[WT Sharpe]

True telepathy, found in science-fiction and fantasy novels, is not possible without outside assistance. As we know, the brain is electrical. In general, anytime an electron is accelerated, it gives off electromagnetic radiation. The same holds true for electrons oscillating inside the brain, which broadcasts radio waves. But these signals are too faint to be detected by others, and even if we could perceive these radio waves, it would be difficult to make sense of them. Evolution has not given us the ability to decipher this collection of random radio signals, but computers can.

It's because of the increase in computing power coupled with our increased understanding of the mechanics of the mind gleamed from MRIs, CAT scans, EEGs, and other brain-probing methods that we can now relay simple messages from a brain in one country to a brain in another without verbalization. The messages are as crude and unsophisticated as our understanding of the mechanics involved, but the science is in its infancy. I've long envisioned the day when people will be able to communicate via implants in their skulls. The author goes one further and speaks of injecting nanotubes into the tissue of the brain via the bloodstream which will allow for a quantum interface with an external device such as a brain net.

DARPA, of course, has been at the forefront of these developments.

On another occasion, a group of DARPA physicists and engineers came to a talk I gave about the future of technology. Later I asked them if they had any concerns of their own. One concern, they said, was their public image. Most people have never heard of DARPA, but some link it to dark, nefarious government conspiracies, everything from UFO cover-ups, Area 51, and Roswell to weather control, etc. They sighed. If only these rumors were true, they could certainly use help from alien technology to jump-start their research!

Traditional modes of telepathy (non-computer assisted) have long been disparaged by scientists, partly because investigations into people who claim the ability have failed to pan out in the laboratory, and partly for lack of a mechanism whereby it could function as traditionally described. Echoing Einstein's main objections to ESP, the author says,

But magnetic fields diminish much faster than the square of the distance. Most signals decrease by the cube or quartic of the distance, so if you double the distance from an MRI machine, the magnetic field goes down by a factor of eight or more.) Furthermore, there would be interference from the outside world, which would mask the faint signals coming from the brain. This is one reason why scientists require strict laboratory conditions to do their work, and even then they are able to extract only a few letters, words, or images from the thinking brain at any given time. The technology is not adequate to record the avalanche of thoughts that often circulate in our brain as we simultaneously consider several letters, words, phrases, or sensory information, so using these devices for mind reading as seen in the movies is not possible today, and won’t be for decades to come.

But when the day comes that such thought transference becomes a reality for the masses, the author isn't too worried about privacy concerns.

Similarly, a telepathy shield would consist of thin metal foil placed around the brain.

It's comforting to know that a simple tin-foil hat would act as a Faraday cage to shield us from inquiring minds. Not to mention the protection they offer from invasive mind probes from groups like DARPA!