Neuralink’s “The Link” component isn't a magic brain chip, it’s a “Black Mirror” episode coming to life and I dread the day it happens.
Neuralink’s creators claim it’s the future of brain interfaces and describe it as “building devices” that will help people with neurological damage. It’s also inventing new neurotechnologies that will expand our abilities and world as we know it, according to its website.
The company’s most famous co-founder is Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Musk said in an interview with The Observer that the chip can be installed in a person’s brain by drilling a two-millimeter hole into the skull placing electrodes and a small receiver under the skull.
When people receive this chip, they’re becoming a little less human and a little more robot.
The chip’s starting technology sounds innovative but only when discussing how it helps with serious spinal-cord injuries and neurological disorders. Musk said in an interview with CNET that the future of Neuralink is to ultimately download your memories and code into a new body or a robot body.
CNET (computer network) is a media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology
Ethical lines blurred when Musk talked about becoming one with artificial intelligence.
In a 2018 appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Musk said the best-case scenario with Neuralink is that “we effectively merge with [artificial intelligence].”
The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast hosted by comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
In the digital environment, everything is connected and can be manipulated with ease.
Even now, people can have every online profile, from bank accounts to social media accounts, hacked and wiped out.
Imagine losing all the information in your head.
Currently, the main concern for Neuralink is its vulnerability to hacks and cyber attacks. This particular problem will be a massive cause of concern because of “digital death.”
Digital death is protecting your online media assets when you die by picking your heir, according to Digital Death’s webpage.
If my chip is susceptible to hacking, could someone give me false memories? Could they upload their memories into my chip, so I’m digitally dead?
Once technology is advanced enough for us to choose how much of the human brain we want to be merged with AI, it will be hard to decide how much is too much.
Neuralink isn’t a mandatory accessory but neither is a smartphone, an Amazon Alexa or a Tesla and yet they’re society's new normal.
For example, a smartphone is’t a necessity, but not having one puts you at a social disadvantage.
The chip isn’t necessary, but if I’m looking for a job and my competition is someone whose brain processes at the speed of a computer, I’m at a terrible disadvantage.
While Neuralink is far from uploading one’s entire personality into a robot, its main objective is to simultaneously record and stimulate brain activity, according to a Dec. 7, 2021 Business Insider article.
There are countless warnings in film that have told society about the risks of artificial intelligence. I don’t want my life to be a Black Mirror episode. I don’t want the world around me to look like “Ghost in the Shell.”
The Neuralink chip isn’t something to be excited about, it’s something to be feared.
