Will you receive a neural implant?

[Eftsoon]

These are set to become commercially available within the next 50 years. Essentially, your phone with all its capabilities (and many more) will be implanted in your skull. You will be able to call everything up with thought alone. VR will also be possible.

AR will be more or less constant (you will see notifications popping up in your field of vision superimposed over the real world)

There will also be read and write capability. People will read the data flow inside your skull and obviously with the right security clearance write to it.

Telepathy will be quite trivial. Memory will be limited only by storage capacity. Eventually these will become far more sophisticated. The VR will become more immersive. 'Superhuman' abilities will start to emerge such as enhanced senses, time lapse, microscopic vision etc. It will start to bed down into your consciousness more and more, affecting thought and perception in deeper ways until there is no division between the machine and the human.

Is this something that Christians should adopt or not?

PS Elon Musk has already invented one called Neuralink


This is absolutely a theological question. This will make us reassess our humanity. We'll be interfacing with machines directly. Once we have them embedded in our skull, there is no escaping. You won't be turning them off. You'll be dependent on it to function. It will be tied up with memory and thinking and emotion to the extent that it'll only be off while you sleep.
Crucially, we'll be giving ultimate power to corporations and governments who will not use it responsibly. The changes that technology has already induced will be mulitplied a thousandfold.

 

[Paulos23]

I wouldn't mind having a cybermind. I would have to learn to turn it off more than I do my phone, but a connection to a phone or computer could be useful.

I would wait a few years first and make sure it works ok.

 

[durangodawood]

Depends on what OS it will run.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

A key question will probably be, "Can you afford a neural implant?". I can see a range of more or less expensive enhancements, and a lively bootleg market.

William Gibson entertainingly foresaw much of that in the early 1980's in his cyberpunk 'Sprawl' trilogy - 'Count Zero', 'Neuromancer', and 'Burning Chrome'. Great reads...

 

[Nithavela]

I don't think implants will catch on. After all, getting a new device would be a ridiculous deal. Probably only some sort of access port, with the real hardware being external.

 

[WolfGate]

These are set to become commercially available within the next 50 years. Essentially, your phone with all its capabilities (and many more) will be implanted in your skull. You will be able to call everything up with thought alone. VR will also be possible.

AR will be more or less constant (you will see notifications popping up in your field of vision superimposed over the real world)

There will also be read and write capability. People will read the data flow inside your skull and obviously with the right security clearance write to it.

Telepathy will be quite trivial. Memory will be limited only by storage capacity. Eventually these will become far more sophisticated. The VR will become more immersive. 'Superhuman' abilities will start to emerge such as enhanced senses, time lapse, microscopic vision etc. It will start to bed down into your consciousness more and more, affecting thought and perception in deeper ways until there is no division between the machine and the human.

Is this something that Christians should adopt or not?

PS Elon Musk has already invented one called Neuralink

Not a Christian/non-Christian question as it has no basis or impact in theology. Question is should anyone adopt such technology? I have no desire for it, but who knows where technology will be and what people will value 50 years from now. I'll likely be dead by then.

 

[ironbjorn]

To have all of your thoughts just floating out there? Lol no

 

[Eftsoon]

I didn't give my opinion, but it seems , at best, inavisable to admit Amazon, Google and Facebook into your literal headspace given their track record for manipulation.

 

[Eftsoon]

Not a Christian/non-Christian question as it has no basis or impact in theology. Question is should anyone adopt such technology? I have no desire for it, but who knows where technology will be and what people will value 50 years from now. I'll likely be dead by then.

This will give corporations power to reconstruct your inner world. By this I mean that the implants will combine the digital layer with our neural layer. The digital layer is the world that is being constructed by tech companies. it is currently an ecosystem but it is becoming more organic and is starting to resemble a subcreation (a world of its own).
Interfacing with this tech universe so intimately gives corporations and governments ultimate power. They are tapped into the soul. Remember these will be read and write.
Dependence is inevitable due to the very nature of the things. We will rely on them to think and process information. They'll be wired 'through' our brains. Think of a root system beddnig down into neural tissue.

 

[Ophiolite]

Random, on-topic thoughts:

• Almost all, perhaps all, human inventions can be postive, neutral, or negative in their use. Ultimately it is the choices made by the people who use them that determine which.
• The impact of fake news during the last couple of US elections demonstrate that one doesn't need a computer to be hooked into your brain to corrupt your thinking.
• Very few people would have predicted in 1960 the role of the internet we experience today - including both its advantages and disadvantages.
• I wouldn't mind a system that monitored my physcial functions, reported to an AI, then warned me off the cheescake, or called up the ambulance and defibrollator if I ignored the advice.
• I don't let farcebook invade my current life. I'd certainly not access it directly.
  
• With appropriate safeguards the connectivity could be immensely valuable.
• I'd be interested to see how those safeguards could actually be assured.

