The Internet Brain Implant: Why We Should Say No
This Fall pollsters Zogby International released the results of a survey that asked nearly 10,000 US adults the following question. "How likely would you be to implant a device into your brain that enabled you to use your mind to access the internet if it could be done safely?" 11% of respondents said they were very or somewhat likely to do so.
I've talked to a lot of people in the internet industry about this survey since then and have found an even higher percentage of people who say they are interested in a web enabled brain implant. Let's discuss this sooner rather than later, shall we?
- "Privacy is an illusion" is today still hyperbole
- We don't even have control over our own data online yet/
- People complain about information overload already
- Mobile is moving fast already
- Marge Piercy has some important things to say
- The Boston Tea Party would have been much more difficult...
It's common for web-boosters today to assure us that "privacy is an illusion" because you can't do anything online any more that isn't discoverable by search, etc. This is pure hyperbole. Privacy is one of the biggest drivers of some of the hottest social networks online, including to some degree Facebook.
Fortunately, our thoughts remain our own. There is no guarantee of this once the hardware crosses a membrane, however. It's one thing to share our thoughts via collaboration tools and online self expression - but that needs to be done one thought at a time, in circumstances of our own choosing. Losing whatever degree of control over our own minds that we do have isn't something I feel the need to critique explicitly.
Think about Facebook's misguided Beacon program - now think about your brain on Beacon. Bad idea.
It's a hard fought struggle to retain meaningful control over or access to the data and information we create in existing web applications. There is no reason to believe that big vendors will be any more respectful of our brains than they are our browsers.
Why is Lifehacker one of the top blogs on the internet? Beyond Gina Trapani's charming personality - it's because using the internet through a desktop computer is a real challenge as it is. Improved interfaces could make all the difference in the world - but let's try controlling the web through more extensive use of our hands before we try it directly with our minds.
Want a handy, portable way to interact powerfully with the web? Get an iPhone - you don't need an implant.
Look past the glancing insults she shoots at the web in general and read this Noble acceptance speech. The world is an incredibly unjust place and one where we're losing touch with the parts of our culture that we interact with physically - like books. Want an immersive learning experience that engages your mind on multiple levels and your senses at the same time? Go watch a play.
The time may come (some people believe it already has) for each of us to take responsibility to challenge the powers that be. We need a private place to hatch our plots. There aren't a lot of those kinds of places left. No matter what your political persuasion, you've probably got a story in your mind in which things get really, really bad. Ask yourself - if that story comes true, will you want the internet in your mind at that time? I don't think you will. Don't make a hardware decision today that you'll regret so seriously if force-quitting your software becomes imperative.
I hope this has been interesting, if not convincing. Feel free to argue if you feel so inclined - we may as well start debating the implant here and now. If Google isn't offering one for free (ad supported!) by the end of the decade, I will be surprised.
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Last day my wife was walking on the street while she was reading a book. A car almost hit her because she didn't pay enough attention.
I believe that humans can't pay attention to more than one world. Our brain is not prepare for that (imagine walking on the street while you are connected to internet inside second life) But I don't discard the posibility that one moment in the future will be a new generation of human with the hability to live in more than one world.
[Lovely comment of Luis'.]
I find the idea of transforming into a cyborg kind of awkward, but I can't say I am against it. Isn't the twitter community, a small (tiny) step towards complete immersion of another world (cyberspace) into the 'real' one? How about bluetooth and mobile phones?
The sense of privacy has a completely new meaning already.
Very interesting topic! Embedded Human Brains.. it looks like one of my favorite futuristic movie show is becoming real. I just hope we control the device not the other way around :)
Nhick
http://www.itrush.com
In the early days of the PC, there was never any question about who the device served. It ran some software, and all the capabilities of that software were intended to aid and assist the user/owner of the device.
The advent of copy protection in tape and floppy disk games marked the first time that some features of the device were meant to serve a party other than the device's owner. (Not surprisingly, a countering movement arose immediately.) Because "copy protection" then mostly relied on various clever ways of making the device malfunction, we never regarded it as a fundamental threat.
Today, things have changed dramatically. Every commercial device and operating system, devotes significant resources to serving other masters than the user/owner of the device itself.
[A trivial example: the GPS navigation unit in my wife's van will not allow the user to search for a location while the vehicle is moving. This is supposed to be a safety feature. It probably is, but it also serves to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits brought by inattentive drivers. The navigation unit does not solely exist to serve the user/owner, it also acts to protect it's maker.]
Lawrence Lessig has been writing and speaking about this for more than a decade. He does a great job illustrating the threat to personal freedom created when corporate policies get encoded into software.
All of which is to say that the future looks bleak, if brain implants get built using commercial (closed) software. They will certainly have some portion of their capabilities devoted to protecting various interests other than the user/owner/host. DRM, advertising, tracking for marketing, criminal, or political purposes... the possibilities are nearly limitless.
I will never submit to an implant that runs closed-source software. Unless every single line of every capability is reviewed by the global programming community, I can never trust that the device would serve only me.
the bond between human and machines is inevitable. can you live/function without a cell phone in todays world? how about email and various online services? ...all roads lead to "always on, always ready" ...a brave new world
WOW ! I was involved with a blog game couple of days before you write this article which name was "Geeky wishes" and I wrote about my geekiest wish .
guess what , I wished something that you call it"The Internet Brain Implant" , and I called it "Mind Networking".
it's in Persian Language and is here :
http://diggly.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-geekiest-wish.html
'"How likely would you be to implant a device into your brain that enabled you to use your mind to access the internet if it could be done safely?" 11% of respondents said they were very or somewhat likely to do so.'
Very weird question.
Very weird interpretation.
10% is also called the fringe.
"very or somewhat likely" covers !null.
Whoever framed the question should also have indicated which deadly open-source browser is going to come with the device - and with how many add-ons.
We need to slow down ..let's be nice to one another and enjoy consciousness....no betrayal if you please....it is all here right now as it always has and will be forever.. thanks.
Practically inevitable: Life 2.0
Please send information to Bro. Emmett Rambo about the internet brain implaints
Bro. Emmett Rambo
BN#07789666
GBDF
446 Alta Rd # 5300
San Diego, CA 92158
Thank You
Aretha Rambo