Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Facebook is one step closer to reading your mind. The social media giant has become one step closer to developing a working brain-computer interface, capable of reading users’ thoughts.

CNBC reported that Facebook has taken yet another step in developing its brain-computer interface, with the company’s Reality Labs division working alongside researchers from the University of California, San Francisco to develop a device that can decode speech directly from the human brain onto a screen. A new report published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that researchers are becoming closer than ever to connecting human brains directly to computers.

Researchers reportedly worked with three patients currently undergoing treatment for epilepsy in order to develop the device. The patients had electrodes implanted into their brains and researchers will spend the next year testing the technology. Researchers from UCSF stated that the findings of the research could help to give patients that are unable to speak due to severe brain injuries a new way to communicate. –Breitbart News

Researchers have claimed that successful trials are more likely to be used as part of Facebook’s efforts to develop augmented reality glasses.

Today we’re sharing an update on our work to build a non-invasive wearable device that lets people type just by imagining what they want to say. Our progress shows real potential in how future inputs and interactions with AR glasses could one day look. https://t.co/ilk192GwAR — Boz (@boztank) July 30, 2019

“It’s currently bulky, slow, and unreliable,” Facebook said. “But the potential is significant, so we believe it’s worthwhile to keep improving this state-of-the-art technology over time.”

Many other Silicon Valley companies are also researching computer-brain interfaces, with Elon Musk’s firm Neuralink working on a similar project.

Musk claimed at a recent event that the company expects to start human trials before the end of 2020. Facebook is quickly jumping into artificial intelligence and mind reading at a time when humanity is quickly approaching “singularity.” or the point of no return when it comes to machine learning.

Father Of Artificial Intelligence: ‘Singularity Is Less Than 30 Years Away’

Singularity is the point in time when humans can create an artificial intelligence machine that is smarter. Ray Kurzweil, Google’s chief of engineering, says that the singularity will happen in 2045. Louis Rosenberg claims that we are actually closer than that and that the day will be arriving sometime in 2030. MIT’s Patrick Winston would have you believe that it will likely be a little closer to Kurzweil’s prediction, though he puts the date at 2040, specifically. –SHTFPlan

Kurzweil has said that the work happening right now “will change the nature of humanity itself.” He said robots “will reach human intelligence by 2029 and life as we know it will end in 2045.” There is a risk that technology will overtake humanity and make human society irrelevant at best and extinct at worst.