that we are just bio-organic machines, nothing more.

I don't necessarilly doubt that the brain and conciousness can be reverse-engineered. I don't purport that the human brain is somehow magical or that conciousness posseses some mystical qualities that cannot be tapped into and technologically manipulated in some way. But I do think it's way more complicated than what you're laying out here. I suspect conciousness is the product of neuron interconnections numbering in exa-quantities. And I don't think it can be 'bottled' and manipulated in the ways you suggest.

 

[mike]

I don't necessarilly doubt that the brain and conciousness can be reverse-engineered. I don't purport that the human brain is somehow magical or that conciousness posseses some mystical qualities that cannot be tapped into and technologically manipulated in some way. But I do think it's way more complicated than what you're laying out here. I suspect conciousness is the product of neuron interconnections numbering in exa-quantities. And I don't think it can be 'bottled' and manipulated in the ways you suggest.

The human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/cells.html

And we know how they work, at the end of they day the whole system is contained is a space of approx 1130 cubic centimetres
Its already being bottled and manipulated in its present form and function

Ive given example after example of ways scientists and reasearchers say it can be manipulated, can be reverse engineered.

Personally im going to go with those published results over your suspicions

I also note that where previously in this thread you were certain the brain could not be written to, but make no reference to the Sony patent for a device that does just that.

we will have to agree to disagree.

But to the topic of the thread UFO impulsivity and Paranormal Phenomena, it looks like we are developing and even have developed technology that can explain these effects.

In the hands of entitys with technology far in advance of our own, doing these sorts of things would be easy imo

---------- Post added at 11:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

http://www.bing.com/search?FORM=IEFM1&q=brain+reading+technology&src=IE-SearchBox

US neuroengineer for government sponsored Lockheed Martin, John Norseen’s, ingenuous comment, in 2000, about his belief about the consequences of his work in fMRI:

‘If this research pans out’, said Norseen, ‘you can begin to manipulate what someone is thinking even before they know it.’ And added: “The ethics don’t concern me, but they should concern someone else.” <O> </O>

At the same time, London’s Science Museum was holding an exhibition entitled ‘Neurobotics: The Future of Thinking’. This venue had been chosen for the launch in October 2006 of the news that human thoughts could be read using a scanner. Dr Geraint Rees’ smiling face could be seen in a photograph at the Neurobotics website, under the heading "The Mind Reader". Dr Rees is one of the scientists who have apparently cracked the problem which has preoccupied philosophers and scientists since before Plato: they had made entry into the conscious mind. Such a reversal of human historical evolution, announced in such a pedestrian fashion, makes one wonder what factors have been in play, and what omissions made, in getting together this show, at once banal and extraordinary. The announcement arrives as if out of a vacuum. The neuroscientist - modern-style hunter-gatherer of information and darling of the "Need to Know" policies of modern government - does little to explain how he achieved this goal of entering the conscious mind, nor does he put his work into any historical context. Instead, we are asked in the Science Museum’s programme notes:
<DIR><DIR>How would you feel if someone could read your innermost thoughts? Geraint Rees of UCL says he can. By using brain-imaging technology he's beginning to decode thought and explore the difference between the conscious and unconscious mind. But how far will it go? And shouldn’t your thoughts remain your personal business?
</DIR></DIR>

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7606

Brain-Reading Technology No Longer Science Fiction​

By Nathalie Caron.​

<TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=rs_skip border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD id=artis-102667></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>In new technologies, not much can rival a device that would read the human mind. Soon available to the public is such a device, ​

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/253690#ixzz1EjlAAliv​

 

[softbeard]

The human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons

Yes, that's fine, but look at the number of inter-connections each of these neurons makes. And it's not equivalent to comparing a neuron to a single transistor that is capable of switching binary states. Each neuron may be the equivalent of a microprocessor or more, for all we know. You may be dealing with, instead of a base-2 electronic computer, the equivalent of a base-10,000 computer (for lack of a better analogy). This is why, I think, it's way premature to say we can see a way of quantifying the mind through technology.

also note that where previously in this thread you were certain the brain could not be written

No, Mike, I didn't say the brain could not be written to, but that the 'mind' could not, at least in the ways you suggest. Not written to, at least, stemming from this kind of technology. As to what's ultimately possible in this field, who knows.

 

[mike]

No, Mike, I didn't say the brain could not be written to, but that the 'mind' could not, at least in the ways you suggest. Not written to, at least, stemming from this kind of technology. As to what's ultimately possible in this field, who knows.

Yeah, very crude. I see what you're getting at here, but I don't buy the 'writing' stuff. I don't think things like this can ever be forced on an unwitting receipiant

But heres what the researchers are saying

If this research pans out’, said Norseen, ‘you can begin to manipulate what someone is thinking even before they know it.

