However, while the technology may have significant implications in diagnosis, the company's ultimate goal is to potentially facilitate telepathy in the coming years. According to Openwater founder Mary Lou Jepsen, she has found a way to replicate the functionality of magnetic resonance imaging into a wearable item in the form of a hat. Jepsen noted that by shrinking the MRI technology, the hat may one day literally become a "thinking cap." However, the tech firm founder noted that the main hurdle remains to be communication with thought.
How Openwater's "thinking cap" would operate
Compared with MRI that uses magnetic fields and radio waves to take images of organs, Openwater's technology makes use of infrared light to scan the brain and different parts of the body. The technology uses body temperature detectors and LCDs with pixels small enough to generate reconstructive holographic images to allow scanning at MRI resolution.
The LCDs, being developed by the company, are slated to perform systematic or selective brain and body scans. In addition, the LCDs may also be used in reverse to focus light on a specific area in the body. Moreover, the technology may also allow for uploading, downloading and non-invasive augmentation of memories, thoughts and emotions.
The company announced that a limited number of prototype hats are to be released next year. Jensen noted that the technology will facilitate innovation and application in various fields. According to Jensen, filmmakers could potentially download their dreams, while product designers could download their concepts and send them to a 3-D printer.
Discussing the concept of telepathy, Jensen pointed out that such a phenomenon may call for ethical implications.
"Elon Musk is talking about silicon nanoparticles pulsing through our veins to make us sort of semi-cyborg computers. I've been working and trying to think and invent a way to do this for a number of years and finally happened upon it and left Facebook to do it. Can the police make you wear such a hat? Can the military make you wear such a hat? Can your parents make you wear such a hat? We have to answer these questions, so we're trying to make the hat only work if the individual wants it to work, and then filtering out parts that the person wearing it doesn't feel it's appropriate to share," Jepsen told CNBC.com.
Openwater's "thinking cap" concept is not the first one to look at the probability of telepathic communication. Elon Musk's California-based company Neuralink is currently working on a technology designed to link the human brain with a machine interface by way of micron-sized devices. The technology is slated to work by implanting tiny brain electrodes that may upload and download thoughts in the future.
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