Microsoft wants to patent mind control Microsoft has applied to patent a brain control interface, so you'll be able to "think" your way around a computer device, hands free. Last year, Facebook claimed to have 60 engineers engaged in BCI [brain computer interface] but Microsoft isn't going to take this sitting down. It's erm, sitting down and thinking really hard …
Given the signal before action scenario has been known about for ages (and, ability to predict an action before person consciously aware of it led to lots of badly thought out free will arguments) then how can this patent be granted?
And, as for the general idea, umpteen SF books / stories full of the ideas of people using their mind to control machines of various types.
I can do crude mind control.
I say the word "Microsoft"
90% of people exposed to MS software think "*******" or similar expletive.
This again?
The US Patent Office is not supposed to test for novelty or anything else. US law says that you get a patent for filling in the form. The idea is that it is only worth something if it later stands up to challenge in court. Sadly, that last bit doesn't really work, not least because every other PO on the planet is apparently stupid enough to treat a US patent *as though it had already been tested and found valid*.
The system has been like this for 20 years and apparently every legislator on the planet outside the US is too fucking stupid to realise that the US no longer checks patents at the time of issue.
Microsoft wants to patent mind control
I have exclusive patent for my mind, includes controlling it. I filed for it some 40+ years ago and got it and its universal. I shall release the patent to public domain upon the moment of my death. Meanwhile, slurp and all the other similar clusterfucks can go **** themselves in the ******* eyesocket.
"I filed for it some 40+ years ago and got it and its universal."
I think there are quite a number of neuroscientists who would be *very* interested to read that patent.
Also, if you ever need a million or so, you could tip off the Nobel committee. I doubt there would be any serious challengers.
Surely this sort of interfacing is going to require an unfeasible number of "Are you really sure you want to do this?" dialogue boxes! Together with some "Are you really, really, really sure you want to do this?" - for the absent-minded and downright malicious. I mean thoughts travel so much faster than clumpy fingers on a keyboard etc.
Reminds me of a conversation with a colleague:
Me: Wouldn't it be cool if we could invent artificial telepathy by, like, encoding our thoughts, sending them to each other somehow and then decoding them?
Him: So you mean speech?
Me: ...err!
It featured in SF a whole lot earlier than that.
MS's patent will be for something more specific than described in the article. And of course unreadable to anyone who isn't a patent lawyer, like for example the patent's author.
From within MS, Eric Brechner once wrote:
When using existing libraries, services, tools, and methods from outside Microsoft, we must be respectful of licenses, copyrights, and patents. Generally, you want to carefully research licenses and copyrights (your contact in Legal and Corporate Affairs can help), and never search, view, or speculate about patents. I was confused by this guidance till I wrote and reviewed one of my own patents. The legal claims section—the only section that counts—was indecipherable by anyone but a patent attorney. Ignorance is bliss and strongly recommended when it comes to patents.
There IS a reason Slashdot had the "Bill Gates the Borg" symbol (from Star Trek Voyager) next to every Microsoft news.
Here is a screenshot: http://www.desiringmachine.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/pink_slashdot.jpg
another pic: http://images.slideplayer.com/23/6637328/slides/slide_29.jpg
So, they can't make an ordinary microphone that's worked properly before Windows 10 be compatible with Windows 10, but they expect to be able to do mind control - something that has proven significantly more difficult over a far longer period of time.
How do they plan to segregate out things like the mind wandering when people are working, or that context switch when the hottie from the office walks down the corridor and you stop thinking about work and wish you were a few years younger again..
The only positive thing is that with all that telemetry, they will be able to see first hand how much people hate Windows 10 and the Ribbon.
I really do consider Facebook to be the antichrist. A company founded on immoral grounds for immoral purposes by a visionless bloke based on awful technology (the UX is a disaster) used by obese women in McDonald's whose kids sit stuffing themselves with cancer causing fried carbs, whilst guys sit around tables in pubs on FB instead of talking to each other, and FB continues to exploit people's weaknesses and addictions all for profit. And now they want to read your mind. Well, the tin foil protected mind boggles.
Just, NO! #ffs
DARPA/military intelligence have mastered the use of mind control many decades ago and they can do it remotely. What you may not know is that they are secretly using it against certain members of the public, targeted individuals. It is used in conjunction with another illegal program they are behind called organized stalking.
Do a web search for "NSA whistleblower Karen Stewart" for more information.
What is discussed is a patent application. It is not granted. And the application is not just for controlling things with the mind in general but a specific method for doing it. The key seems to be first mapping continuous motion control from many users and later fine tuning the mapping for each specific users.
And a quick check shows that there is a lot of prior art out there so it will not be smooth sailing for Microsoft. And Microsoft has itself brought up more than 50 different prior art documents.
No Office Action issued in the US yet, though the Written Opinion for the international application is out and it is quite negative. Chances are this application will sink.
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