hive mind, a hypothetical

[mike]

out of interest would you take advantage of technology which allowed you to use the internet "hands free" that is if we could build a tiny modem that could be wired directly to your brain cells.

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn11692-deep-brain-implants-show-bionic-vision-promise.html

a search of "brain implants" shows some remarkable ideas in regards to cerebro enhancement technology are being developed.
with some disabled ppl now being able to switch devices on and off by thinking about it.

which would be of better advantage to your child ?

a universtity education, or access to the sum total of human knowledge and science via direct brain feed.

would sending and receiving "email" via this modem consitute telepathy
would starting the car and opening its doors via this device be called telekinesis ?

http://www.skewsme.com/implants.html

 

[Rick Deckard]

would sending and receiving "email" via this modem consitute telepathy
would starting the car and opening its doors via this device be called telekinesis ?

No, they'd be called i-telepathy<small>^TM</small> and i-telekinesis<small>^TM</small> respectively and they'd be described as 'Human Interface Devices' - much the same way as keyboards and mice...

 

[mike]

[No, they'd be called i-telepathy<small>^TM</small> and i-telekinesis<small>^TM</small> respectively and they'd be described as 'Human Interface Devices' - much the same way as keyboards and mice...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface

BCI's is the term currently doing the rounds

its a fascinating scenario, well beyond the wildest dreams of the first human to knap a flint blade.

 

[mike]

"In a Kurzweillian future, the world would become a very strange place, where converging advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology and computer science combine to propel humanity to its next stage of evolution. “By the end of this century, I don't think there will be a clear distinction between human and machine,” Kurzweil told the Foresight Institute’s Eighth Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology."

is this our future ?

 

[Siani]

Eek! The very thought of having my brain connected directly to the Internet conjures up all sorts of horrible imaginings. Could anyone actually hack into my private thoughts? Could someone start to control me with malware, etc? How would Internet security work in conjunction with such an implant? Would I be bombarded with ads and spam directly into my brain? What if someone bypassed my security, and assumed control of my Internet connection before I could turn it off, and brainwashed/hypnotized me into keeping my connection online, so they could do all sorts of thought control nasties to me? I realize I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself here, but until someone invents 100% reliable Internet security that cannot be bypassed by anyone (highly unlikely, given that hackers always seem to be one step ahead of security specialists), I vote to keep my brain implant-free, and will continue to rely on my temperamental wi-fi connection .

 

[mike]

I vote to keep my brain implant-free, and will continue to rely on my temperamental wi-fi connection .

i wonder if our ancestors would'nt say the same about our lifestyle

i vote not to fly in a "jet plane" and will continue to rely on my horse drawn carriage.

thats the question i guess, do we have a choice

do we drive technology or does technology drive us

the plastic surgery industry tells me that we as humans have no real aversion to self modification if there is a perceived advantage in doing so, i didnt circumcise myself.............might future generations have as little choice in regards to other modifications such as cerebro enhancement technology

perhaps we should have thought of that before we left the garden state which all the other creatures on the planet blithly continue to enjoy, and pursued the fruit of knowledge

 

[mike]

i imagine the phenomena we know as split personality could be modified to perform many of the functions and filters necessary. software written in mentation running as subroutines in their own "partition"
a sort of biological software package and management system
they say a large percentage of our physical brains are unused, maybe this could be engineered as cache memory for "offline storage"

as biological "systems" we do alright with our current "equipment", a few more tweaks wont hurt

 

[mike]

the enhancements need not be "intrusive" either, you would be free to choose a "classic desktop" with just the primary bio optic inputs and other senses like we do now. a single flashing "icon" in my feild of vision might be as intrusive as i allow the subroutines to be.

looking at the icon and "double blinking" would open its contents, either text like we see in messenger or a a direct "experience" .

or we could choose to let multiple data feeds operate, like an ipod/s hooked directly to your optic nerves, and or data base's(memorys?) of experience all we have done is replace the screen you used to hold in your hand. the function is identical

a classic example watching an old episode of star trek the corbomite manouver and i notice a young clint howard. my wife had never heard of him.
but i had a data package that includes his brother ron and role in the original gentle ben , shed never heard of that either, it would have been easier to do a mental msn style file transfer than it would have to explain it verbally and i would never convey the same depth of experience.
where i see a hive mind forming is in the same sense as the anonymous phenomena on youtube, enough bio nodes immersed in a cyber reality start to form a quorum consensus.

a hive mind needent mean the individual units are mindless
and i think the human animal is better suited to social consensus than rugged individualism or we wouldnt huddle together in citys (hives ?)

 

[Ally]

Are you actually for this type of technology. Isn't there enough mind control going on now?

