http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/telepathy-is-now-possible-using-current-technology/ar-AA7jWUfResearchers at the University of Washington just showed that two people could work together telepathically to play a video game.
One player could control another player's hand with his thoughts
How did that work? One of the subjects could see the game, but had no controller. His partner had a controller, but couldn't see the game. The researchers basically created a way to allow one person to control another person's hand just by thinking about it.
It's pretty impressive — although the experiment doesn't quite mean we're on the cusp of being able to read each other's minds. For one, what is essentially a twitch of a hand isn't exactly the same as sharing ideas, thoughts, or dreams.
This telepathy research could end up being largely useless — or it could be what everyone is doing in a few decades. Here's what you need to know about recent advances in telepathy research:
How the telepathic video game experiment worked
Two people are cooperating to play a game that involves firing a canon at targets. Person A can see the game, but has no controller. Person B has a controller, but can't see the game. So Person A needs some way to tell Person B how to play.
Here's how it worked: When Person A wanted to make a move in the game, he simply thought about moving his hand. His brain signals were picked up by a cap of electrodes on his head and sent off to Person B — who was about half a mile away. There, an electromagnet beamed signals into the area of Person B's brain that controls hand movement. This stimulation automatically made Person B's hand move, touching a touchpad that controlled the game.
All in all, the communication took a split second. Participants successfully clicked when they were supposed to about 25 to 83 percent of the time, depending on the pair of people involved.
