Openwater, founded in mid-2016 by Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen, former CEO of Facebook and Google, is developing a device that can allow people to see in great detail what is happening inside their brains or other organs.
The technology, developed by the company, works on the basis of infrared scanning of an organ and the creation of a high-resolution holographic image from the results of scanning. The technical stuffing in the form of LCD displays with infrared ports can be embedded in any piece of clothing, such as a ski hat, that can visualize tumors, bleeding, or clogged arteries in your brain.
While the technology has significant potential for disease detection, the company's ultimate goal is to evolve it into communication through thinking, which they hope to achieve in just eight years.
“I figured out how to fit the basic functionality of a multi-million dollar (dollar) MRI machine into a ski-hat wearable gadget,” Dr. Jepsen told CNBC television.
Magnetic Resonance Imagery (MRI) machines can already see your thoughts, and Dr. Jepsen says she has worked to simplify the technology down to a helmet that can read and output thoughts.
While MRI technology uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce images of organs, Openwater technology uses infrared light to scan parts of the brain or body.
It works on small LCDs with pixels small enough to create holographic images, which, along with the use of body temperature sensors, enable MRI-enabled scanning of organs.
LCDs, along with sensors, are placed inside a ski cap, in clothing or in a bandage, and can systematically or selectively scan the brain or body.
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The system can also be used in the opposite direction - to focus infrared light on any area of interest in the body or brain, for example, to irradiate tumors.
In the future, this technology may allow non-invasive loading, unloading or even amplification of our memories, thoughts and emotions. According to Openwater, a limited number of prototypes of the device will be released next year to partners as part of early access to the developed technology.
Dr. Jepsen told CNBC that the technology will accelerate innovation - for example, filmmakers can upload their ideas about films, and designers can upload their thoughts about a product, and send them to a 3D printer.
Openwater is not the only company working in the direction of telepathy. Elon Musk's Neuralink is working to connect the human brain to a machine interface by creating micron-sized devices.
Neuralink was registered in California as a "medical research" company in July last year, and Musk plans to fund the company mostly on his own. His company will work on what Musk calls "neural lace" technology, introducing tiny brain electrodes that might one day upload and download thoughts.
His neural lace technology could help people with severe brain injuries in just four years. And in eight to ten years, the Matrix technology will be available to everyone.
Dr. Jepsen noted that Elon Musk's Neuralink approach is invasive, while Openwater is not.