Background to this slightly weird question: I found one of my old an English exams on science fiction and dystopian literature from the 11th grade in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany (ca. 2004) and found a similar question. The idea back then was to discuss the pro- and cons of a BCI (and I objectively did not do to well back then) . I am interested about people’s opinions.
No way, it would be cool at first then after awhile they would start with the freaking ads and subscriptions
After 45 years of living I’ve learned that the future sucks and capitalism ruins everything. So no, I’ll pass on the brain ship. If I’m disabled enough to need one, I live in America and there’s plenty of gun stores.
I already have one. It came out in the 90’s. It’s called MindDrive. I’m sure that similar devices made in the modern day are way better.
But that’s not really what I want anymore. Being able to control the PC with my thoughts is a novelty for me. Far more useful to the disabled. What I want is the reverse; I don’t want to send signals from my brain to the computer, I want computer signals to my brain. Like a VR system that uses your visual cortex to directly generate images in your perception and send other feedback to trick your brain ala Total Recall.
Or being able to give myself entirely new senses with an implant (possible right now; but there’s no commercially available products I am aware of).
I’m hoping that by the time I’m ready to retire I can just throw my shambling soon to be corpse into a pod and Jack into the matrix for the last 5 to 10 years of my life.
If I have kids or grandkids or whatever they can all come and visit me while I’m out fighting demons with my harem of ultra-powered sword mage catgirlfriends.
Yes but only if it’s actually secure and safe ie. fully open source
This. We already have cybernetic eyes, but the company went bellyup, so once the ones already installed stop working, the users are fucked. If it were open source, they’d be some effort, either corporate or community to create an update.
Agree. I would also insist on it being supported by a socialised health system with control over pharmaceutical pricing.
useful brain-computer interface
It’s called a keyboard, and I already have one.
If we’re talking about the neural lace from the Culture Sci-Fi series, hell yeah. It’s all nanotech that could be installed and removed in a non-invasive way. You get a lot more control over your body, enhanced cognition, mental backups so you’re really hard to kill permanently, comms, all the knowledge, VR more real than reality, control a robot as an extension of your body, etc.
They were still vulnerable to remote takeover in extreme and unusual situations. I think an EMP like thing would switch them off.
Realistically would I let somebody put something running binaries written in C and ad supported apps in my head? Not happening.
No
The way the world is moving towards the subscription model - no way. Imagine some company having the ability to remotely disable the chip.
If the BCI was implanted with no external communication, perhaps. Depends on how it will benefit me.
Despite my best efforts to get away from computers, I still find myself attached to them in one way or another during most of my waking hours. Lemmy is my computer time that acts as a mental break from other computer time. Connecting in an even more intimate way sounds horrible.
Blessed be the omnissiah! But no, in this world companies would ruin it in some way by making the T&Cs insane and loading ads into your brain or something
I don’t think that I would ever trust this, considering the state of everything currently. But yeah, if it was secure and safe. I think it would be cool to have things like better storage capabilities, eyesight enhancements, auxiliary sensations, etc.
It probably wouldn’t be cheap either though, which already puts the concept out of my reach.
shrugs
“Secure and safe” is doing a lot of very heavy lifting here. But, taking that at face value - it cannot be compromised by malicious third parties, it will not break like having the wires retract and has no capacity to cause damage to my person, the worst thing that can happen is that it deactivates and my body dissolves it and absorbs or passes the remains, etc etc - sure, of course.
Any such interface needs to be non-invasive/removable for me to use one.
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Entirely depends on how it’d work. If it’s a good one and makes me able to access all of humanity’s combined knowledge… Sure, why not? If it’s a bad one and makes me hooked on some virtual world, or I have a good chance of getting hacked and walk around like a zombie or ends me in a scifi dystopia… No. I don’t think I can decide without knowing more details.
