World History: 1500 - 2001

Caro

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Homeland Security Detects Terrorist Threats by Reading Your Mind


Most preventive screening looks for explosives or metals that pose a threat. But a new system called MALINTENT turns the old school approach on its head. This Orwellian-sounding machine detects the person — not the device — set to wreak havoc and terror.

MALINTENT, the brainchild of the cutting-edge Human Factors division in Homeland Security's directorate for Science and Technology, searches your body for non-verbal cues that predict whether you mean harm to your fellow passengers.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's cool that they have developed technology that advanced, but they need to be careful in its implementation. If they start accusing people who don't really have intentions to hurt others it would cause way more problems then it would solve.

Mr. Caro said...

Indeed Joseph! This sounds like a rather reductionist approach to the brain and intent!

joey mann said...

maybe its just me, but this sounds like something out of 1984... thoughtcrime perhaps?

Anonymous said...

I would like to see how this thing works. This could but innocent people in a bad place though. However, (if it really works) it could do a lot of good!
-Mona M.

Anonymous said...

I meant put lol.
-Mona

Mr. Caro said...

It is without a doubt dangerous!

Anonymous said...

Talk about no privacy! haha

That's kind of cool though that technology has gotten that advanced, but it seems that it would have flaws. Can we really trust technology to detect is someone is a terrorist or not?

tiffany. said...

Whoa, this is cool. But, would it really work?

tiffany quach.

Anonymous said...

No way, there's no way you can tell who is going to cause harm to others or not, and even if there was how would you tell the difference between a plan and a desire, there's a huge gap between thinking about something and acting on something. Just cause someone has a brief feeling of anger doesn't mean there planning on bringing the plane down. What if the dude just got off the phone with his ex-wife and all she did was nag him about his child-care check, that type of anger could possibly throw up a red flag on this machine and turn into a big mistake. There's no way of trusting a machine when there's no positive answer to me.

Maybe I don't know enough about it but from what I do know it sort of sounds like an invasion of privacy no matter how crucial it can be.

Mr. Caro said...

Adam,

What if someone was just playing a video game of blowing things up etc. The corresponding mirror neurons may still be activated when the person travels through the scanner.

No doubt that this is an invasion of privacy. The Brave New World is upon us I fear!

Mr. Caro said...

Tiffany,

There is reason to think it is not real in its technology.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like such an amazing idea if it actually were to work!
Except if it didn't catch somebody who really WAS intending to hurt other people and then got way out of control

Mr. Caro said...

Amy,

I guess all technology can have a light and dark side to it.

Anonymous said...

Mr. C!
Were we supposed to do the HW on a JAS form.

Mr. Caro said...

Rachael!

Nope! No JAS required.

Anonymous said...

This is pretty cool, but they could start accusing the wrong people if they aren't careful.

Jonathan Simele

luangrath said...

It's like that movie, Minority Report.

Sort of..

Anonymous said...

Wow! Talk about new age technology. I wouldn't ever have thought it possible. Of course, that thought just increases my suspicions of the reliability of it...

Anonymous said...

One problem I see is that people who would never carry out such a plan might just be thinking about it due to having a bad day or something like that. Just because you're thinking it doesn't mean you're going to do it.

Mr. Caro said...

Good points. I can see the courts really loving these cases as law suits are filed.

Anonymous said...

Even if this works, I can't say im thrilled about the government being able to basically read our minds. I think that this would lead to an abuse of power. Its very "Minority Report". (good movie by the way)

-Ahron D.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't a nervous person or someone like that fall victim to this test? Im anxious to see the advancements they could make on this though.