Emotion and Love, AI Style - Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age - page 328

Figure 61. A brain fingerprint (Courtesy of Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories, Inc.)
...
Brainprints are unique to each person. While the number nine will
appear in the same brain areas of different people, it still occurs as a
unique signature of how a person specifically thinks of the number.
...
If someone is telling the truth, it is kept on the outside portion
of the brain in low-energy domain areas of the brain. If someone
starts to light up in more areas of the brain and at a higher energy
level, it means that the person is now starting to confabulate or
obfuscate. [6]
Brainprints, or brain fingerprints as they are also called, are already be-
ing used as an investigate tool in major crimes. Lawrence Farwell, the
chairman and chief scientist at Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories, Inc., 10
has used brain wave responses in murder suspects to show whether the
suspect's brain contains critical information about the murder (see Fig-
ure 61 ) . The technology was ruled to be admissible evidence in court
in the case of Terry Harrington, who was convicted of murder in 1978
in Iowa and sentenced to life in prison. Brain fingerprint testing indi-
cated that Harrington's brain did not contain records of the crime scene
but that they did match his alibi. When confronted with this evience,
the only alleged witness to the crime recanted, confessing in a sworn
statement that he had lied in the original trial in order to avoid being
prosecuted himself. The Iowa Supreme Court subsequently overturned
Harrington's conviction and freed him in February 2003.
The implications of the Harrington case for the future of the legal
system are immense. How long will it be before there is absolutely no
need for a judge or jury to determine the guilt or innocence of a defen-
dant? How long before a robot is able to announce the correct verdict,
10 Brain Fingerprinting is a registered trademark of Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories, Inc.