“Read-and-write” neurotech implants are a reality. A device can be implanted in your brain that both “reads” your thoughts and feelings, and also “writes” new, artificial thoughts and memories directly into your head. The first successful read-and-write implant intercepts and records 80% of data sent to the brain’s hippocampus, giving users close-to-perfect recall of anything they have directly read, seen, or experienced. This neuro-data is saved in the cloud from where it can be sent to other implants. The company creating and servicing these implants hopes to anticipate potential individual risks and widespread social impacts of its new product.
–from Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens course by Institute for the Future
The Institute for the Future presented some guide questions to keep the conversation going. Here are my responses:
How would this world be different from today?
In this world, people become dependent on their stored memories in the cloud (or wherever data is stored by then). And instead of remembering everything they find memorable or consider important, they would prefer to draw them out from the cloud.
This will also reshape how we do school (like regurgitating information that’s already on the Internet) and developing our relationships.
What would you be excited about in this future?
I am excited about how these neurotech implants improve how I remember a lot of things. If these implants are given at birth, all the dim memories we used to have when we were kids will be as vivid that we’ll never remember what it’s like to forget.
What would you worry about in this future?
Neuroscience is expected to be at the forefront of product innovation. However, I am concerned about how these implants invade my body, thoughts, relationships, and life in general.
And because your memories become data stored someplace, hacking would be really worrisome in this future. Where people can steal your identity, and who knows how they’re going to use it for their benefit? Data privacy is also a concern in this future. That if any authoritarian rule or bad actors will have access to our memories, we might as well lose our free will because of the “write” capability of this technology. We might become a puppet (in the sense of being manipulated) to whatever the ruling authority or bad actors want us to do and become.
Who benefits in this future?
Since this will be a human upgrade, the venture capitalists who invested early will significantly benefit in this future.
Crime investigators and historians also benefit in this future.
Who is at a disadvantage in this future?
Like any technological advancements, there’s always a divide between those who can afford and those who can’t. So the people who cannot afford this technology will be at a disadvantage in this future.
Do you share the same sentiments like I do? Let’s keep the conversation going! Feel free to message me here or share this post with a friend.
jessa 