Is it really possible to understand another person’s mind?
November 2023
Technically speaking, neuroscientists have been able to read your mind for decades. It’s not easy. First, you will have to lie still inside the fMRI scanner, perhaps for several hours, while watching a movie or listening to an audiobook.
If you choose to endure a claustrophobic hour in the scanner, the software learns to create a personalized reconstruction of what you were seeing or hearing by analyzing the way blood passes through your brain.
Recently, researchers have deployed generative AI tools like Stable Diffusion and GPT to reconstruct movies and podcasts based on neural activity in a much more realistic, if not entirely accurate, way. So how close are we to true “mind reading”? Read the full story.
—Grace Huckins
We can still have good things
A space for comfort, enjoyment, and concentration that will brighten your day. (Any ideas? call me or come at me.)
+ Of course, The Cure’s Robert Smith is an iPod fanatic.
+ Japan is associated with sophisticated minimalism, but there is always room for a bit of clutter.
+ Meet the people who hand-spread 3,000 pounds of confetti in New York’s Times Square every New Year’s Eve and then clean it all up.
+ How to start healthy habits and, crucially, stick to them. ($)
