If the detection accuracy can be improved, one can theoretically telepathically communicate with another using Morse code :)
Also, since we have the ability to 'write' a low res image onto a person's retina, I can also communicate with that person by just typing on a keyboard. The receiver would see alphabets flashing in his mind.
i'm sure the translation would be a very difficult problem, but the idea of transferring an image from one person to another telepathically is ground shattering in terms of impact. Take every day tasks when working with a team right now. I spend days writing documents solely for the purpose of communicating ideas from my own head to others. Still even with extensive documents with images, and text, miscommunication is not uncommon.
Even still, when I program I mostly have an "image" of the program in my head. Imagine if a computer knew me well enough to translate that "image" to actual code.
This kind of stuff is a LONG ways away... but it seems like the basic concepts are being proven, and its both exciting and scary. What it means to be human could be different in 2100. If this technology is expensive, and we still have capitalism, and there's still a large class of poor. The digital divide could turn that casim into the grand canon. I'm scared that the technology is coming faster than our capability to handle it socially.
Thought of another application. Let's say you're a teacher. One of the hardest parts of education today is relating a concept by using other concepts that are more familiar to students. Its a translation problem, but there's an unknown variable. The teacher (especially if they're talking to a large class) may not actively know how well or how correctly their students are understanding the topic.
Assuming that a system is good enough to commercialize, there's probably some AI tech that's gaining traction too. If you could use AI to analyze a students understanding, the computer could interactively forge the lesson. The result would be faster, more accurate learning.
Learning, in my opinion being one of the biggest barriers to progress, the pace of change would be incredible!
Writing image (onto retina) is quite feasible, it's reading that is a problem now. A while back there was an experiment conducted to 'read' image in a person's mind, but what they had really done was mapping a certain image/video clip to a certain expression of the brain's activity. It can't read arbitrary image yet.
>I'm sure the translation would be a very difficult problem, but the idea of transferring an image from one person to another telepathically is ground shattering in terms of impact. Take every day tasks when working with a team right now. I spend days writing documents solely for the purpose of communicating ideas from my own head to others.
Yes, forget about those uses. Judging from history, such a technology will more likely be used by our overlords to send us commands to obey...
