Does Facebook develop technology for reading thoughts?

Dreams of Mark Zuckerberg about gadgets that allow people to read each other's thoughts and communicate through brain waves can be a reality.

Created by Facebook last year, Building 8's research division is working on developing a new technology that is very similar to mind-reading and telepathy from sci-fi movies. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that reading thoughts seems to be something of a fantasy field, this technology may appear surprisingly quickly, perhaps by the end of this decade.

Facebook's Building 8 group describes a hardware project using neuroimaging and electrophysiological data that will lead to the creation of the so-called "communication platform of the future".

What is the list of vacancies for the project?

In the project there is a vacancy for the doctor of philosophy in the field of neurobiology. He can help in the relevant work from its beginning to getting the final product, which should appear within two years. The project is also looking for an engineer who can develop algorithms for processing audio signals for the platform.

Facebook refused to go into details about the list of vacancies, but the 2015 commentary from Zuckerberg's executive director says that the company can indeed work on some kind of telepathic communication device that will be controlled by the brain.

"One day, I believe we can send thoughts to each other directly using technology," Zuckerberg said in June 2015. "You can think about something, and your friends will have the opportunity to immediately understand this, but only if you want."

"Non-Invasive Methods"

In another list of vacancies from the project, one remembers the position of an engineer who will be able to develop "new technologies for non-invasive neuroimaging" and "tactile technologies." Neuroimaging is the foremost field of science that uses various methods to scan and understand what is happening in the human brain, while tactile technology mimics the sense of contact with computers.

Facebook also appears to have received results in drawing up a brain map. Mark Chevillet, former head of the Applied Neuroscience Program at Johns Hopkins University, joined Facebook in September as "technical project manager", according to his profile on LinkedIn.

It is unclear what technologies could ultimately allow Facebook to implement this plan. In the past, the company tried to use headbands equipped with special sensors to measure certain brain signals, and it is possible that it can adopt such an approach.

This product will be a big step forward in computing and make Facebook the largest social network in the world, at the cutting edge of technology and science.

Increasing efforts

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has initiated the ambitious Moonshot projects responsible for the invention of everything from cars to medical care. But Facebook is stepping up its efforts, by recruiting Regina Dugan from Google in April 2016. She led the new team Building 8.

Now little is known about Building 8, except for its broad mission of developing hardware consumer products that contribute to the achievement of Facebook's mission of "connecting the world."

When Dugan was hired, Facebook commented that she would be responsible for creating "technologies that smoothly combine the physical and digital worlds."

Prior to her work in Google, Dugan was director of the US Advanced Defense Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The list of vacancies Building 8 describes this project as one that works with aggressive, fixed terms, with the wide use of partnerships in universities, small and large businesses.

Features of Building 8

The two-year deadline for many Building 8 projects assumes that the unit intends to work in the same way as Alphabet's X division, which, as is known, develops new products within fixed time periods before either closing them or using it as an independent business.

Building 8 has not yet officially announced any products, but these job listings show that they are starting to develop internal projects. In December, Facebook announced the cooperation between Building 8 and 17 universities in the field of scientific research.