Head Space

In the transcript from the interview titled "Head Space", Clive Thompson reveals to Brooke Gladstone the issues with hypersonic sound projections. Hypersonic sound projections are targeted sound waves that are heard directly inside the head of a specified individual, but remain unheard by other surrounding individuals. In the case of this interview, Mr. Thompson is talking about a billboard on Prince Street in New York City where the television station A&E was promoting a new show on the paranormal experience. While in this case the sound being targeted at passerby's is 'just' a loud, disturbing noise, Mr. Thompson is quick to point out many of the issues that would come with increased technology, such as but not limited to hypersonic sound projections, that would essentially destroy the personal privacy that people have to their own thoughts and emotions. One of the more disturbing issues with this new technology is its ability to violate unassuming individuals and have knowledge of whether or not that individual was lying. As the example is given, large quantities of individuals could be analyzed in settings such as airports without their consent or even without notification that they are being subjected to such screening. While we as a society have been raised to believe lying is bad and that we should not partake in such behavior, we still should have the ability (and moral conscience) to control when, where, and to whom we lie to without being outed by airport security. Take for example the question of "Did you pack your own bags?" I assume this is a question that most business men commonly answer 'yes' to without even consciously thinking that it was actually their wives who packed their bags. Perhaps they would experience unknown 'mental anguish' before answering (how the lie is to be detected by infrared beams) and the airport security will potentially assume that each one of these business men is a common terrorist. More questions of how to safeguard our privacy need to be answered before public spaces can be used to infiltrate our head space.