HomeThe BrainFuture of Lie Detection

A Layperson's View of Future Technology and Society

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Brain Frees

This image is not an actual lie detection scan

Powerful lie detection tools may someday surpass the accuracy of the polygraph and permanently change how suspects are convicted -- and freed.

Imagine, a suspect is read words related to a crime while their brain is being scanned. A computer analyzes the data and informs the examiner if the suspect's memory holds information about the crime that only the perpetrator could know. The suspect would not even have to speak, for the examiner to know if the subject has exclusive knowledge of the crime. The guilty could be clearly identified and the innocent would be set free.

It's not science fiction. The technology and knowledge to scan your brain for the truth is already here and it is improving rapidly. Today, using current technology, a government can know with 90% accuracy if the person they are holding in custody is a spy. And it is available to the public. Finding out what happened in Vegas is now as easy as getting your spouse to lie down on an examination bed. (hint: tell them it's a massage table.)

I sincerely hope that when this technology arrives, it is offered as a choice, like our current lie detection methods, for the accused to be cleared of a crime--and the results are never revealed to a jury.

How will brain scan technology change society and our legal systems? Clearly, public debate concerning the proper use of lie detection technologies is needed to raise concerns about their premature and inappropriate use.


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Lie Detection Articles, Blogs and Web Sites

All Links open in a new window. Bold = Recommended. Links do not imply endorsement

Lie Detection Articles
Title Source Date
Reading Terrorists Minds About Imminent Attack Northwestern University 07/10
Brain scanners can tell what you're thinking about NewScientist 10/09
Invention: Infrared lie detector NewScientist 09/08
The future of lying BBC News 09/08
Climbing Inside The Criminal Mind Sarah Dale 12/06
Brain on Fire Washington Post 10/06
The Future of Lie Detecting NPR audio 06/06
Brain-Scan Lie Detectors Coming in Near Future Fox News 01/06
How brain scans are reinventing the science of lie detection Wired 01/06
The future of lying BBC News 01/05
Brain Fingerprinting PBS 11/04
Lie-detector glasses offer peek at future of security EE Times 01/04

 

Lie Detection Web Sites and Blogs
Title Description
Cephos Corporation Lie detection services
No Lie MRI Truth verification technology

 

References
Article Sources
Brain Frees Article by futureforall.org
Image 1 (not an actual lie detection scan) was modified from Los Alamos National Library

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