I am not a huge fan of star trek, although I enjoyed the Voyager series. It was actually meaningful to watch.

Anyways, a simple search of the Internet can prove to you that it's a proven science that we can turn our brain's activity into signals that can control mechanical motion, like a prosthetic or electronical motion, like a cursor on the screen or what not. Just google 'emotiv' and you'll find a plethora of information about just one company that is developing a head-set that reads your brains activity and translates it to a signal that can be used in many applications including gaming.

Another search will prove to you that through another computer chip, in a totally unrelated field, can restore sight to a blind person by sending a signal to the brain.

Bluetooth is a but one of many line-of-sight type of wireless communications available.

Combine them 3 technologies...

I have this vision of a future where people can 'link up' as they do on the Internet, but simply by thinking it and then viewing information, images, and video via the same type of feed that allows the blind to see again. We'll be able to communicate telepathically with technological assistance. If it became the norm, to communicate and socialize via this medium instead of through a computer network, I think there would be reduced crime. People would be able to find each other more easily by sending out thought broadcasts making kidnappings a sort of non-existent crime. Knowing that someone has criminal intentions can put people on alert around such a person. It wouldn't be right to make thoughts illegal but it sure would change the way you think if you knew someone could always 'see' or 'hear' your thoughts.

I can't even imagine the safeguards necessary. Everyone would need their own identity in this 'network', it would work like a bluetooth communication, not needing any central server. What if a virus of some sort were let loose? We could all potentially hallucinate whatever the virus is telling us to see. There would have to be a way to do it without an implant so that we could detach ourselves from such communication.

I can't help but wonder if strong willed individuals could end up influencing other persons' thoughts and eventually we could become borg-like with all similar thoughts. After a length of time, facts would pile up and people will see more clearly what we could accomplish more as a whole collective.

As insane as it sounds, the technology is already here. It just needs tweaking.

 

 

 

Reply

To be Borg-like, one essential facet is that you do not maintain individuality. The whole idea of the Borg is that you are assimilated into the larger mind. The Borg is one whole organism that becomes the minds of others. It does not merely control them; they feel no resistance. The Borg completely swallows your mind; the individual mind no longer exists, at all.

A more accurate name for what you're talking about is "cybernetically connected minds". Our minds will be "connected" in some way, as in the fact that we can communicate with each other through thoughts. However, there can be a "public" and "private" sector of our minds. More powerfully willed people do not really have any more advantage in these situations than they would have in the real world.

Reply

either way it's exciting to think about such a concept

i heard it takes a while to get used to 'thinking' the cursor on a screen into motion

what i'd really like to see though is a dream recording device...

Reply

I believe that's already being made.

Actually, what would be cool is a device that records your conscious thoughts as well as your dreams. (say you were thinking of a 13-digit number, and the computer could actually "read" your mind.)

Reply