Danielle Figueroa

Freedom/Privacy/Tech (winter)
Mod 2 Research Paper

MRI and You

A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Magnetic Resonance Imaging or

MRI helps scientists and doctors take huge steps in radiology, and has
helped change the way we view the human body. Thanks to these machines
we can get full 2D and 3D imaging of not only of the human brain, but of
other body parts as well, and everyday scientists are testing MRIs to see
how they can potentially reconstruct the imagery of our minds. How do we
obtain this imaging though, and what does it exactly look like? As a frequent
customer to the scanner myself I can confirm that it is quite the noisy
experience.
There are over 25,000 MRI scanners to date in the world, and in the
8th addition of Magnetic Resonance, [a]t present, about 2,000 MR imaging
units are sold worldwide every year, showing there is a huge demand for the
scanners (Rinck, p.1). Invented by Paul C. Lauterbur in 1971, the very first
idea for the MRI was a machine that could that could find cancerous tissues
in the body. A machine called the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was
made by American physician Raymond Damadian, but was not reliable as it

required scanning separate sections of the human body multiple times, and
had no way to produce images of what it found. In 1980 the first full body
scanner was made using gradients to create images of its very first patient.
At the same time another doctor made a scanner with a more powerful
magnet (1.5T system) that solved the flaws in the first design.
Getting an MRI scan is no simple task, much like designing the
machine itself, it requires time and patience. First a patient is prepped and
lowered into the tunnel of the scanner on a special bed. No metal can be on
the patient or near the scanner because the powerful magnet could easily
injure the patient or anyone else in the vicinity. Once inside, the scanner
creates a strong magnetic field around the patient that is applied to the
appropriate frequency. Protons in the water molecules of the body react to
the magnetic field which help map out the images that appear on screen.
The atoms are measured by coils that create positions for radio signals, and
the shift in movement between tissue in the body helps the images appear
as well.
Many patients comment on how uncomfortable the machine is, and the
noise it makes is atrocious, but it would be worth the hour of waiting if that
meant making sure your body was free of disease. Currently MRIs are the
safest options out there when it comes to full body scanning as CT scans use
radiation which can lead to radiation induced cancer, and MRIs have much
better imagery than CTs for neurological cancers. An MRI is excellent for

viewing medical issues such as dementia, infectious diseases, and epilepsy,

while also performing cardiac MRIs which help view the heart. There is also
gastrointestinal MRIs for the liver, pancreas, and bile ducts, with spinal
imaging showing the joints and soft tissue tumors. The coolest and newest
feature of MRI scanning though is call image reconstruction, which can open
a myriad of possibilities for future studies of the brain.
By using external stimuli, scientists scan brain waves and create
images based on what the mind is thinking during the exposure to the
stimuli. Scientists use a computer program that uses mathematical
reasoning to pair certain neurological patterns with facial features. They
make patient's view images of people while being scanned, and then those
neurological patterns recreate the images of what the patients see. This so
called mind reading is considered by some to be the future of the MRI.
When we think of mind reading we typically think of superheroes with
psychic powers, but what if it was a simple medical procedure? We can
already read brain activity through brain waves, so who says its impossible
to paint a picture from the brain using the same readings? Andy Coghlan
wrote about scientist Michael Greicius of Stanford University in California
who also did testing for mind reading, but his overall goal was to find a
system that in the future would diagnose Alzheimer's disease and
Schizophrenia (Andy Coghlan, p.1).

Andy Coghlan wrote in his article that Greicius had a different method
where he had patients sing or count over a 10 minute period compared to
the previously mention method, in which the subjects performed mental
activities at specific times and the scans were then compared with brain
activity when they were at rest (Andy Coghlan, p.11). His method helped
encourage activity that would be more natural. Out of the 10 patients he
tested on, 85 per cent of the tasks they were engaged in, were noticed by
the system without knowledge beforehand (Andy Coghlan, p.11).
Reading minds opens many doors of opportunities, for not just
diagnosing more diseases, but helping those who have disabilities. Patients
in comas could have their minds read in order to see what kind of brain
activity is going on or to see what they are thinking. This also can be applied
to people who have been pronounced brain dead. There have been
numerous cases of patients in a coma, but in reality they can hear and see
everything going on around them. Unfortunately, they are completely
paralyzed and unable to speak, which is called Lock-in syndrome. In the
book Running Free, Kate Allatt suffered a massive stroke at age 39, and
while she was fully conscious, everyone else thought she was brain dead
(Kate Allatt, Running Free). They almost took her off of life support even
though she her brain was functioning. If they had the ability to do a MRI
scan on her and read her mind they could have seen the brain activity going

