Scientists announced a few months ago that they figured out how to use a functional MRI to extract dreams from inside your brain. It couldn't be much time before they figured out how to reverse the process and jack you into a socket like your name was Morpheus or Neo, would it?
Here's how it works: you pick a task that requires high performance from your visual cortex, like catching a ball. Then, you go find someone who's a pro at catching a ball, stick them in an fMRI machine, and record what's going on in their brain while they visualize catching a ball. Now you've got your ball-catching program, and you're ready to learn. Next step: put yourself into the fMRI machine, and rig it to induce that pro ball-catching imagery that you recorded earlier in your brain using neurofeedback. You don't even have to be paying attention while this is going on. Your brain, though, becomes familiar with that pattern, which is what learning is: your brain becoming familiar with patterns. Play that pattern back enough, and you will get better at whatever activity the pattern is associated with.
This isn't just conjecture: the researchers involved have shown that this fMRI pattern playback can in fact "cause long-lasting improvement in tasks that require visual performance… In theory, a type of automated learning is a potential outcome." Yes, that's right: automated learning. It's real science.
The hardest part about this story is deciding whether to do jokes about The Matrix, Dollhouse or Inception.
[Source: DVICE, Dollhouse Wikia]