Will Musk get takers for offer to link brain, computer?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Tyler Cowen / Bloomberg Opinion

Elon Musk’s Neuralink received approval last week from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct human clinical trials, which one former FDA official called “really a big deal.” I do not disagree, but I am skeptical that this technology will “change everything.” Not every profound technological advance has broad social and economic implications.

With Neuralink’s device, a robot surgically inserts a device into the brain that can then decode some brain activity and connect the brain signals to computers and other machines. A person paralyzed from the neck down, for example, could use the interface to manipulate her physical environment, as well as to write and communicate.

This would indeed be a breakthrough; for people with paralysis or traumatic brain injuries. For others, I am not so sure. For purposes of argument, as there are many companies working in this space, assume this technology works as advertised. Who exactly will want to use it?

One fear is that the brain-machine connections will be expensive, and that only the wealthy will be able to afford them. These people will become a new class of “super-thinkers,” lording over us with their superior intellects.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-will-musk-get-takers-for-offer-to-link-brain-computer/

[tanyev]

1. He should volunteer to go first, to assure people that it's safe.

[republianmushroom]

4. agree

[Rebl2]

6. +1

[brush]

2. Nah, not until he works out his continually failing self-drivng cars.

You'd have to be crazy to trust that guy with free reign in your brain.

[CentralMass]

3. Maybe some sycophantic fanboys.

[orthoclad]

5. Brain implants, as seen in Nova, by Samuel Delany

The classic 1968 sf novel Nova by Samuel Delany is very complex, but one of its central themes is that nearly all humans have brain implants. People use these implants to perform nearly all forms of labor. This addresses the problem of "labor alienation", in that people have a direct connection from the brain to the labor they perform.

There's a long wiki on the novel here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_(novel) . The wiki explores the very many themes which this slim novel explores. Here's a paragraph from the wiki about the brain implants:

Although the society seems on the edge of a revolution (or some other unspecified major change), the future of the novel is optimistic. As Katin reveals in one of his expository monologues, the problem of labor alienation has been overcome through the use of technology: practically all humans have cyborg socket implants that allow them to interface directly with the machines they use. These sockets are highly adaptable. Characters plug them into everything from small vacuum cleaners to the navigational systems of starships. By directly interfacing with the machines, workers are able to identify with their work, and the result is greater psychological wellbeing and less labor alienation.

The wiki above links to another wiki about labor alienation:

Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement (German: Entfremdung) of people from aspects of their human nature (Gattungswesen, 'species-being') as a consequence of the division of labor and living in a society of stratified social classes. The alienation from the self is a consequence of being a mechanistic part of a social class, the condition of which estranges a person from their humanity.[1]
The theoretical basis of alienation is that the worker invariably loses the ability to determine life and destiny when deprived of the right to think (conceive) of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people; and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by their own labour. Although the worker is an autonomous, self-realized human being, as an economic entity this worker is directed to goals and diverted to activities that are dictated by the bourgeoisie—who own the means of production—in order to extract from the worker the maximum amount of surplus value in the course of business competition among industrialists.

The direct link between brain and machine is a common theme in sf, but the implications of it are deeply considered in Nova. I strongly recommend the book, especially since Delany is a living author and can benefit from purchases.

This is a revolutionary technology. What worries me is having it in the hands of Musk, a capitalist exploiter with terrible labor practices. We should try to stop him from cornering the market on brain interface. He holds way too much power as it is.