You can use a device like this to do some pretty cool things. At the moment when you see something and want to describe it to someone you have to use words or draw it and it doesn’t work very well.
“You could use this technology to transmit the image to someone"

Sony has a patent that may take game playing to a whole new level. The patent covers the use of ultrasound to target areas of the brain in order to create the experience of seeing images, experiencing tastes, and hearing sounds. The technology would use ultrasound pulses to modify firing patterns within the human brain to create those experiences. The patent application was filed in 2000, awarded in March 2003, and has been updated steadily (most recently in December of last year)
The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating "sensory experiences" ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.
While brain implants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the only non-invasive ways of manipulating the brain remain crude. A technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation can activate nerves by using rapidly changing magnetic fields to induce currents in brain tissue

We can argue the semantics of brain and mind, but at the end of the day the "writing" stuff you dont buy is already in the process of being developed

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------

"One can envision the development of electromagnetic energy sources, the output of which can be pulsed, shaped, and focused, that can couple with the human body in a fashion that will allow one to prevent voluntary muscular movements, control emotions (and thus actions), produce sleep, transmit suggestions, interfere with both short-term and long-term memory, produce an experience set, and delete an experience set. It would also appear possible to create high fidelity speech in the human body, raising the possibility of covert suggestion and psychological direction... Thus, it may be possible to 'talk' to selected adversaries in a fashion that would be most disturbing to them."
~ United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board
New World Vistas: Air and Space Power For The 21st Century

http://oneheartbooks.com/books/mind_control/controlling_the_human_mind.htm

 

[TClaeys]

We have learned more about the human brain in the last ten years than we have learned in all the years previously. With what is happening in research today it isn't hard to look forward to a day that is sci-fi for real.

Kurzweil, who has repetitively been an accurate predictor, looks forward to the feasability of living forever. How?? By living long enough to allow the current technological revolution to re-engineer ourselves at the molecular level. We are in the midst of a new technological age. Nanotechnology will turn what we look at as "impossible" today into immortality tomorrow. In the coming decades I believe you will see stuff (heck we're seeing it now in it's infancy) that will completely change humanity and what it means to be human.

You may not buy this at all. But many are looking at real possibilities of bottling up consciousness and using different medias to apply it in, ... Avatar, for example, if you will. Complexities of the human brain will not be a hindrance in time. And this may be the key to travelling away from our planet.

And if there is a military application, which there undoubtedly is, you can rest assured that heavy research and development is happening as we write back and forth about what is possible. And my hunch is that you would be blown away with what is in the works.

 

[jimp]

This continues to be an interesting thread. In regards to the research, what scientists have been able to accomplish is very impressive. But in any research article, there is the research and its results -- and then speculation about future possibilities (which is where hypotheses come from). At any rate, all this stuff about reading and writing to the brain assumes a computer-like model -- this model may be useful but in the end it is just an analogy. During the turn of the 20th century, the brain was seen in terms of plumbing and hydraulics. "Getting steamed", "needing a safety valve for emotion", that sort of thing. Of course, the brain is neither hydraulic, nor a computer. Philosopher John Searle observes that consciousness involves more than the brain -- it involves the entire body. Not just the nervous system, but the entire physiological process that feeds back into the brain. No body, no consciousness. This is why the computer model of consciousness is lacking.

Even if technology can feed thoughts and images into the brain, can it control the will? We are inundated with countless thoughts, random memories, sensory experiences, every day of our lives (the stream of consciousness, as William James called it). Yet we choose some thoughts over others, and make decisions and then act upon them. We focus and use our will to get through the day. We experience hunger, but put off eating till the appropriate time. Experience countless small anxieties and manage to work our way through them, nearly unconsciously. In fact, the inability to do these things is considered a psychological disorder, a disorder being something that occurs in a minority of the population. This may be why mind control would work so well on subjects who are already disturbed, but it needn't involve the sophisticated technology discussed here. Advertising is a simple, yet effective, form of mind control. Create a need -- satisfy that need. But advertising only works a small percentage of the time (enough for some sort of profit to those involved). Would direct brain-input technology work any better? I am reminded of the FUTURAMA episode where Frye finds out that advertising is being placed in people's dreams.

The clip of the researchers getting a visual image from a cat's brain is pretty impressive. (In fact, I am reminded of aliens experimenting on humans -- if such things have ever occurred. For aliens, maybe humans are okay to experiment on because we are a lower life form -- but high enough and close enough to alien brains to give useful results.) I would be more impressed, though, if researchers could control the behavior of cats -- who are notoriously immune to direction from their owners.

Herding cats. That would be cool.

