Facebook wants to build a mind-reading wristband

Facebook wants to know what you’re going to do before you do it, and the company is well on its way toward making that (admittedly creepy) dream a reality. 

Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s vice president of VR and AR, announced Monday the acquisition of “neural interface platform” CTRL-labs. The stated goal of the acquisition is to build a wristband that “captures your intention” by reading electrical signals sent through your body. 

It’s all in the ostensible name of “empowering you with control over your digital life,” and, coming from a company that has repeatedly misled users regarding matters of privacy and personal data, sounds a tad bit sketchy. 

Today we’re thrilled to share that Facebook has agreed to acquire CTRL-labs. Our team is excited to join @boztank and his group Facebook Reality Labs to empower people with non-invasive neural interfaces at scale. http://bit.ly/2l1rcmK

— CTRL-labs (@CTRLlabsCo) September 23, 2019

However, let’s allow the good Bosworth an opportunity to explain the vision himself. 

“You have neurons in your spinal cord that send electrical signals to your hand muscles telling them to move in specific ways such as to click a mouse or press a button,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “The wristband will decode those signals and translate them into a digital signal your device can understand, empowering you with control over your digital life.”

Because control over your digital life definitely equals letting Facebook decode and interpret your body’s electrical signals. 

But wait, there’s more. Bosworth continued that the benefit of this technological breakthrough will be … easier photo sharing? 

A wristband featured on CTRL-labs’s website.

“It captures your intention so you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to,” he explained. 

The Menlo Park based company, of course, has talked a big mind-reading game before. Facebook first announced its plans to peer into the fleshy grey matter depths of your skull way back in 2017. And just this past July, Facebook gave a public update on its plans to “decode silent speech” with some sort of brain interface. 

Facebook clearly felt it needed to bring in additional hired guns to make its bizarre privacy-obliterating dream a reality. Here’s hoping that CTRL-labs adds a little self-awareness to the mix. 

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