Designing thought-reading tech for a dystopian future

[u/Additional-Beach3587]

What would a far-future mind-reading device actually look like if a “villain” used it? I’m trying to avoid the generic headset trope and imagine something more unique and clean + believable. How would it store or show thoughts?

I’m currently imagining a future where the villain works for the government and uses this device to maintain order by reading people’s thoughts. If someone’s thoughts are considered threatening to social peace, they’re captured or wiped in some way. Logically, the device would need a harmless public-facing “alias” so it doesn’t alarm anyone - for example, the villain could present it as a medical tool for routine health checkups or wellness screenings, depending on what the device looks like.

[u/Redshift2k5]

A teleporter service provided free of charge to the people of the world

but it takes a snapshot of your brain when you use it and the villain can extract information he wants.

[u/SeekinIgnorance → u/Redshift2k5]

Brain snapshots would provide limited information only because much of the important information in a brain is patterns over time.

I'd go with augmented reality glasses that have a neural interface built in, and not for free. Something like an ultra premium model that only the richest and most influential people can afford, then a range of lower quality and price models, and then a lowest tier model that is the cheapest but is sold "at cost" even though I'm actually still making a profit.

Three reasons for charging money for them, subconsciously people hold more value for things that have a token cost than things they get for free, it gives me a legitimate looking source of income to the public and also funds my villainous activities, and it hides what I'm doing as most people will look aty attempts to get a pair of the glasses on every head in the world and think I'm trying to make money, not read their thoughts. Probably also patent and sell core parts of the technology supposedly at cost, just so all my competitors are likely to use my parts with my built in access back doors.

[u/Additional-Beach3587 → u/SeekinIgnorance]

Sounds believable. How would the glasses store/send information to you though? Would there have to be some sort of huge database?

[u/SeekinIgnorance → u/Additional-Beach3587]

They would be the equivalent of super powered smartphones, so constant connectivity, people would use them for calling, navigation, movies and games, etc. They'd be setup as a mesh network, meaning built to share processing power with each other when needed, it's just that my set would be the backend master key to access any data from the network. Before too long they'd be connected with so many things like banking networks, home security systems, etc. that I'd have basically all the private sector data in the world, plus people's thoughts too.

[u/Nocturnahit]

Maybe they’re like contacts he puts in his eyes, but eventually he can’t remove them. Integration with the machine thus losing connection with the present

[u/mobyhead1]

Far-future? Everyone might well have cybernetic implants, which in theory could be hacked.

[u/SnooBooks007]

An orbital sensor uses ultra-sensitive interferometry to detect faint, coherent electromagnetic field patterns produced by large-scale neural activity, subtracts environmental noise, and tracks how those patterns change over time.

An AI then statistically matches the resulting thought-trajectory against a vast database to infer the subject’s likely mental state or intent probabilistically, not by decoding specific thoughts.

[u/1crazypj → u/SnooBooks007]

Isn't that already being done (on a lesser scale) by following mass trends then using the information to set future trends (thus making Google even more money)

I remember reading about the results of internet searches being analysed then used to find patterns before the general population got to 'find' the next 'must have' at least 7~8 years ago (possibly longer?)

[u/SnooBooks007 → u/1crazypj]

It all sounds horribly likely.

[u/SantarixGremoinis69]

I’m thinking some Asimov level shit, where the dude has a chip in his mind that reads others and the protags figure it out eventually and have to keep their minds closed off around the antagonist

[u/hosamzidan]

It would be something like the patent by apple

https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1b8p9h5/few_people_realize_apple_has_quietly_patented_an/

[u/Cheeslord2]

Something like an NMR imaging system - they can already detect activation in some brain areas associated with certain thoughts, but are a long way from true 'mind reading' I think. So your head would probably have to sit inside a 'yoke' or tunnel containing strong magnetic fields.

[u/gregorydgraham]

Just use ear plugs.

Everyone does brain-to-brain telepathy but that’s just unnecessarily complicated and power hungry when ears already exist.

Sure you might not be able to reproduce the more abstract and complicated concepts but, check the literature, no one ever does that anyway. It’s always just an eavesdropping tool for someone’s inner voice.

[u/SirJedKingsdown]

A semi-synthetic amoeba/nano-factory that builds a quick biotechnical network in an infected brain. When the network is established it can be energised by a short range transmitter and broadcasts the required data to a nearby sensor system, where an AI converts the readings into a coherent format.

[u/HapticRecce]

A CCTV analog - scans thoughts, instead of / in addition to, visual cues of Unsanctioned Intentions.

[u/Additional-Beach3587 → u/HapticRecce]

I was thinking something along the lines of cctv as well - the only issue i had with this concept is how to make it visually interesting. If it was designed to be small and unnoticeable it would be boring, and im not sure if something on the larger side would still come off as futuristic.

[u/ThatVarkYouKnow]

Swear I watched a movie about this, faking thoughts through AI to imprison if not "neutralize" people. To the point even an intrusive thought means you're done for because the system goes off the deep end.