Good news, live forever fans! The technology that will one day allow it to be possible for us to be fully functioning cerebral cortexes floating in briny jars is one step closer, thanks to intrepid NASA researchers who have figured out a way to translate thought into speech.

In order to aid astronauts and deep sea divers communicate, Charles Jorgensen has developed a parser that records the tiny electromagnetic frequencies that you send to your throat when you think words to yourself. A computer then compares these electromagnetic signals with a statistical algorithm that compares the output against a database of signals that have been recorded when subjects speak aloud. Then, in an inhuman robot voice, the words you just thought to yourself atonally eminate from a speaker.

Although the technology is still Dragon-Naturally-Speaking unpredictable, Jorgensen is confident that it has very cool consumer applications. He mentions cell phones that you can use to silently talk to your friends at the movie theater, and envisions a world where everyone wears turtlenecks sporting the computer chips. And, of course, the nightmarish Orwellian dystopia potential is equally impressive. Finally! A government that can prosecute you simply for thinking the wrong thing!

The Silent Speaker [Forbes]

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