Scientists are experimenting with ways for people to communicate using only their minds. But at what cost?
Subject 1, the Inquirer, sits in a darkened laboratory. She wears a white swim cap over her wavy blond hair. Pressed to the back of her head is a beige device shaped like a large figure eight, or an infinity symbol turned on its side. It’s been positioned carefully, guided by lasers. At its center, a tiny light glows green.
Subject 2, the Respondent, is seated in a second lab, nearly a mile away. This room is brightly lit. He also wears a white skullcap. His is covered in yellow and green electrodes, like the eyes that dot seraphim’s bodies in the Book of Revelation.
The game begins. Both subjects stare at screens. The Inquirer is prompted to pick a category from a drop-down list. Skipping over things like food, boats, and countries, she chooses “animals”; from there, the program makes a random selection that’s kept secret from her. An instant later, the Respondent’s monitor displays the word “shark.”
The Inquirer’s goal is to guess which signifier the Respondent sees. She’s allowed to ask three questions, drawn from a set written by the scientists who’ve designed this game. (Is it a mammal? Can it fly?) She taps on her selection, and it’s relayed to the Respondent.
He must answer yes or no. But he can’t speak, write, or sign.
Instead, he stares at his screen. On either side of it are flashing lights. If he looks at one of them, the electrodes translate his brain’s signals into “yes.” If he looks at the other, they discern “no.” His response is then sent via Internet to the Inquirer.
When it’s “yes,” the powerful magnet that’s pressed to her skull sends a pulse through skin and bone, stimulating her occipital lobe, and she sees what’s called a phosphene: a visual disturbance that’s been compared, by Jerry Adler in Smithsonian Magazine, to “heat lightning on the horizon.” (This is why the lights are dim.) If his answer is “no,” she sees nothing.
In this way, the Respondent has replied using only his mind. He’s conveyed a linguistic message without language. Its transmission has been private, silent, consciously sent and received in real time. After three questions, the game is completed.
posted by f.sheikh