The drive to integrate man and machine is strong. People want easy access to technology, and nothing is easier than simply thinking. Tech giants will make a killing from providing the convenience of using seamless technological integration with the human mind.
Imagine being able to have the power and control to use applications and surf the web hands-free, all through the power of your mind. A lot of people, especially transhumanists want this type of future to develop. But at what cost does this level of interactivity come at? When two of the most powerful (and hated) tech companies are leading the way in brain-computer interface technology, what problems could there possibly be, right?
Last year Facebook confirmed that they were looking into developing a "mind control" brain interface. Microsoft sees the potential, and is taking on Facebook in the same domain. Microsoft has filed a patent called "Changing an application state using neurological data ". It will decode electrical activity in the brain through EEG readings using sensors on the scalp.
Computer systems, methods, and storage media for changing the state of an application by detecting neurological user intent data associated with a particular operation of a particular application state, and changing the application state so as to enable execution of the particular operation as intended by the user. The application state is automatically changed to align with the intended operation, as determined by received neurological user intent data, so that the intended operation is performed. Some embodiments relate to a computer system creating or updating a state machine, through a training process, to change the state of an application according to detected neurological data.
Designed to operate apps and web browsers, the mind reading device would resemble a headband, detecting what actions a user wants to perform. The goal is to develop algorithms that learn someone's brain behavior to interface with video games, augmented reality, virtual reality and modeling software. This would eventually lead to mind control software being incorporated into everything, everywhere, forever changing how humans interact and use technology.
Facebook has a head start in the race to tap humans into technology at a depper level, with 60 engineers already working on brain-computer interface technology. Mark Zuckerberg has said:
We’re building further out beyond augmented reality, and that includes work around direct brain interfaces that one day will let you communicate using only your mind, although that stuff is pretty far out.
With Facebook and other tech giants manipulating user data, we should be asking how brain data can be used and manipulated. Will a new market emerge for brain-pattern data that the device learns from each individual? Will advertising and marketing take on a new level of depth with the data from our brains and minds?
Or will there be a new way for tech giants to tailor data and block data according to profiles developed from the data? If you're known to not align with certain political agendas -- like we see now with tech giants manipulating data -- could they be in better positions to manipulate what we have access to?
Given how Google is tailoring to authoritarian governments like China to restrict user access to certain information via the censored search engine being developed, a mind reading device that learns of the behavior thinking patterns of citizens would be a gold mine for great social engineering and mind control.
With technology being developed to peer into the human mind and know what's going on, the consequences could be far reaching. Manipulation of our mind could reach another level of sophistication and precision, leading to greater control of society. Corporations and governments would be steering the wheel of humanity at never before seen levels. It seems like dystopian and sci-fi novels and movies about corporations ruling society may not be too far away from becoming a reality.
We are headed towards more merging of man and machine, and towards a transhumanist dream of becoming more machine if some get their way. Who knows how long it will take, but futures like that seen in Blade Runner, Altered Carbon or Ghost in the Shell seem like an inevitable direction we are marching towards in our insatiable desire for technological "progress". Even if many people resist it now, all it takes is slow incremental changes towards more subtle use and integration of technology in order to get people to shift and accept technological integration into the body.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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