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Blake, Wm. Job's Evil Dreams. 1821.

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Neuroscientists are sounding the alarm on new devices that can quite literally read the thoughts of the wearer, emphasizing unintended consequences like mental surveillance.

For example, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin successfully created a brain-computer interface in 2020 that can translate brain waves into text. When they realized the device was actually reading their thoughts, they were in disbelief.

"Holy shit," said neuroscientist Alexander Huth. "This is actually working."

There have been reports since 2017 of other researchers creating devices that achieve a similar result. In January 2023, for instance, a team of Stanford scientists claimed to have tested a new brain-computer interface that can analyze brain activity and decode speech at up to 62 words per minute.

To address concerns of surveillance, some experts have started proposing “neurorights,” or the right to mental privacy.

"The loss of mental privacy, this is a fight we have to fight today," said Columbia neuroscientist Rafael Yuste. “That could be irreversible. If we lose our mental privacy, what else is there to lose? That’s it, we lose the essence of who we are."

Yuste founded an organization in 2017 dedicated to this mission. So far, the group has helped pass a constitutional amendment in Chile and petitioned the UN.