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Scientists perform first person-to-person computerized ‘mind meld’

"My mind to your mind... my thoughts to your thoughts..."

Those words have been uttered in Star Trek for decades (and paraphrased by Sheldon Cooper towards his bowling ball) as part of the 'Vulcan mind meld', as Spock or some other Vulcan telepathically linked their mind to someone else. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Washington in Seattle claim to have done this same thing, except rather than using mental telepathy, they used a special computerized brain-to-brain interface.

Sitting in separate rooms across campus from each other, two researchers — Rajesh Rao, a computational neuroscientist, and Andrea Stocco, a cognitive scientist — were only linked together by the swimming caps they wore on their heads. In front of Rao was a computer screen that showed a simple gun-shooting game. Under Stocco's right hand was the keyboard that controlled the game to make the shot.

Stocco just sat there, with his cap holding a magnetic stimulation coil over the part of his brain that controls the right side of his body, and the fingers of his right hand poised over the keyboard. Rao, with his electrode-studded cap reading his brain waves, thought about moving his right hand in order to make the game fire, and across campus, Stocco's right hand twitched, firing the gun.

"It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain," Rao said in a University of Washington press release. "This was basically a one-way flow of information from my brain to his. The next step is having a more equitable two-way conversation directly between the two brains."

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This might bring up thoughts of diabolical mind-control experiments and turning people into automatons, but the researchers are quick to point out that noone could use this to control someone else's mind without their knowledge and willing participation. This test was conducted under ideal conditions, with highly specialized equipment, and after satisfying "a stringent set of international human-subject testing rules."

As this technology develops further, the researchers say it could be used to help people who are unable to communicate (due to injury or disability), and it would also transcend language barriers. It might even have applications for emergency situations. Imagine a pilot on the ground linking their mind to a flight attendant or passenger on a plane where the pilot has become incapacitated, to help them land the plane safely.

Pretty amazing stuff!

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