Just how far can we push communication technology is one of those questions that often blurs science-fact with science-fiction. I used to get excited with James Bond’s tracking system and car phone in an Aston Martin – now two-thirds of the planet has mobile phones, and every single one of them is personally identifiable and trackable. Not bad for 15 years when you think of it. So just how far have we gone?
A couple of years, ago I highlighted a few cool concepts around technology relating to “Human Computer Interaction” which does indeed seem cool to most. Yet behind the concept of surface computing is the need to identify every product with a unique number stored on a microchip.
Now we have this relentless invasion of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) facilitating the “Internet of Things” otherwise known as Ubiquitous Computing - and regular readers here will know some of my ethical challenges surrounding that. Way before I started my own blog, people were already discussing controlling devices by implanting microchips in humans.
Well it seems as though whilst people are trying to tackle whether RFID really is the ‘mark of the beast’, I want to truly take this to the next level and highlight an interesting, if not alarming, discourse on the Ethical Assessment of Implantable Brain Chips.
“Computer scientists predict that within the next twenty years neural interfaces will be designed that will not only increase the dynamic range of senses, but will also enhance memory and enable "cyberthink" — invisible communication with others.”
It’s known as brain-computer interface (BCI) and is expected to be rolled out en masse by 2035. Let me walk you through this. Apparently three million of us already rely on some kind of artificial implants – to improve hearing or sight for example. Yet what we are talking about here is the linking of prosthetics with computer science through the miniaturization of components and then linked to radio communication. It is beyond the concept of “wearable computers” that MIT has been kicking around for some years now; portable computers built into your clothes linked to glasses with video cameras, etc.
“Through miniaturization of components, systems have been generated that are wearable and nearly invisible, so that individuals, supported by a personal information structure, can move about and interact freely, as well as, through networking, share experiences with others. The wearable computer project envisions users accessing the Remembrance Agent of a large communally based data source.”
So the first aspect is that of “Wearable Computers”. Think of a spy-cam in your shirt pocket, linked to an iPhone and a pocket projector like Aaxa’s P1 or 3M’s Pico.
Next we need to link this to a Remembrance Agent (RA) which is ‘a program which augments human memory by displaying a list of documents which might be relevant to the user's current context.’ It is a continuous information retrieval system running wirelessly over the internet, continuously without user intervention and unobtrusively ‘allowing a user to pursue or ignore the RA's suggestions as desired.’
What we end up with is this recently patented wearable computer that projects its display onto a nearby surface that’s being dubbed as the Internet’s “Sixth Sense”.
The concept is just by looking at your boarding card; information about your flight can be projected on to it. Or pick up a book or product and find out more information about it. But this technology is not just limited to everyday things; “When you encounter someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person’s body to provide more information about him— his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes and interests.”
This means you will never forget someone’s name ever again; facial recognition software will not only tell you who but what, how and why. The ability to transfer information, contact details, community groups – even likes, dislikes or medical issues – without even uttering a single word. Think of it like a car license plate reader for every single human on the planet that pulls up an entire history of data about every product or person you wish to investigate. Suddenly that talking billboard in Minority Report seems so passé.
Now when you consider the fact that pharmaceutical manufacturers are already considering implementing microchips inside every single prescription drug, which will then communicate to the internet via your mobile phone, implanted chips are no longer science-fiction but a present-day reality.
Combine these technologies, and what we find here is a two-way continuous transmission program intrinsically linked to everyday human behavior and our interaction with objects and each other; all being continually broadcast, monitored and modified.
"Suddenly technology has given us powers with which we can manipulate not only external reality — the physical world — but also, and much more portentously, ‘ourselves’. Once networked the result will be a collective consciousness, the hive mind. The hive mind...is about taking all these trillions of cells in our skulls that make individual consciousness and putting them together and arriving at a new kind of consciousness that transcends all the individuals."
Yes you did read correctly. There is a very real discussion around brain chips which will probably function as a prosthetic cortical implant to enhance our senses and communication/control to improve our performance. It has already envisioned that “general adoption will take roughly twenty to thirty years”. The arguments for this gross invasion of humanity already stem from the widespread use of drugs to ‘improve’ people’s moods as they are unable to deal with their emotions/depressions/tempers themselves, so in that regard this is merely the technological next step of scientific development. If prosthetics, drugs, psychotherapy and cosmetic surgery are all accepted forms of assisting individuals in their interaction in the world, ‘for the good of the whole’ as well as the individual, what should be so wrong in this logical progression?
In fact in 2005 the BBC reported that a paralyzed man in the US had been implanted with a brain chip that allowed him to control everyday objects by thought alone; i.e. he could think the TV on and off or change channel. Am sure there would be many people who could initially react “wow, how cool would that be?” without thinking through any implications.
It was back in 2007 I highlighted ‘psychocorrection’ being used in Russia and explored by the US Department of Homeland Security to manipulate people beyond their will using ‘subliminal messages to bend a subject’s will, and even modify a person’s personality without their knowledge.’ According to Wired last summer, Top Pentagon Scientists Fear Brain-Modified Foes and see a real threat on the battlefield of ‘enhanced’ bionic people – basically they are going to make sure they get the technology implemented first to maintain advantage.
It is these teleontological arguments where the “end justifies the means” that seems to be rife in society today. There is no regard for a higher moral code outside of ourselves and no regards for the Creator or His creation – which is seemingly proven by science to be some kind of mystical fairy tale. Yet the very removal of a higher entity allows man, any man, to make judgment calls on behalf of other men in as much as a general of an army can demand his soldiers to follow orders even if faced with certain execution. It all stems back to can we trust any human at the top of the chain to be perfect continuously and be beyond reproach? History proves there has been no such mere human –and certainly not with the power to control the conscious mind, via an automated “hive” to dictate and modify as ‘it’ sees fit?
Consider that “in thirty years, it will be possible to capture data presenting all of a human being's sensory experiences on a single tiny chip implanted in the brain… The most frightening implication of this technology is the grave possibility that it would facilitate totalitarian control of humans.”
Combine these technological advances and compare them to what we know of dictatorial human behavior throughout time manipulating the masses for their perverse gain and we really do have a very terrifying glimpse into a frightening future that could be nearer then we all think.
Assuming, of course, you are still allowed to think – independently.
Dean Donaldson is a writer for We The People Will Not Be Chipped Movement and a digital evangelist based in UK . Dean is a well known global speaker focused in the field of digital advertising.
URL: www.nothingtohide.us
