At some future point, will it really be possible for us to communicate through simply thinking, rather than speaking? Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has recently publicly expressed his belief that it will – and that it will be technology that makes this mainstay of science fiction a reality at last.
During an online question-and-answer session conducted on Facebook yesterday, Zuckerberg stated: “One day, I believe we’ll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You’ll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you’d like”.
Guardian technology journalist Stuart Dredge has remarked that, though the social networking website’s interest in telepathy will, in some people’s eyes, be a big step forward for digital communications, for other people, it could pose serious questions regarding Facebook’s handling of data collected using telepathy technology. These questions, he elaborates, could include how the social media site will protect the data from surveillance agencies or ring-fence it from advertisers.