Dangerous Thoughts

By John McDonnell

What will the world be like when we’re all wearing thought helmets?
Recently I read a report about “thought helmets”, which are devices the U.S. military is developing that will enable soldiers to communicate by sending thoughts to each other. Sensors inside these helmets scan electrical signals from the wearer’s brain and a microprocessor inside the helmet turns the signals into words that are then transmitted to a receiver’s hemet.
You can see how this would be useful in a military situation. Soldiers who are on stealth missions, such as sneaking up on an enemy camp at night, could communicate without making a sound. A soldier could direct his mates to avoid obstacles, spread out, get ready to attack, or any number of other messages, all at the speed of thought.
Things will really get interesting when these helmets are developed for consumer use -- and you know that will happen eventually.
Can you imagine a football team all communicating instantly about every play on the field? Or people at a business meeting exchanging thousands of thoughts an hour? Or the potential for fun at a party? It will bring a new dimension to social interaction.
Then again, what is communication going to be like when you can communicate at the speed of thought?
Most of us have a filter between our brain and our mouth, so that we don’t say everything that comes to mind. What happens when the filter is tossed aside? If you can think something and communicate it instantaneously, I can see problems. If we don’t have a chance to edit what we’re thinking, there could be some nasty arguments caused by those thought helmets.
Here are some classic cases where we don’t say the first thing we think, and imagine what would happen if you did.
Reporter to football coach: “How do you feel about losing 72 to 0?”
Reporter to player: “Is there anything you’d like to say to those people who booed you today?”
Boss to salesman: “Your sales results are down. It’s not because we raised our prices, right?”
Restaurant patron to waitress: “You expect a tip for this service?”
Used car salesman to customer: “Would you believe me if I told you this vehicle was hardly ever used?  
Parent to teacher: “Isn’t my Johnny the smartest student you ever had?”
Wife to husband: “Do these pants make my butt look too big?”
On reflection, maybe these thought helmets should be kept away from the public, like nuclear weapons. The potential for catastrophe is too great.