on and know that she was not, in fact, brain dead. Doctors could save lives
by reading the minds of those who are paralyzed or unable to speak.
If this technology became available it could also be used for means of
war and law enforcement. Currently we use lie detector tests to interrogate
suspects and seek the truth, but if mind reading was available, countries
could use it to interrogate suspects of crimes and acts of terrorism.
Scientists may then have the ability to reconstruct images of the mind in full
photos, and recreate crime scenes from memories, locations of hideouts, or
faces of accomplishes.
MRIs are not yet perfect and could use adjustments, just like when
they boosted the power of the magnet inside. There are medical teams and
scientist with new designs for the machine that make it more comfortable for
the patient to sit in. Vertical scanners, or ones with the tunnel facing up at
an angle are in the works which would greatly help the patients who are
required to lay there for an hour or more. Finding a solution to the noise of
the scanner is also at the top of the list. Many patients cannot stand the
sound of the clunking and grinding which is extremely loud. Recently doctors
have given patients specially designed mp3 plays that won't get pulled from
the magnet, but will play music to cover up the sound of the scanner.
One huge improvement would be making an MRI less claustrophobic
and more open for a variety of patients. MRIs have been available to
pregnant mothers, but are only used in emergencies because it has hardly

been tested on those expecting a child. Unknown consequences make the

scanner too dangerous. It also can become too uncomfortable for a pregnant
woman to lay inside, with the noise being distressful for the baby and the
mother. Its thought that MRIs would be a better option for viewing the
infant compared to an ultrasound, but currently there are no future plans for
testing on pregnant mothers.
The powerful magnet inside the scanner has been tested over the
years with different power levels. By increasing the strength of the magnet
the images become clearer and more detailed, but at the same time we risk
the chance of objects getting sucked into the tunnel where the patient lies.
People with breast implants or metal implants cannot go inside of one, or
must get an MRI with a low powered magnet which can defeat the purpose
of getting one in the first place. Scientists still need to find a way to keep the
magnetic field from affecting nearby objects to keep the patient safe while at
the same time give doctors some of the most high definition images weve
ever seen.
Getting an MRI is not the most pleasant experience, but if people
worried too much about the pleasantries then we wouldn't stand getting
shots either. We can see from past accomplishments that this device not only
detects cancer, but many other diseases as well. The possibilities could be
endless if we tap into the power of mindreading, and the reconstruction of

dreams. But what would countries do with such power and would they use it
for humanitys best interests?
One powerful country to look at would be the Republic of China. China
is one of the last few communist countries in the world along with Cuba and
Vietnam. The CIA World Factbook says they have the third largest military in
the world (behind Russia and America), and their economy is the second
largest (behind America). China struggles greatly though due to
overpopulation, and the rights granted to their citizens often have loopholes
added to them. These loopholes often work against citizens rights and play
to the governments advantage.
Chinas government officials say that, existing policies and
enforcement measures are sufficient to guard against human rights abuses,
yet other countries argue that China abuses their citizens (Humans Rights
Watch). Their constitution states, that citizens have protection under the
law, and that the rule of the law is the highest authority, yet there is a
loophole in their constitution that contradicts this (Humans Rights Watch,
p.3). They state that leadership of the communist party exceeds that of the
law. Thus citizens are protected by the law unless leaders of the communist
party say otherwise. The poor and lower classes tend to face the most abuse
when it comes to human rights. According to the Rural Poverty Portal, which
keeps records of poverty around the world, China is the first country to
achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal by reducing by

half the number of its people living in extreme poverty and hunger, they still
have a huge gap in wage between rural and urban areas (International Fund
for Agricultural Development).
A Chinese urban workers income is three times more than that of a
rural worker. Rural workers make up to 50-55% of the total population.
These people are given limited access to financial services and value chains,
and the government does not seem interested in changing this. Due to their
remote locations and the government censoring all news formats, it is
difficult for people in rural areas to know what's going on, and are often
clueless to the world around them.
Freedom of speech is a luxury in this country, and while it is
guaranteed in the constitution, the government limits this by saying they
must protect government secrets. In 2005, reporter Shi Tao was imprisoned
for ten years because Yahoo! gave out his IP address and personal
information to the government, thus revealing that he had released
Communist Party documents overseas. Yahoo!, Bing, and Google China have
been accused of aiding communist practices and censoring words such as
democracy. These accusations of course have been denied. News around the
world is filtered along with books and video games. The game World of
Warcraft was banned in China because of the violent actions and portrayal of
their national animal, the panda.

