Technology is advancing fast these days. Some people feel like they cannot keep up with the rapid advance of modern technology. This is an understandable feeling considering the diversity of new forms of technology that researchers are currently developing. If you happen to be critical of the unchecked advancements in technology occurring in these modern times, then you probably do not want to hear about “mind control technology”. Student researchers in China have developed a brain-to-brain interface technique. This technology allows a person’s brain to communicate directly to another subject’s brain. The technique is comparable to mind control, as a mere thought from one person can influence the behavior of another subject. Brain-to-brain interface technology allows for communication to take place without ever having to open one’s mouth. Luckily, this technology cannot be used to influence human behavior, yet. At the moment, this technique is being used to control cockroaches. This technique works by fitting a human with a headset device and attaching it to a computer. The computer interprets the human’s thoughts into commands that a roach follows. This technique has already been used to successfully control a cockroach’s movements.
After hooking a human and a cockroach up to an interface computer, a roach can be made to travel in a path shaped like the letter “S” and the letter “Z”. To put it simply, the interface technique allows humans to control a roach’s movements with nothing but their own will.
Students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University fitted a volunteer with a special Bluetooth electroencephalogram (EEG) headset. The volunteer then thought about moving in an “S” shape. The brainwaves produced from this thought were translated by a computer into electrical signals that were sent to a roach’s brain, thus forcing the roach to move in an “S” shape. The purpose of this study is to use mind control to direct certain insects into disaster zones. However, the students who developed this technology believe that it could also be useful for mapping out complex or inaccessible terrains.