Scientists around the world are racing to be the first to develop artificially intelligent algorithms that can see inside our minds.
世界各地的科学家都争相成为第一个开发人工智能算法的人，这些算法可以看清我们脑海中的景象。
The idea is not new: in the science fiction of the 1950s and 60s, crazed doctors were frequently seen putting weird contraptions on people’s heads to decipher their thoughts.
这个想法并不新鲜：在20世纪50年代和60年代的科幻小说中，疯狂的医生通过在人头上使用奇怪的装置来破译人们的想法，。
British TV serial Quatermass and the Pit – in which such a machine is used to translate the thoughts of alien invaders – is a prime example.
英国电视连续剧Quatermass和Pit - 就使用这种机器来翻译外星入侵者的想法 - 就是一个很好的例子。
Now reality is catching up with fantasy.
现在，现实正在赶上幻想。
In the past year, AI experts in China, the US and Japan have published research showing that computers can replicate what people are thinking about by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI) machines – which measure brain activity – linked to deep neural networks, which replicate human brain functions.
在过去的一年中，中国，美国和日本的AI专家发表的研究表明，计算机可以通过使用功能性磁共振成像（或fMRI）机器来复现人们的想法 - 功能磁共振成像（或fMRI）机器 - 可以测量大脑活动 - 与深度神经网络相联系，可以复现人类的大脑功能。
Is it telepathy?
这是心灵感应吗？
While headlines around the world have screamed out that AI can now read minds, the reality seems to be more prosaic.
尽管世界各地的头条新闻都呼吁人工智能现在可以阅读头脑，但现实似乎更加平淡无奇。
Computers are not yet able to anticipate what we think, feel or desire.
计算机还不能预测我们的想法，感受或愿望。
As science writer Anjana Ahuja remarked in the Financial Times, rather than telepathy, “a more accurate, though less catchy, description would be a ‘reconstruction of visual field’ algorithm”.
正如科学作家Anjana Ahuja在“金融时报”评论的那样，这不是心灵感应术，“一个更准确，但不那么容易上口的解释是，这是一个'视野重建'算法。
Most of the research so far has been aimed at deciphering images of what subjects are looking at or, in limited circumstances, what they are thinking about.
到目前为止，大部分研究的目的都是为了解读主体所看到的图像，或者在有限的情况下解读他们的想法。
Studies have previously focused on programs producing images based on shapes or letters they had been taught to recognize when viewed through subjects’ minds.
以前的研究主要集中观察人们的思维，通过程序产生形状或字母图像，这些字母和形状需要事先让人们学习。
However, in one recent piece of research, from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories and Kyoto University, scientists said that not only was a program able to decipher images it had been trained to recognize when people looked at them but: “our method successfully generalized the reconstruction to artificial shapes, indicating that our model indeed ‘reconstructs’ or ‘generates’ images from brain activity, not simply matches to exemplars.” In other words, it could decode and represent an image it had not been “trained” to see.
然而，最近在日本的ATR计算神经科学实验室和京都大学的一项研究中，科学家们说，经过训练的程序不仅能够解读认识人们看到的图像，而且：“我们的方法成功地重建了人脑的形状，这表明我们的模型确实“重建”或“生成”来自大脑活动的图像，而不是简单地与示例相匹配。“换句话说，它可以解码并表示它未被”训练“过的图像。
Think that sentence again?
再想一次这个句子？
Meanwhile, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in the US claim to have gone a step closer to real “mind reading” by using algorithms to decode brain signals that identify deeper thoughts such as “the young author spoke to the editor” and “the flood damaged the hospital”.
与此同时，美国卡内基梅隆大学的科学家声称，通过使用算法解码大脑信号来识别更深的想法，比如“the young author spoke to the editor”和“the flood damaged the hospital“。
The technology, the researchers say, is able to understand complex events, expressed as sentences, and semantic features, such as people, places and actions, to predict what types of thoughts are being contemplated.
研究人员说，这项技术能够理解复杂的事件，这些事件可以通过语句和语义特征表达（如人，地点和行为），该技术科以预测大脑正在思考什么想法。
Translated by me for English studying.The translation is not authorized.I will delete it if you (author or source website) think it is illegal.Please let me know.
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