Citizens can be punished and sent to jail for ignoring censoring laws by
obtaining foreign material that is banned inside the country. Citizens can also
go to jail for practicing certain religions and can be tortured for having
certain beliefs. Chinas government keeps a tight knit community of
approved churches, mosques, and temples that must be approved before
opening to the public. Religious houses not approved are deemed unlawful
and the government subjects their members to fines and prosecution
reported by the Worlds Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, p.1). There are
only three approved Christian groups in China, and Tibetan Buddhism does
not recognise the Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader within the country. The
Peoples Republic of China shows hostility towards anyone who follows the
spiritual practices of Falun Gong which has been deemed an evil cult
(Human RIghts Watch, p.2). A constitutional body called the 6-10 Office has
been created to suppress and contain followers of that religion. They have
been known to use illegal imprisonment, deadly forms of torture, forced
labor, and even organ harvesting to persuade followers. But China claims in
their constitution that freedom of religion is granted to all, and the
Communist Party is officially labeled as Atheist.
The prisons which these so called criminals go to are some of the
worst in the world. China continues to arrest and interfere with the freedom
of expression, assembly, and religion causing prisons to overflow. Robert
Bernstein and Richard Dicker wrote in their book Foreign Policy that reports

of long term torture and medical neglect of seriously ill political prisoners
have continued (Robert Bernstein and Richard Dicker, p.43). China does not
let outsiders inspect their penal system, but that does not prevent previous
prisoners from writing about their experiences. Stuart Foster grew up in
Southern Carolina, but events in 2013 lead to him being imprisoned for eight
months in Southern China. He stated that his cell held 30 prisoners, all
sleeping on the concrete floor, and that the right of having a phone call
upon arrest is unheard of (Stuart Foster, Inside a Chinese Prison).
Punishments used on prisoners varied from having their limit of two rolled
cigarettes a day taken, to being shackled to the floor and flogged with
Christmas lights.
Interestingly enough, Human Rights Watch has noted that official and
scholarly statistics estimate that there are 250-500 protests each day
showing that the Chinese people are not afraid to take action against their
own government, even with the knowledge of harsh punishment against
crimes against the Communist Party (Humans Rights Watch). The PRC
actually has set up protest zones where people can freely protest within.
Protests, imprisonment, and censoring all aid the massive economy of China.
By granting designated protest spots people feel as though they have
the freedom to speak without being detained. Imprisonment enforces those
who do not follow, and the censorship blocks out the rest of the world from
talking with their hard workers. They have a very heavy labor based

economic system that sacrifices social security for economic growth making
their economy very fragile. There is an expected crash in Chinas economy
soon due to its rapid growth. China has taken over 300 million citizens above
the poverty line, yet their life satisfaction levels have remained the same
since 1990. This is most likely because income is not the only factor in life
satisfaction, and could be due to the large amounts of discrimination
between rural and urban workers which are split down the middle.
While Chinas economy might be seen as a perfect example of
conquering roadblocks, their government system is far from it. While many
countries such as the US try to interfere, there has yet to be any meaningful
course of action. In the book Foreign Policy, Robert stated that Bill Clinton
promised that human rights would be a priority in his administrations
relations with China, that was twenty two years ago, and we still have yet to
get any closer with the country besides using their factories for cheap labor
(Robert Bernstein and Richard Dicker, p.43). Will there come a time when
the PRC finally opens its doors? Or will their economy break under pressure,
possibly plunging the global economy into another recession.

Citations
Rinck P. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. The Basic Textbook of the
European Magnetic Resonance Forum. 8th edition; 2014. Electronic version
8.2, published 1 January 2015. www.trtf.eu.
Coghlan, Andy. "Mind-Reading MRI Can Tell What You're Thinking." New
Scientist 210.2815 (2011): 11.Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.
Allatt, Kate. Running Free: Breaking out from the Locked-in Syndrome.
Bedlinog: Accent, 2011. Print.
The World Factbook 2013-14. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency,
2013
"Rural Poverty Portal." Rural Poverty Portal. International Fund for
Agricultural Development. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/china>.
"World Report 2013: China." World Report 2013: China. Human Rights
Watch, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. <http://www.hrw.org/worldreport/2013/country-chapters/china?page=2>.
Berstien, Robert, and Richard Dicker. Human Rights First. Vol. 94.
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC, 1994. 43-47. Print.
Foster, Stuart. "Inside a Chinese Prison: An Americans Perspective." (2014):
1. Prison Legal News. Web.
<https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/jun/22/inside-chinese-prisonamericans-perspective/>.