This inventor is developing technology that could enable telepathy – CNBC

Instant transfer of thoughts would also speed up the innovation process. Imagine being a filmmaker or a writer and being able to download the dream you had last night. Or, she suggests, what if all you had to do was think of an idea for a new product, download your thought and then send the digital version of your thought to a 3-D printer?

"That makes our iteration cycle so much faster," says Jepsen.

Jepsen is not the only one dreaming of communication by thought. Earlier this year, Elon Musk launched Neuralink, a company aiming to merge our brains with computing power, though with a different approach.

"Elon Musk is talking about silicon nanoparticles pulsing through our veins to make us sort of semi-cyborg computers," says Jepsen. But why not take a noninvasive approach? "I've been working and trying to think and invent a way to do this for a number of years and finally happened upon it and left Facebook to do it."

Talk of telepathy cannot happen without imagining the ethical implications. If wearing a hat would make it possible to read thoughts, then: "Can the police make you wear such a hat? Can the military make you wear such a hat? Can your parents make you wear such a hat?" asks Jepsen.

What if your boss wanted you to wear a telepathy hat at the office?

"We have to answer these questions, so we're trying to make the hat only work if the individual wants it to work, and then filtering out parts that the person wearing it doesn't feel it's appropriate to share."

See also:

Ahead of Elon Musk, this self-made millionaire already launched a company to merge your brain with computers

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This inventor is developing technology that could enable telepathy - CNBC