In all of the hustle and bustle of modern society, technology’s ever increasing involvement in our daily lives is bringing forth new issues and concerns. Most notably, there is a certain level of privacy that we have seem to be losing with these changes. Facebook, along with other popular platforms used for social media, seem to receive a lot of criticism in these areas.
Can Facebook read my mind?
Social media has created a new way for people to share their lives. While it has been praised as a useful tool that has gone above and beyond, it also sparked a huge debate among the general population. It offers a new way for people to share what’s going on in their lives -which is not necessarily a good thing. Nowadays you can’t really expect that you will be able to go out to a party or even a school event without a picture being taken or a status being made. It is becoming harder for you to live your life without sharing it. Even though we always have the option to refrain from or limit social media exposure, it is likely that we know someone who can’t or aren’t aware of the data we are freely giving away ourselves.
Privacy on Facebook
As of right now, Facebook has likely gathered a significant amount of your data. Beyond your basic things and contact information that they got from you right in the beginning, they probably managed to get a lot more than just your birthday out of it. Even with privacy settings in place and limiting your posts, Facebook has already found a way to get that information. If you still aren’t sure what I am referring to, have you ever taken a close look at your ads? Have you ever wondered how out of all of the ads on the internet, these are the ones that got to you? Well, it isn’t coincidence. Facebook has a method in which they can target you by monitoring all of your activity. Even without sharing or posting everything, every follow, search, and like you do gives Facebook something to work off of. If you have prided yourself on keeping your profile to the bare minimum, even being reluctant to disclose basic information, you still aren’t free from the eyes of Facebook. Facebook has connections with many other websites -from other social media platforms to stores. Absolutely any information you disclose online has the possibility to end up in the hands of Facebook. Those who have limited online information will give targeted using information obtained through a screening of their online friends -which is surprisingly accurate. This makes it easy to explain how Facebook knows what kids of ads will entice you most and are often related to a recent search of yours. While this is alarming to many people and certainly constitutes as a bit of a breach of privacy, Facebook is taking “reading your mind” in a bit more literal direction.
Facebook is building mind-reading technology
Aside from having an incredibly accurate ability send you the perfect ad, Facebook is just using fancy algorithms to exploit the information you are giving to them. The site cannot literally read minds -yet. Facebook is currently trying to find a for you to be able to type directly from your brain.
Facebook executive Regina Dugan said that Facebook aims to create a non-invasive technology that is able to type 100 words per minute without the need for any kind of keyboard or voice command. While the technology is still a long shot at the moment, Dugan believes that there is evidence in research that suggests this technology is reachable.
This is a pretty serious technology pitch from a company that is known for a sea of selfies and passive aggressive Facebook statuses, albeit revolutionary. The main focus of this issue isn’t whether or not it is obtainable, rather, whether it is something that the company should pursue. Seeing what the company is capable of doing with algorithms alone is unsettling for a lot of people, imagine the issues that would arise if they would actually be able to read your mind?
This technology is still at least “a few years away,” so we still have some time to decide whether or not this is something we really want. Are we approaching an even more innovated age or are technological advancements crossing the line?