Monday, December 13, 2010

How MRI Machines Might Change Society

We read where MRI machines are being used by some as evidence in courts because they are nearer to being used as lie detectors, and the conclusion is that they have the potential to change society in dramatic ways. One definite problem with the MRI methods for this use is that they don't yet work reliably enough to be of any real worth as evidence in court. It seems possible that this will be solved sooner or later.

Even so we imagine in the early days of the use of MRI as lie detectors for this use there will be many false alarms, like the person in the airport who has been watching a bad movie on television or the web and the machine picks up the thought (they now have MRI that can do this without training with the machine rather like you used to do with speech recognition software) and from a distance.

Another problem is a new find in research where the person can't even remember where he got the memory. Research with showing movies to people who were then asked if they did what they saw in the movie often said they did or the actual events had occurred, even though they didn't.


To get around the problem of where the memory was from like the cinema last month you saw, we might imagine smarter MRI machines that can find the context of the memory itself perhaps by also using MRI to read the pattern embedded in  the neurotransmitters themselves, to read your entire memory store of your life so far. Sort of like finding the faint evidence on a computer or tape even after the machine has "erased" the evidence that can be achieved by more recent methods. I think this may be possible with MRI because MRI has been used down to the cellular level to research cells in life, it's high resolution as well as being good to measure the general brain changes. Other sensors than MRI might be best for this. i believe if the sensors could actually find the neural information even of old neurons embedded in e.g. neurons from say 100 years ago, this might be used to "revive old memories", even from ancient times, perhaps great for archeology, click here. Or see link at bottom of page. 
It's been found that a person can't even think a thought without a foundation of the buildup of events for the thought.. When some with disabilities were tested and were told they were taking an intelligence test "they failed", but when they were not told it was about this, they did fine on the same test.

The problem of the memory not being able to be created at the start by limits in the environment might seem to never make anyone guilty as in the other research about the intelligence tests, except this is often the method used in police interrogations, so this seems important in other legal aspects.

I imagine a future where they may actually invent MRI that's portable, linked to the web where decisions about the worth of who's lying or not being processed reliably by the web. We would see in some old movies like comedy where someone had invented a truth machine, and what the results would be, comic and more. Certainly the MRI used in general law would be profound. Even so I believe the use of a reliable portable truth machine eventually might lead to mini lawsuits. You go to work and someone fibs, you ask them yes or no, if they're lying, you win five payable to your credit card, and so with a range of possible uses of the MRI from these suits up to the general uses already in R and D.. Evidence shows when a boss yells at an employee it's harmful to health. We might imagine where the child is being spanked and mom says, "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you" and the child suing for lunch money if mom was being a bit silly!

 These seem to be plausible mores of the MRI machine. If not MRI perhaps machines like improved sensors to pick up faint sounds. Science has well proven that any thought has a physical change in the body, e.g. for a dog or cat, which has identical neurons to humans except we have more of the neurons, when they are sitting or sleeping and we see their whiskers twitch and it's as if they are dreaming, this is indeed what has been proven with MRI machines, they are either remembering early events of anticipating new events, just as pet owners had always told us. Officials are using machines to actually find the signature heartbeat that only the individual has who has that pattern of heartbeat and respiration even through wall with cheap radar as proof in law they were there at that time. Your heartbeat and respiration are like a signature, and the radar can find the evidence. Firefighters are using other machines to boost signals small sounds of words worn around the shoulders and then sending the audio signal by radio to the other firefighters in the fire with audio boost so they can actually hear above the roar of the fire and in other loud situations where these "subvocal amplifiers" are of worth, and it's possible these might be improved in combination with MRI. If the sound wasn't there because of e.g. walls, the radar could still amplify the breathing and thus the verbal thoughts of the other side of the wall, with a simple cheap headphone, and no training or large MRI machine would be needed, because the mind and body always correlate with a definite change and a verbal way to always sound out thoughts would always be to "whisper" to sound out, no matter what it was. New science shows that how your body is influences your thoughts. If you are strong, you think a hill is level compared to people who aren't so strong, as in synthetic life where the computing the life does always needs a physical hardware to solve problems, the finding that life always needs a surface to exist as in exochemistry where the molecules for life are only found where there is a surface e.g between stars on like asteroids, and so on. And it's being found that language  influences thought, in some languages where the compass direction the speaker uses to know where a spoon or dish is, e.g. the spoon is SE of the dish or mom is NW of Betsy, they know where N or S is in a room more than thirty Nobel Phds present. In Spanish "se rompio la flore" means "the vase is broken", but in Spanish they don't then know as often who broke the vase because the language infuences the thought, or I would say also with any thought, there will always be a physical change that then might be imaged by a simpler method than like MRI merely by finding the simpler change in the actuation method that might seemingly usually go with it.

