In the last century and for the first time in human history, we've seen the successful development of sincere and dedicated study of the brain. This has led to a wave of new technologies like forgetting pills, false memory pills, learning pills, thought scanning "brain decoder" computers, mind controlled drones and prosthetics (robotic limbs), and mind controlled games, brain to brain communication, implanting memories and more.
The human brain has always been a very difficult subject to study. Caught between ethics and practicality it has remained a relative black box for most of human existence. Until very recently, practically all understanding of the brain came from the study of defects and damage. The comparison between a "normal" brain and an "abnormal" brain has been our only tool in linking the fleshy grey matter to the internal mental world. This has led us to answer only a few basic questions about our minds.
Sometime in the last century the surgical and mechanical approach to understanding the mind reached a plateau. We'd learned the separate organs of the brain. The visual cortex, the amygdala and other with some basic information about their function. It wasn't until the enlightening introduction of psychedelic compounds like Mescaline did we begin to learn the nuts and bolts of the brain. The compound commonly called LSD has probably taught us more about the functions of the mind than any single thing. Today we are seeing an approach of a wave in understanding. We are in the process of changing the stigma against psychedelic compounds and we are simultaneously developing better mechanical understanding of the brain.
I believe the combination of research with psychedelic compounds, brain scanning technologies, and unlimited data storage and processing will bring our understanding of the mind under the pressure of moore's law. This itself will most likely be a step in the evolution of artificial intelligence. As seen in the awful movie "Chappie", a brain scanning program that can copy a mind, is within the realm of imagination. But this will be possible in reality. Currently we're gaining in the entertainment roots of advancement and within the more practical departments of medicine and military. An article published on gizmag.com "BBC develops mind-controlled TV" is one example of the push for entrtainment to develop mind reading technologies. The successful use of brain machine interface has been used in medicine to create prosthetics. DARPA or course has worked to developing mind reading technologies for decades.
Right now the parts are not connected. The technology to read a mind is not connected to the technologies to implant memories, is not connected to the technology to control learning. However, just as cameras, audio recorders, libraries, phones, computers, notebooks, calendars, and clocks were all separate items. We've now combined and consolidated all these things into one. Eventually the technology to implant memories will be combined with the technology to forget, and combined with the technology to accelerate learning. They will be combined with the technology to read minds which will also be combined with the technology to control minds.
As scary as this is, it's not a future to fear. Imagine the possibilities of combining accelerated learning with mind reading. I could plug into the mind of Stephen Hawking and download his thoughts. A counselor could plug into the mind of a patient and pin point traumas, then write a superscription for a forgetting pill, or a "corrective memory" implant designed to grant a memory to reconcile the trauma. I could plug into the mind of a blind person to show them color though my mind and they could show me things a world I can't currently imagine.
This could be an ultimate enlightenment for civilization. instant communication, instant knowledge, and Instant understanding. There will come many moral and ethical implications. Given the ability to implant memories and remove them, could we adopt a new justice system? Could we reinvent our ideas of crime and punishment? Reinvent ourselves and solve some major human flaws? Could we pass on information so abstract and complex that cannot be put into words that expresses deep reasons that can only be understood by perspective?
Better than any phony polygraph, using brain scanning technology we can determe if you're a liar. We could truly find the guilty. Perhaps a violent offender is implanted with the memory of his victim. Perhaps the violent memory is erased from victim and aggressor and the cycles of human traumas are broken. The evil that could be done is equally impressive. A new wave of treatments could compensate for a wide range of mental health issues. We have the basic ability to eternally control the emotions of others (site DARPA article). Implanting entire lives into the minds of Manchurian agents then controlling them to make horrific decisions. Spies, and torture on a level only dreamed of by the powerful are now within possibilities.
Another branch of brain technologies that we should pay close attention to is basic mind simulation. As computers get better, the simulation programs will advance as well. This mean that our current level of mind simulation could limitlessly advance beyond our own capacities. Here is a point about AI that we all need to consider. Not only that we could create something beyond our control, but that we could create something so far beyond our control it's incomprehensible.
We have the benefit of hindsight to recognize the massive impact a simple video game like 'Pong' has had on human life. Pong's impact extends beyond video games. It snowballed the momentum that eventually led us to processors allowing us to create entire movies digitally and communicate face to face instantly with people across the globe. The effect of technology dissipating from it's original use into other functions combined with moore's law has taken us from IBMs $2,000,000 (mid-1950s) IBM 700/7000 series computers to the $100 wireless Android tablet.
This wave of brain technologies is much more important to human society than we currently realize. Like the invention of the internet it will transform human life in ways that we do not currently comprehend. Trials with the current level of these technologies have proven that it is theoretically possible to implant memories, accelerate learning, read other peoples thoughts, control machines and potentially control other people with only our minds.
Ultimately one day mind reading technologies will be combined with autonomous AI machines. Future humans will be living around robots who can read their minds. Think about that.
End rant.
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