What visionary project would you fund?

Richard_Kennaway

I have just received a survey questionnaire regarding future directions in EU (European Union) research funding, and thought it would be interesting to see how LessWrong would answer the main question:

Imagine that EU funding is available for one ambitious, visionary project extending beyond 2020.

What kind of research challenges should such a project address in your area?
What would be the most urgent research tasks?

Imagine that EU funding is available for one ambitious, visionary project extending beyond 2020.

What kind of research challenges should such a project address in your area?
What would be the most urgent research tasks?

I admit that I stole this one from Sam Harris.

He suggests that if you improved the neuroscience of lie detection and then implemented it in politics that the implications would be huge. Even if it weren't 100% effective, the threat of using it would be enough to deter many. Current lie detection is based on thing like thermal and electrical readings of the skin. However, these are really inaccurate compared to a potential neuroscientific approach.

Check out Halperin's The Truth Machine.

0cousin_it15y

Except it won't be regular people using lie detectors on politicians. It will be government officials and big corps using lie detectors on regular people. Also, if/when reliable lie detection tech appears, it probably won't take long for someone to develop a counter: a means of making oneself (or another person) truly believe a given statement. Of course, the first customers of such counter tech will also be governments and big corps.

4wedrifid15y

So the old faithful "their lips are moving" isn't sufficient any more?

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What visionary project would you fund?

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What visionary project would you fund?

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