Ever wish you could read somebody’s mind? Better yet, ever think it would be nifty (or terrifying, on the other hand) to be able to both read and receive telepathic communication, directly via “brain to brain” interface? Now, science has helped bring us one step closer to doing so in a practical way that incorporates binary coding and existing EEG technology.

True, this isn’t exactly “new” technology (for instance, DARPA ihas planned to use this sort of technology to aid in developing prosthetic limbs that are movable in response to to neural commands). However, in this next step in utilizing mechanical benefits from the technology’s practical application, Dr. Christopher James at the University of Southampton has used BCI (brain-computer interface) to illustrate how people can communicate with what he dubs “true brain-to-brain interfacing.”

By hooking up two individuals to EEG amplifiers that monitor specific brain activity, one person initiates “contact” by generating a series of zeros and ones by merely imagining they are moving their left or right arm for zeros or ones respectively. Recognizing the thoughts in this binary code system, the person’s computer then transmits the series of ones and zeros being generated to a second participant’s computer, which causes an LED light to blink at two different frequencies similarly corresponding to one and zero.

Similar to the recognition used in the binary function, the second person’s EEG uses information “recorded” by the subject’s visual cortex as it perceives the flashing LED, translating it back into binary code. “Brain-to-brain communication” is achieved without the use of language or direct active communication such as typing, etc.

Although this process certainly can be qualified a “hands free,” will humans ever master the art of brain-to-brain communication without the aid of machines? I guess many of us awaiting the release of the upcoming film Men Who Stare At Goats, based on the military work of Colonel John Alexander, might suppose that serious attention as been given to such studies in the past, and that covert government remote-viewing programs have in the past existed–and may still be in operation to this day. Still, it seems that the notion of breeding “psychic super-warriors” eludes us in totality, and no “quick fixes” for this particular brain function yet exist. In the meantime, we are relegated to playing hop-skip-and-jump with binary code and brainwaves, but nonetheless, greater things have stemmed from things so seemingly basic–or in the case of this specific coding language–binary.