<nettime> Brain fingerprinting

[twsherma@mailbox.syr.edu]

Have you ever had your brain fingerprinted? Brain fingerprinting is a new
kind of lie-detector test. Instead of looking for nervous reactions on the
surface of the skin, brain fingerprinting technology looks directly into
the mind of a suspect. The FBI and CIA in the United States hope it will
become one of the most significant forensic tools since the advent of DNA
analysis. Governments all over the world are excited about brain
fingerprinting.

Here's how it works. A criminal suspect or a terrorist is shown pictures
of the scene of a crime or a terrorist training site. The suspect's brain
waves are monitored, looking for brain waves of recognition, signs in the
suspect's memory that links the suspect to the scene of a crime or
terrorist activity. These brain waves of recognition are called P300
waves. The suspect may deny any involvement, but a real-time analysis of
his or her brain waves may conclusively establish prior criminal activity.
Previously undetectable memories determine guilt.

Brain fingerprinting technology is already widely used by advertising
agencies to determine the effectiveness of television and radio
commercials, as well as billboard and magazine advertising. People are
offered cash to get them to volunteer to have their minds read
periodically, to see if advertising campaigns are having their desired
effects. Governments are also very interested to see if their public
service announcements are sinking in. Have you ever had your brain
fingerprinted?


Nerve Theory: http://www.kunstradio.at/2006A/H5N1en.html


#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net