precognition

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a number of technologies that tap into the brain's ability to detect threats before the conscious mind is able to process the information.

Imagine a world of streets lined with video cameras that alert authorities to any suspicious activity. A world where police officers can read the minds of potential criminals and arrest them before they commit any crimes. A world in which a suspect who lies under questioning gets nabbed immediately because his brain has given him away. Though that may sound a lot like the plot of the 2002 movie "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise and based on a Philip K. Dick novel, I'm not talking about science fiction here; it turns out we're not so far away from that world. But does it sound like a very safe place, or a very scary one?

Long before you decided to read this story, your brain may have already said "click that link". By scanning the brains of test subjects as they pressed one button or another – though not a computer mouse – researchers pinpointed a signal that divulged the decision about seven seconds before people ever realised their choice. The discovery has implications for mind-reading, and the nature of free will.

Doctors, teachers and social workers will be told to act as informers to identify potential violent offenders for monitoring by the police and other agencies. Ministers hope that by spotting binge-drinkers, drug addicts and young gang members early before they commit serious crimes they can be placed on a national database and steered away from offending behaviour.

Scientists have developed a machine which is capable of reading our mind and revealing our most private thoughts. American researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, found that, with the aid of a sophisticated scanner and computer programme, they were able to determine how the brain lights up when thinking about different subjects.

A "Minority Report" security system that can remotely screen thousands of air passengers for any who are planning a terrorist attack is being developed in the US. The aim of Project Hostile Intent is to find a way of catching would-be terrorists when they are just thinking of committing a crime. A battery of lasers, cameras, eye trackers and microphones would be used to spot tiny changes in facial expression, pulse, perspiration, and gait that give away "current or future hostile intentions".