 

[mike]

Yes i would embrace it,the same as i would embrace spectacles if my eyesight failed.
at the end of the day the only change im making to our current reality, is removing a glass monitor and plastic mouse/kbd from the equation, access to the world wide web and what it will become already shapes our reality. its just input
im already getting the same data via my eyes using a VDU cutting the physical VDU out of the loop seems logical and convenient.

imagine being able to see what you see now on the screen but without the screen, and be able to do so anywhere.to be able to "know" that someone on your contacts list is just a few blocks away even though your eyes cant see through concrete and steel.
imagine being able to share "memory files" direct segments of experience with others, imagine a paracast where you dont just hear the guests description of the topic, but can download the actual experience as a memory file and can make your own judgement "first hand" so to speak
data so pure its as if you had been there yourself

looking at the links i posted in the 1st post of the tread its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.
at first this tech will be used to help the disabled. a google of "brain implants" will show research into restoring hearing ,sight ,speech ,muscle control and more. but is applications go way way beyond repair

in the big picture i dont think even the Amish are safe, technology always seem to shape the shaper

 

[Ally]

You are probably right about not if but when as far as some of this technology will be implemented. You also seem to trust the powers to be to use these technologies for the good of humankind vs turning us in the BORG.

I still have a big problem with many aspects of the quick fix implants. For instance I would not like the intrusive nature of both the implant and it's artificial "gifts".There is a reason that masters of either martial arts or yogis take years to train and discipline their minds and bodies and develop wisdom.

Where is the wisdom in this culture?

 

[TClaeys]

Where is the wisdom in this culture?

I don't believe there is any wisdom in this scenario. What may appear to be an altruistic endeavor will likely result in a massive effort to control and artificially select those that will proceed to future generations. We are in awe of many technological births but they usually result in some type of control, manipulation, or overall aggresive pursuits of selfishness.

And you will see that we will, I think, merge WITH the technology itself into perhaps a new species. Possibly even a split of the haves and have-nots. The haves being bio-technological beings. As we become more technologically savvy combined with our understanding of genetics the two (technology and bio-lifeform) will undoubtedly become one.

I don't know that there is any escape from this reality, barring some major earth changing event like an asteroid. And then it is probably only a period of waiting before we again are on the brink of the mindlink of Toy Story's LGM's.

It is both a terrifying and fascinating possibility.

 

[mike]

Its already happening, i saw a doco on the cochlear implant the other day, and as far as i could see every person involved in each case thought the technology and the result was wonderful

http://www.skewsme.com/implants.html

the little glass cone switchs in the above , scroll down a bit, are already being used to allow some disabled people some control over the environment they would otherwise be helpless in. and its just the tip of the application ice berg.

" Each [neurotrophic electrode] consists of a hollow glass cone about the size of a ball-point pen tip. The implants…contain an electrode that picks up impulses from the nerve endings. Before they are implanted, the cones are coated with chemicals — taken from tissue inside the patients’ own knees — to encourage nerve growth. The implants are then placed in the brain’s motor cortex — which controls body movement — and over the course of the next few months the chemicals encourage nerve cells to grow and attach to the electrodes. A transmitter just inside the skull picks up signals from the cones and translates these into cursor commands on the computer."


the parents of the little girl who was deaf before the implants were crying tears of joy after the operation that essentially turned their baby into a cyborg

sure the govt could use it to make a robot out of you, but they can already lock you up and even give you the electric chair in some places.

web cams are only a crude parody of the potential. imagine being able to look through someone elses eyes in real time

 

[TClaeys]

web cams are only a crude parody of the potential. imagine being able to look through someone elses eyes in real time

Now imagine that you can be monitored anytime in any place. How would such technology affect our freedom(at least what we consider freedom)? I don't debate the positive aspects nor the negative, but I foresee many insidious endeavors. Better or worse than Orwellian depending on the point of view. Amazing stuff either way.

I don't think many people realize that in one long lifetime we have gone from the absence of planes, TV, radio, computers, practically the automobile, space program, nuclear devices, etc to all of the above. The next long lifetime will be of equal or greater technological significance. I hope to live long enough to see controlled age reversal. Wouldn't that be cool?? Then again, ... immortality might not be all that great, huh?

 

[mike]

do you think the puppy over a cliff story is more or less likely in a hive mind scenario ?

would you agree to a reality where an aberant individual like that could have his persona reprogramed based on the consensual quorum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum

how many of you on watching that video wanted him to be shot and or punished, what if we could recycle his soul and simply replace the thought patterns, the mental programing that allowed him to do such a thing

 

[mike]

as predicted

http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article3292.asp

"he was able to chat with researchers while he was exerting mental control of the cursor, TV or robot arm"