<story><title>The human cost of neurotechnology failure</title><url>https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>drodgers</author><text>I really like the proposal from John Scalzi&amp;#x27;s &amp;#x27;Lock In&amp;#x27; series where companies that produce neural implants have to establish a trust or insurance contract with enough assets to pay for the maintenance of any implants for the lifetime of the recipients, regardless of what happens to the company.&lt;p&gt;Governments could provide generous subsidies, tax breaks etc. to such funds to reduce the barrier for entry for companies.&lt;p&gt;Without some solution like this, it&amp;#x27;s hard to imagine any non-essential neural implants really taking off: who would ever buy a neural lace from a startup — or even an established company like Google who might just lose interest — if there was no guarentee of patches and maintenance?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>icelancer</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Without some solution like this, it&amp;#x27;s hard to imagine any non-essential neural implants really taking off: who would ever buy a neural lace from a startup — or even an established company like Google who might just lose interest — if there was no guarentee of patches and maintenance?&lt;p&gt;Speaking as someone who lived with chronic, daily, horrific pain for years before a surgery miraculously solved most of my problems - if that surgery had not worked or wasn&amp;#x27;t available, I would have eventually signed up.&lt;p&gt;Thousands or more people live with debilitating pain that drives them to suicidal ideation, drug abuse, and worse.&lt;p&gt;We already live in the future you describe and people turn to far worse things than neural implants to cope.</text></comment>
<story><title>The human cost of neurotechnology failure</title><url>https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03810-5/index.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>drodgers</author><text>I really like the proposal from John Scalzi&amp;#x27;s &amp;#x27;Lock In&amp;#x27; series where companies that produce neural implants have to establish a trust or insurance contract with enough assets to pay for the maintenance of any implants for the lifetime of the recipients, regardless of what happens to the company.&lt;p&gt;Governments could provide generous subsidies, tax breaks etc. to such funds to reduce the barrier for entry for companies.&lt;p&gt;Without some solution like this, it&amp;#x27;s hard to imagine any non-essential neural implants really taking off: who would ever buy a neural lace from a startup — or even an established company like Google who might just lose interest — if there was no guarentee of patches and maintenance?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>slibhb</author><text>Two kinds of people will buy them: enthusiasts and people suffering from chronic conditions with nowhere else to turn. Similarly, you can buy unapproved, unresearched medication on the internet. You take on the risk.&lt;p&gt;Personally I like the idea that people can take their lives in their own hands. As long as it&amp;#x27;s clear that they&amp;#x27;re opting out of the guiderails put into place for those of us who are more cautious.</text></comment>