Zhodani without Psi

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I can't see how one could really read minds with realistic technology. Stream of consciousness even when fully subvocalized is near gibberish to anyone else.

I did some thinking, more than a decade ago, about various forms of machine aided pseudo-psi (eventually, with great skill, doable even without machines), using subliminal communications and so forth. One of the ideas I had was that you'd "test" someone who exposing him or her to a subliminal stimuli, and noting the reaction (physiology and so forth). In theory, it'd be possible to "interrogate" someone that way, by showing them things that they are expected to react to in one particular fashion if they are good citizens, and so if they fail to react correctly in several cases, you know you've caught a thought-criminal.

If you can also measure brain wave patterns, when you do this kind of interrogation, then it becomes at least less implausible. It also helps if you can put the "subliminal" stimuli directly into the brain, instead of having to place it internally and then rely upon the senses to pick it up and subsequently on the subconscious mind to notice it.