The really amazing thing is that the "Predictor" device actually exists [1], and has since 1963 when it was invented by neurosurgeon W. Grey Walter. Here's a de

The really amazing thing is that the "Predictor" device actually exists [1], and has since 1963 when it was invented by neurosurgeon W. Grey Walter. Here's a description of it from Dan Dennett's Book Consciousness Explained: Grey Walter performed his experiment with patients in whose motor cortex he had implanted electrodes. He wanted to test the hypothesis that certain bursts of recorded activity were the initiators of intentional actions. So he arranged for each patient to look at slides from a carousel projector. The patient could advance the carousel at will, by pressing the button on the controller. ... Unbeknownst to the patient, however, the controller button was a dummy, not attached to the slide projector at all! What actually advanced the slides was the amplified signal from the electrode implanted in the patient's motor cortex. ... One might suppose that the patients would notice nothing out of the ordinary, but in fact they were startled by the effect, because it seemed to them as if the slide projector was anticipating their decisions. They reported that just as they were "about to" push the button, but before they had actually decided to do so, the projector would advance the slide - and they would find themselves pressing the button with the worry that it was going to advance the slide twice! Now that you know it's real, will you behave any differently? 1. Not the negative time delay mechanism, though.