 

[SRL+]

No one is saying that the brain is "supernatural". I do however think that the AI folks are a long shot off understanding the human brain much less the mind. In my experience, (which is small, as my professional focus is in physical chemistry, and not bio-chemistry, however I have had the required organic chem), most AI folks that I have met, make AI there religion. By that I mean that AI will make us eternal, and solve all of our problems once we reach singularity. Just my thoughts.
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Dr. Robert Lanza who is known primarily for his contribution in the field of stem cell research discusses consciousness and the universe. In this clip he discusses how humans might be able to create alternate realities in the futurehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYETfyo0tQo&feature=related

 

[mike]

I think the following quote illustrates many peoples natural reaction to the idea

It seems humans’ assumption of the mind as a private place has been so secured by evolution that it will take a sustained battle to convince the public that, through events of which we are not yet fully informed, such former innocence has been lost.

The actual technology which is now said to be honing the technique ‘to distinguish between passing thoughts and genuine intentions’ is described by Professor John-Dylan Haynes in the Guardian in the most disarmingly untechnical language which must surely not have been intended to enlighten.

The Guardian piece ran as follows:

A team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person’s brain and read their intentions before they act.

The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists’ ability to probe people’s minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future.

‘Using the scanner, we could look around the brain for this information and read out something that from the outside there's no way you could possibly tell is in there. It's like shining a torch around, looking for writing on a wall,’ said John-Dylan Haynes at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, who led the study with colleagues at University College London and Oxford University

The very idea goes against goes againts thousands of years of experience that the mind is a private place.
The semantics of brain vs mind vs conciousness, are resolved at the tissue level. the brain "stores" memory, we are learning decode the algorithms behind that and "read" the data.

Air Force Looks for ‘Core Algorithms’ of Human Thought
By Noah Shachtman
May 26, 2009 |
The Defense Department is continuing its push to reduce human thought and human action to a few lines of code. The latest effort comes from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, which is looking to build “mathematical or computational models of human attention, memory, categorization, reasoning, problem solving, learning and motivation, and decision making.” The ultimate goal, according to a recent request for research proposals, is to “elucidate core computational algorithms of the mind and brain.”

Ray Kurzweil thinks we will be able to make a copy of our conciousness by 2040

Just when will this ultimate life-affirming feat be possible? In Kurzweil's estimation, we will be able to upload the human brain to a computer, capturing "a person's entire personality, memory, skills and history", by the end of the 2030s; humans and non-biological machines will then merge so effectively that the differences between them will no longer matter

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/by-2040-you-will-be-able-to-upload-your-brain-1792555.html

 

[plumbbob12]

Good post on the human reaction to the mind/brain issue. And there are some hypotheses out there that state that the "mind" is nothing more than tissues and chemical reactions on a very physical level. This debate, between the mind/brain, and western rationalism has been going on for hundreds of years.　 This is the bases for Pascal’s wager, and the famous statement "I think, therefore I am". In the end, we in our modern area are not coming up with any new ideas on this issue. While many neurologists are working on the hypothesis that consciousness is only a physical "thing", there are many others that are working with the view that the Mind is something separate from the brain. Lastly the Quantum effect has been tied into the mind function. Don't know if this idea will fly very far, but it is interesting reading.　 As far as the year 2030 for the singularity, I for one am dubious, but who knows? I try to look at both sides, and not rely on the local news sources.　 I know that it takes a bit more time. But try reading some published papers or at least the abstracts in order to get the real story about where we are at in the field of neuroscience.
　

 

[Ivette]

Well put, Plumbbob12, just what I wanted to add... hardly understood what he wanted to express. Trying to reason with UFO phenomena will take us no where, for this visions have been happening forever. It is just there with out us knowing why. Why some of us see and others don't. The first time I saw one I was in my hammoc very relax, and absolubtly nothing has happened after five occurrances and a few other mysteries - nothing that got me frighten, but weird.

 

[mike]

What i wanted to express is this,
Since our own science has already provided "proof of concept" for brain reading/writing devices.
Its not unlikely that ET science (if thats what they are) would be able to do so and with even greater finese
Put simply if we can do it, then its likely they can do it better
Just as we can fly, and they can fly at speeds and make turns our own technology cant yet duplicate.

We know that "screen" memorys are reported to have been imposed on some experiencers, missing time, may simply be an artifact of a redacted experience set.
People have reported "asking" objects to move in their heads only to have it do just that

Logically the object or its occupants have "read" the thoughts of the observer, over distance, just as we are now looking at doing
The fact that we are learning how to do this ourselves, have in fact provided "proof of concept" suggests to me its high on a list of likely explanations for some of what we see in the UFO genre

Clearly if the evidence is correct they have been flying in the skys a lot longer than we have and with greater finese, the same principle likely applies to this sort of technology too