New Delhi: When I first read that Elon Musk intended to implant computer chips into human brains, I thought he was crazy. Even if the medical risks could be overcome, even if there were advantages, would humans consent to give up free will and their ability to think for themselves? Would you trust your emotions and your career to a chip? Surely not.
My views changed after reading a WSJ article, ‘Are You Ready for a Brain Chip?’ It will change your mind’, by Daniel Gelernter, director of the hedge fund RG Niederhoffer Capital and expert in computational neuroscience. He asks: If a brain chip (BC) gives you an advantage over others, wouldn’t you rush to maximize that advantage? Otherwise, you risk falling behind your rivals and becoming obsolete, no matter how smart or hard-working you are.
Remember, a few decades ago, the Internet or smartphones sounded like science fiction. Nowadays, they are so common that semi-literate villagers have them. Life without them has become unthinkable. Anyone who doesn’t have them will lose out to those who do.
Will the same happen with bulletproof vests? Can they become as indispensable and common as the current smartphone?
Musk is promoting BCs as a medical device for patients who have not responded to traditional remedies. your company Neuralink He completed his first human implant earlier this year and says the patient has responded well.
BCs have already shown that people can control technology with their thoughts. Paralyzed patients have been able to control a robotic arm or move a cursor. A patient controlled a video game through thought. BCs could be used to treat depression, schizophrenia, dementia and other ailments of the mind. These are big problems in richer countries that have overcome the diseases of the poor.
Even if clinical trials are successful, no country will authorize BCs for years, given the serious implications. But it will happen. BCs clearly have medical potential.
But will it stop there? Once the genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back. Amniocentesis and ultrasound were invented to detect possible defects in fetuses. But once authorized, they were used to detect female babies and abort them. Trying to restrict the use of any technology is difficult. If breaking the rules creates a huge advantage for users, regulation has no chance of succeeding.
That is the biggest risk of BCs. They cannot and should not be considered mere medical devices. They are devices to control the mind. And that’s terrifying.
Private equity is waiting to invest billions in this industry, just as it did before with internet and smartphone companies. BCs could be the next big thing.
Gelernter writes: “It’s a matter of years, not decades.” They will not be chip implants that allow paraplegics to regain their independence. They will be implants marketed to everyone, like smartphones are now. And if you refuse to have a chip implanted in your brain, you will be a backwards and out-of-touch misanthrope.
“The benefits of brain chips will far exceed those offered by external devices today. We can take ‘photos’ of anything we see with our eyes, just by thinking. The same goes for video: in 3-D. We will be able to send messages to friends thinking about them and hear their responses reproduced in our minds… We will be able to talk to anyone in any language. We will be able to remember an infinite amount of information, recover any data…. Participate in movies. Be totally entertained in new virtual worlds.’
Governments will try to use BCs to control citizens, and that is the scariest outcome of all. Gelernter says our memories will be organized by AI under policies crafted by experts with society’s best interests in mind. “If we have criminal ideas, or perhaps just countercultural notions, they will be referred to the appropriate authorities before it is too late.”
This sounds like orwell‘s 1984. Most of us would feel helpless and deprived if we suddenly lost access to the Internet or cell phones. In the future, lack of access to a BC can be equally devastating. All ambitious individuals will want it. Even countries that ban BCs on the grounds of moral or social hazard may relent if rivals that license BCs gain a big advantage.
Sooner than you think, an unholy BC avalanche could begin. That means those who produce the hardware and software will have an unprecedented way to control the minds and actions of billions of humans. In some fundamental way, we may no longer be human.
Is this an apocalypse? Throughout history, new scientific advances have generated horrendous visions of misuse that have proven unjustified. However, I can’t get rid of the feeling: “This time it’s different.”
