Mind-reading Computers = Reality!

[jerry lazar]

KEEPING UP WITH SCIENCE...

Scientists have developed a computerised mind-reading technique which lets them accurately predict the images that people are looking at by using scanners to study brain activity.

The breakthrough by American scientists took MRI scanning equipment normally used in hospital diagnosis to observe patterns of brain activity when a subject examined a range of black and white photographs. Then a computer was able to correctly predict in nine out of 10 cases which image people were focused on. Guesswork would have been accurate only eight times in every 1,000 attempts.

Suggestion for mentalists: until this technology is commonplace (i.e. not just in hospitals but in homes), incorporate these facts into your patter, thus heightening "reality" of effect...

[Bob Farmer]

I developed a trick for David Ben that uses a mindreading computer. Weirdly, some time later, I was told by someone that they had seen a mindreading computer at a trade show and they then described to me David doing this trick. Of course, the person telling me this had no idea I was a magician and that I had the secret knowledge they were missing.

They claimed the computer worked because it had a software program that could recognize speech. Of course, I immediately shot that theory down by pointing out only "thoughts" were involved.

You can find the trick in David's excellent book TRICKS. It's "Alpha Faux" at pp. 95-97.

[John Carney]

Farmer,
For years I've been trying to warn people about mind reading computers...they thought I was crazy.

My solution........always wear a hat made of aluminum foil.

[Pete McCabe]

An old Macintosh running the "Orville" program could read minds. If there's an OS X version of that program I'd love to hear about it.

[mrgoat]

Pete

You could run it under rosetta?

Or

http://www.jbum.com/software.html

It's still there and has the source code. So if you know a developer, or one here can be bothered, should be possible to make an OSX version.

Or maybe the windows version will do you in the meantime. Yuck, windows. :)