 

[seeking.IAM]

I am not expecting to be here in 50 years. For now, I'm perfectly satisfied with my Covid-19 microchip that will allow me to be tracked and returned home to my wife when I aimlesly wander off.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Crucially, we'll be giving ultimate power to corporations and governments who will not use it responsibly. The changes that technology has already induced will be mulitplied a thousandfold.

What you say here is the real problem.

And, like many supposed 'mark of the beast' claims before it, this too will be claimed, poo-poo'ed and thus declared innocent of harm, neglecting the 'control' question.

I have a question about the presenting of the product --how often already have we heard that the intentions of the producers justifies the danger of misuse? (Google and Facebook know more about me than I know, myself! But, of course, their ONLY reason to monitor my searches and sayings is to make a better shopping experience for me and their advertisers!)

Not too long ago, I was worried that self-driving cars would mean loss of freedom, via loss of anonymity. But this, which I agree will happen sooner or later, (and to some degree probably already has in prototype / experimental stages), will make self-driving vehicles look like child's play. I would not be surprised that loss of self-control of parts of one's behavior will be introduced, to include attempts at elimination of religion. It may be that control of the masses can be accomplished without the media.

 

[Ponderous Curmudgeon]

These are set to become commercially available within the next 50 years. Essentially, your phone with all its capabilities (and many more) will be implanted in your skull. You will be able to call everything up with thought alone. VR will also be possible.

AR will be more or less constant (you will see notifications popping up in your field of vision superimposed over the real world)

There will also be read and write capability. People will read the data flow inside your skull and obviously with the right security clearance write to it.

Telepathy will be quite trivial. Memory will be limited only by storage capacity. Eventually these will become far more sophisticated. The VR will become more immersive. 'Superhuman' abilities will start to emerge such as enhanced senses, time lapse, microscopic vision etc. It will start to bed down into your consciousness more and more, affecting thought and perception in deeper ways until there is no division between the machine and the human.

Is this something that Christians should adopt or not?

PS Elon Musk has already invented one called Neuralink


This is absolutely a theological question. This will make us reassess our humanity. We'll be interfacing with machines directly. Once we have them embedded in our skull, there is no escaping. You won't be turning them off. You'll be dependent on it to function. It will be tied up with memory and thinking and emotion to the extent that it'll only be off while you sleep.
Crucially, we'll be giving ultimate power to corporations and governments who will not use it responsibly. The changes that technology has already induced will be mulitplied a thousandfold.

We are well on our way there already, so I guess we better get to work on making it such that we don't need to fear corporations and governments and whatever other control organizations you wish to add. Ultimately, it is individual vs. society and how do we make it work as we have been doing for many thousands of years.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

... I would not be surprised that loss of self-control of parts of one's behavior will be introduced, to include attempts at elimination of religion. It may be that control of the masses can be accomplished without the media.

Who knows? Maybe cyborg enhancements and electronic transcendence will lead to the development of new religions based on the mental integration of groups via electronic technologies - literally 'groupthink'. Or maybe the worship of advanced AIs...

This has all been explored in 20th century science fiction.

For an explosive view of a future where organized religion is outlawed, you can't beat Alfred Bester's 1956 book, 'Tiger Tiger' aka 'The Stars My Destination'.

 

[dlamberth]

It would give the popping a question to the Hive Mind a whole new reality.

 

[Eftsoon]

Who knows? Maybe cyborg enhancements and electronic transcendence will lead to the development of new religions based on the mental integration of groups via electronic technologies - literally 'groupthink'. Or maybe the worship of advanced AIs...

This has all been explored in 20th century science fiction.

For an explosive view of a future where organized religion is outlawed, you can't beat Alfred Bester's 1956 book, 'Tiger Tiger' aka 'The Stars My Destination'.

Hugo De Garis and the artilect war springs to mind. That and the idea of the omega point as popularised by transhumanists.

 

[Ophiolite]

For an explosive view of a future where organized religion is outlawed, you can't beat Alfred Bester's 1956 book, 'Tiger Tiger' aka 'The Stars My Destination'.

A classic from a classic period. It doesn't make my Top Ten, but it must be somewhere in my top fifty.

 

[seeking.IAM]

If one is interested in the subject of AI and it's impact upon our future, I highly recommned reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. I found it a very interesting read.

 

[Vap841]

Will my brain melt if there’s an EMP?

 

[Eftsoon]

If one is interested in the subject of AI and it's impact upon our future, I highly recommned reading 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. I found it a very interesting read.

Homo Deus (another of his books) touts the idea that humans are algorithms and that mankind will be replaced by the 'godman'. It is mildly interesting reading. I would say go elsewhere for genuinely useful content. He is not an authority. His books belong with the gum, tic tacs and tawdry romance pulp.