 Computerized machines can actually pick up the sound of the wheels of an engine of a vehicle and count the gear teeth of the wheels to find only that machine was there, rather like on the old action shows where sometimes the hero could find a van just by the sound of it's engine. Another technology actually listens to the sound of a person who types in the password and uses the other software to actually find the password by the sound of the typing with computer sensing of the sound. All these machines imply that the small changes that research shows always are found with all processing of the brain and other events may be found and used to prove who is lying or not and if actual harm is intended, the winner would more often be the defender in common events.
It's possible if the magnetic field is needed to know what's up people may soon use MRI shields, rather like call blocking except for thoughts, and no doubt the password sound problem might be solved with noise shielding or jamming, (AN). If we might block calls lots of people would want to block more intrusive events, if, e.g. MRI itself could be used to find passwords.

  Can we imagine a world where all were telling the truth, where doctors, others, and landlords were being moderate? We read where research shows most people lie about 3 times a day. If you go somewhere and can prove you were telling the truth and it costs someone 5 where they wouldn't have had to pay, word would soon be round and a lot people who don't lie would suddenly have a real advantage otherwise not found.

  Even so there is a downside to a world of more truth, small lies used to good causes, like a temporary good lie to the landlord so the tenant wouldn't go out on the street, or like in WW II in Germany where good people often lied to make it out of that oppressive situation. I once met someone who was a pioneer in defence computing in the 1950's who used software about what was known about the evolution of behaviour, here near where I live. He said he actually met Von Braun and I said, Von Brain? Wow! And he said no, Wow, nobody near here even knows who Von Brain was and I said my mom was a journalist who interviewed him and who hasn't read about Von Braun. My neighbor helped build an industrial city in Kuwait before the first gulf war named "Industrial city named so many words it's already here by the time you say the name of it!" After a day of labor on the industrial city he would go under the waves to swim and be cool in the ocean, because there was often pressure from the people who were in power there to be unkind to the US citizens, so I asked him what he believed about truth and he said he would actually have told the untruth to make it out of an oppressive situation if he was imprisoned for this if there was trouble. My neighbor Named Rob H. was a good person and that he also was willing to risk untruth to survive seems like anyone, mere mortal no doubt.

 Perhaps if lying is so common like the eight lies a day per person it's like a dog needs to bark to stay healthy, and the lies might be better rationed out, say 3 white lies a day, no more. Another problem might be if a man loves a woman and he tells her a sweet lie and she finds the truth and says no often a lot of love would be lost to her she might have only have been zealous in promotion of that suitor otherwise.  The use of MRI for finding truth would change herstory to another if all the time in a general sense we are exchanging one option for another and in this sense MRI to find truth would be the same. The world is always held in balance by gravity, so there wouldn't be infinite seperation of truth from lies. Those who were lying for a good reason, love sweets or beauty would still be near. MRI is not a substitute for words of love in conversation to win like in the old world, more precious not less like life for its finite moment.. About the MRI we might say what's wrong with more options like the wildcard of lying to make the real world more worth caution and this seems indeed the reason to limit the truth machines if they are developed. The best use of the machines may be to merely stop the most important centers of corruption. For instance the medical and legal fields are in need of moderation, medical is the only big business where the consumer has no right to the worth of what he receives, hospitals don't even have to report deaths, and doctors routinely make sweetheart deals with drug makers, and so on. I think of heaven as not as worthwhile as real life (not yet or when) because, life has lots of suprises, rather like dirt makes the immune system stronger and healthy. This may be the truth about the truth machines. We read of when the microphone was invented and many musicians who couldn't sing were more able because they didn't have to yell all the way to the other side of the arena for others to hear them. These machines seem much like amplifiers of truth, and as the musicians were improved, the advantage to the world was more than the disadvantage. Though truth is not all good there may be no other option if these machines are developed than for us to live as we must. If used in moderation and even with the risk I believe the advantage of truth may outweigh the down side because so much of what is bad in the world is under cover of valor. More truth may be of much worth to the poor, and no doubt the immediate impact of MRI may be felt in legal and medical realms. Mobile MRI might not be developed, even so larger machines might be used like in places like stores if wifi wired to the web, with the more max value of defenders if small laws are also passed to reflect the illumination of the MRI or other machines, or the machines in combination.

Here's my link for MRI For History and Archeology, ect. 
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