Prospects, Promises and Perils of Human Mind-Reading
In recent years, several research groups have been able to infer the contents of subjects’ thoughts from fMRI scans. E-commerce sites are tracking customers’ purchases and making ever better predictions about what people will buy. What are the prospects for such technology to be widely used? Are there fundamental technical limitations?
We may readily imagine dystopian scenarios for such technology, where privacy as we have known it is no longer meaningful, and the powerful monitor the thoughts of everyone else. We may also imagine that therapists could better communicate with autistic or troubled people, or to detect incipient mental illness.
Join us for Dr. Reimer’s lecture on Wednesday, November 29, 2017 from noon till 1 pm in person or online.
Mark Reimers, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Neuroscience Program in the College of Natural Science at Michigan State University. Dr. Reimers’ research focuses on analyzing and interpreting the very large data sets now being generated in neuroscience, especially from the high-throughput technologies developed by the BRAIN initiative. He obtained his MSc in scientific computing, and his PhD in probability theory from the University of British Columbia in Canada. He has worked at Memorial University in Canada, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, at several start-up companies in Toronto and in Boston, at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics in Richmond, and since January 2015 in the Neuroscience Program at Michigan State University.
In person: This lecture will take place in C102 East Fee Hall on MSU’s East Lansing campus. Feel free to bring your lunch! Beverages and light snacks will be provided.
Online: Here are some instructions for your first time joining the webinar, or if you have attended or viewed them before, go to the meeting!
Can’t make it? All webinars are recorded! Visit our archive of recorded lectures. To receive reminders before each webinar, please subscribe to our mailing list.
The Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University is proud to announce the 2017-2018 Bioethics Brownbag & Webinar Series, featuring a wide variety of bioethics topics. The fall series will begin on September 13, 2017. You are invited to join us in person or watch live online from anywhere in the world! Information about the fall series is listed below. Please 
Expanded Carrier Screening for an Increasingly Diverse Population: Embracing the Promise of the Future or Ignoring the Sins of the Past?
Crossing the Biology to Pathobiology Threshold: Distinguishing Precision Health from Precision Medicine
MSU Bioethics 