Former Facebook, Oculus, and Google executive Mary Lou Jepsen recently founded a telepathy startup called OpenWater which is looking to develop non-invasive mind-reading tech that allows people to communicate with other individuals and computers through thoughts. The company may be able to launch its technology in as little as eight years, Lou Jepsen claims, adding that her invention is essentially a miniature magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine in the form of a ski hat. Her original goal was to create a more affordable solution for medical imaging, with conventional MRI machines being worth millions of dollars and thus not being accessible to everyone. Contemporary medical imaging solutions are also relatively expensive to maintain, which is another issue that OpenWater is looking to eliminate.
Lou Jepsen is a registered inventor of more than a hundred patents and her idea is also what led to the creation of OpenWater in 2016. The renowned engineer and former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reportedly designed a portable MRI machine on her own, though the first prototype of such a solution has yet to be manufactured. The reason why Lou Jepsen opted for making the technology behind magnetic resonance imaging more compact is because contemporary MRIs are already capable of reading someone’s thoughts, at least on a relatively basic level. Instead of doing so with radio waves and magnetic fields, her tech will rely on infrared light and analyze the flow of oxygen in a subject’s body, thus being significantly more affordable to manufacture. Provided that the concept manages to evolve, it could eventually allow for fully fledged telepathy.
Lou Jepsen isn’t the only innovator in the tech industry that is currently working on mind-reading solutions. Facebook recently demonstrated a “thought-to-text” service and Elon Musk’s latest startup is also looking to develop a thought-based communications platform with almost endless possibilities. While their technical backgrounds differ, all of the aforementioned companies have the same ultimate goal in mind – speeding up communication and evolving it past low-output solutions like talking and writing. An update on the advancements in this emerging field and related technologies may follow in the coming months.