To cyborg or not to cyborg, that is the question...
Is the future bright or dark? That it is close, there can be no question.
Not long ago, I watched a video of a meeting with the participation of the first human subject to receive a Neuralink implant, and it blew my mind.
I have always been a bit of a technology optimist. That we would one day be able to have brain implants that would allow us to seamlessly communicate with computers was always a given for me. That it would happen within my own lifetime, not so much.
To watch Noland Arbaugh, the first human to receive a Brain-Computer-Interface implant, talk about how it had changed his life, giving him back some of the freedom he had lost when he became quadriplegic, was remarkable. At this point, Noland can control a mouse and input information into a computer, just using his mind.
Watching this person who is totally immobilized, physically being able to plain action computer games against his father cannot but make you wonder at what will be possible within the next few years. The possibilities are almost limitless, as bandwidth in the communication between human and computer increases. Just as Noland can control a video game now, in the future he may be able to control an exoskeleton in the future, which could give him back full mobility, or even allow the brain’s signals to jump over injury-created interruptions in communication.
These possibilities all seem to show us a bright future for countless people that are living less than full lives today, because of different forms of disabilities. Human nature being what it is, we do have to consider what might be possible if this technology is used in unscrupulous or amoral ways.
What happens if some can hack into your implant? Could they feed you false information? Could they record what commands your brain is sending to the interface and essentially tap into your conversations directly at the source?
In the not too distant future, we may well be faced with the question: should I choose to become a cyborg physically? Consider the possibilities of having a direct connection to your own personal AI. How much more could you accomplish?
But, now, look at it from the dark side. Consider all the possibilities of having a direct connection to your own person AI. Could you really trust the information it provides you?
Just remembering the images of the founding fathers created by Google’s AI when it was released, makes me shudder of how you might be manipulated by purposefully input incorrect information. You might come to think that the United States was founded by an odd combination, for a British colony, of Asians, Africans and Indians (the kind that are from India).
Technology is never good or bad. It is what humans make of it. No wonder, a lot of AI doomsday scenarios start with an AI concluding that Humans are the problem that needs to be solved.
Right now, I prefer to be amazed by the possibility of a bright future, but taking care of not letting it blind me to the dark possibilities as well.