<story><title>Darpa Wants Brain Implants That Record from 1M Neurons</title><url>http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/darpa-wants-brain-implants-that-record-from-1-million-neurons</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sillysaurus3</author><text>If you were offered the chance to become as intelligent as Feynman but only if you turn over a copy of all your future thoughts to the private business that made this possible, would you take it? Something non-invasive, like a computer that images your brain while you sleep.&lt;p&gt;If we are machines, then it seems reasonable that within a few millennia we might have this capability. I&amp;#x27;m trying to think up some scenarios where it might be reasonable to turn over your brain to a business.&lt;p&gt;The ability to become &amp;quot;immortal&amp;quot; would probably be enough for most people. Is your disembodied mind still you? Do you feel an attachment to the idea of preserving it? What about modifying it?&lt;p&gt;Where it gets really strange is if you think of your wife or husband making a backup of their brain, then running a simulator on that backup. I.e. giving it &amp;quot;life&amp;quot; by letting the simulated neurons fire. Does that count as thinking? What if you can see those thoughts? What if you can communicate? Would you love them just as much as you love your SO?&lt;p&gt;Probably useless questions, but I can&amp;#x27;t help but wonder.&lt;p&gt;(I&amp;#x27;ve expanded my comment since it was posted; the &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;&amp;#x27;s are in response to the first question.)&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>captainmuon</author><text>I think we should really fix society before we develop that kind of technology. We need a socio-cultural breaktrough of the same magnitude as the technological breakthrough. Something on par with the development of monotheism, enlightenment, capitalism, or democracy. A &amp;quot;communistic&amp;quot; utopia (for lack of a better word) without the flaws of its historical implementations. Then the question is moot. There is no private business, or indeed any other entity, government or private, that you would make such a &lt;i&gt;deal&lt;/i&gt; with. There is no second party that wants to withhold technology, or steal your thoughts. Rather it will be &amp;quot;From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs&amp;quot; - you get the augmentation for free, and you contribute what you feel comfortable sharing back to society.&lt;p&gt;Often, utopia is portrayed as the result of a technolocial breakthrough, sometimes &amp;quot;if we could read each others thoughts there would be no misunderstanding and conflict&amp;quot;. I believe it is the other way around - utopia is a precondition for singularity-type technology. At least, if we want it to be beneficial and not hellish.&lt;p&gt;Brain implants are easy, communism is going to be hard.</text></comment>
<story><title>Darpa Wants Brain Implants That Record from 1M Neurons</title><url>http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/darpa-wants-brain-implants-that-record-from-1-million-neurons</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sillysaurus3</author><text>If you were offered the chance to become as intelligent as Feynman but only if you turn over a copy of all your future thoughts to the private business that made this possible, would you take it? Something non-invasive, like a computer that images your brain while you sleep.&lt;p&gt;If we are machines, then it seems reasonable that within a few millennia we might have this capability. I&amp;#x27;m trying to think up some scenarios where it might be reasonable to turn over your brain to a business.&lt;p&gt;The ability to become &amp;quot;immortal&amp;quot; would probably be enough for most people. Is your disembodied mind still you? Do you feel an attachment to the idea of preserving it? What about modifying it?&lt;p&gt;Where it gets really strange is if you think of your wife or husband making a backup of their brain, then running a simulator on that backup. I.e. giving it &amp;quot;life&amp;quot; by letting the simulated neurons fire. Does that count as thinking? What if you can see those thoughts? What if you can communicate? Would you love them just as much as you love your SO?&lt;p&gt;Probably useless questions, but I can&amp;#x27;t help but wonder.&lt;p&gt;(I&amp;#x27;ve expanded my comment since it was posted; the &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;&amp;#x27;s are in response to the first question.)&lt;p&gt;Also, &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amelius</author><text>&amp;gt; If you were offered the chance to become as intelligent as Feynman but only if you turn over a copy of all your future thoughts to the private business that made this possible, would you take it?&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;And, my students, if we equate both expressions, then, ... ahem, by the way, do you know how easy it is to get a brain extension from Acme Corp?&amp;quot;</text></comment>