Mind to Mind: The Next Wave of Personal Communication

Think about all the ways that communication has advanced over the years. It used to be that hand delivered notes or carrier pigeons were the only ways of communicating. Eventually the telegraph developed, then radio, and the telephone. We were also introduced to the phenomena of television... the whole world in a box in your living room! The next great revolution was the computer. The first computers were hefty and slow. They filled up rooms and took hours to do basic computations. After computers came the internet and the internet paved the way for all sorts of communication. The next advance for telephones was going wireless with the advent of cell phones. Now you could play games and text message people instantaneously.

Where will we go next? What is the next frontier? Many scientists think it's thought. Transmitting thought. Imagine being able to transmit a thought to your friend across the room. Thoughts have been shown to be basiclly electrical impulses. If a radio with electrical impulses can transmit information to other places.. can't a brain? Of course, scientists believe that in order for our brains to develop that high level of advancement we're going to need technological help... most likely a tiny (maybe even microscopic!) chip imbedded in our brains.

Of course, a chip embedded in your brain that allows you to communicate telepathically with others raises all sorts of technical and ethical questions. Exactly how will this capability work? Wll you be able to turn it on and off with your brain? Will there be an external switch? How will they make sure your thoughts don't get crossed with someone else's in mid-transanction? How will they make sure you don't send the wrong thoughts to the wrong person? You know those dirty thoughts that occassionally cross your mind? You wouldn't want those getting broadcast to the wrong person.

The other questions involve issues of privacy. Could these devices be used to pry open peoples minds? Would mechanical or programming bugs mess up the functioning? Could they get viruses like computers? Could someone "hijack" your "account" and send out thoughts you didn't intend to send out? What about academic concerns? Cheating becomes a whole lot easier when you don't need "cheat sheets." All you have to do is agree to help one another on a test. Thought sharing would make getting A's a whole lot easier. What about jamming devices? Would they be able to develop somethinglike that to prevent cheating? Could there be situations where jamming would be bad?

Mind to mind messaging. M2M. It's the next text messaging. So, when the time comes that you could have an implant in your brain to allow you to communicate telepathically... don't forget to think about these questions.