Brain-Internet Connection a real threat
Posted by DrZarkov99 4 years, 7 months ago to Technology
Elon Musk's Neuralink promises to enable a direct brain to internet connection soon, but are we prepared for it? The positive side of instant access to the vast sea of information is offset by the incredibly invasive danger of access to our most private thoughts. There are no safeguards currently in place to protect us, and a real probability of great influence bordering on mind control (DARPA is already studying the mind control aspects of this technology). How do we protect ourselves against this very real threat?
You Will Be Assimilated!
If you can't beat them, join them and make it your own creation! Well played......
Edit add: This whole thing rests on this excerpt from an article on the subject showing it's based on the science fiction story by Iain M. Banks' "The Culture" where "The Culture is a futuristic interstellar utopian, post-scarcity space society of humanoids, aliens, and very advanced artificial intelligence living in socialist habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy." So there you have it. Stalin couldn't get socialism to work with guns and gulags, so the science fiction utopians are going to plug us all in like the Borg.
Thinking originally is anti-utopian.
The base stations (for use in urban and suburban environments) will be used in tandem with the earth orbiting array, all networked and AI controlled. For those who think this is far off, you couldn't be more wrong! Smart "appliances", intelligent meters and even coffee pots, vacuum cleaners, etc. are now Internet enabled.
Control is and will continue to be remote with owners having little or no control (other than disconnecting) these "magical" devices. This is Skynet on steroids!
Good luck to the human race!!!
"Smart" appliances and meters, etc. are virtually dumb as bricks, but may seem quite clever or even magical to the less informed because they can turn things on/off or report a value like a temperature or how many gallons of water you used last month. They are not "smart" or intelligent in any way. The fact that a transceiver chip was added to them so you can direct them from your cell phone doesn't make them any "smarter" - you are the one with the smarts using your cell phone instead of a wall switch or a dial on the device itself. The times when all this can cause trouble is when someone besides you gains access to your dumb as brick devices (such as your car's computer) and makes it do something you'd rather it didn't.
One of the main reason companies like Verizon have to add towers is to add band width so smart folks like us can control our dumb as bricks appliances with our cell phones without worrying about dead spots or overloading. Slick programming algorithms (mistakenly referred to as AI) are used to keep the load moving from tower to tower without overloading a particular tower - not even close to Skynet. These guys are up to their necks just keeping the "damn thing" working so they can bill you every month with a minimum of complaints.
Other slick programming algorithms (mistakenly referred to as AI) used by companies like Google and Amazon to sell you stuff screw up all the time, but are good enough to suck in the more gullible or naive among us to make money. Algorithms supposedly designed to monitor content are so screwed up they can hardly be referred to as "intelligent". They are programs doing whatever the programmers coded them to do - no intelligence there! Decades ago I was told in a conversation that "computers are very fast idiots" meaning they will do exactly as programmed very quickly.
Now let's give a little thought to computer/brain interface. The research here continues and some progress in understanding brain section reaction to various stimulus has been mapped on a macro level, but nothing really specific. Poke here and a leg moves, prod there and you forget when you were born. One of the problems is the brain is an analog system that is as much chemical as it electrical. No one has discovered how to plug into it to gain an insight to its intelligence processing. No one has figured out how to interface to the brain of a gnat, either. Think about a non invasive cellular level neurotransmitter interpreter/composer interface. Haven't seen anything even close to that other than in fantasy science fiction movies.
Relax, everyone. "They" are not even close!
First, a little of my background. I was an IT Project Manager for AT&T, a technology Program Manager with a large defense contractor (BAE Systems) as well as a data center manager for ML&Co with a historic first with the Federal Reserve Bank of NY under my belt. With my background, I worked extensively with the DoD, the private sector including with very advanced technologies in optics, high speed optical, solid state data storage and intelligent targeting systems so, I do have a little insight into what is here now, what is rapidly coming down the pike and a problematic juncture where we are heading for technologically.
As for our IOT (Internet of Things) being a collection of dumb devices, that is factually somewhat accurate but not totally. There are already advanced algorithms being developed (witness the breakthroughs in robotics and spacecraft) that without any trouble at all, your "smart" devices can become very intelligent such as your current variety of TV that can, with little difficulty, be "managed" without your knowledge or control should that be desired. That is not even really something new (early cable tv had some such capabilities to a certain extent). We have been heading in the direction of optical computing for some time now and even though not there yet, great advances have been made, all helping usher in the "Golden Age" of AI and networked devices. Human/machine interfaces aren't that far behind.
As for AI (or what is known as AI), the work on various approaches and components have been going on for a while as well. In the mid to late 90's there were products such as Top Of Mind by the Molloy Group that integrated a number of AI centric approaches into a "trainable" knowledge based system capable of learning much the same way as the human brain does (note: the technology is much more advanced now) and the use of bots became even more widespread, initially on Wall Street. Today, they are being integrated into all types of advanced systems, including those by NASA and the DoD.
Also, there has already been much progress on the man/machine interfaces (yes, even with the "analogue" restriction) that are enabling much greater interactions between the human brain, the nervous system with devices including chip enabled interfaces. That is not really new either.
I do agree however, to a certain extent that the widespread roll out of these capabilities could still be down the road however, putting in the building blocks piece by piece including the various integral components is already well under way, that I can assure you.
Regarding "Smart" appliances and meters being "dumb as bricks", that is true until they are programmed and have controllers put in (or enabled). That also is not new and the capabilities of controlling things through a homes electrical system was actually done in Japan back in the 1980's (internet connectivity). All components have been in place and accessible if so desired. The "Intelligent" power grid is the holy grail if you will for energy conservation and other capabilities that come into scope. All that is needed is the will and the willingness to invest in these technologies. Being a somewhat savvy technology centered person myself, the handwriting is clearly on the wall for those who wish to see it. Other than that, whistling past the graveyard with these advanced capabilities does not make it an impossible fantasy. To the contrary, by minimizing the impacts, it becomes that much easier to slip all of this into place before the average person realizes it. Viola! Endgame....
In reality, I am much more interested in the abuse of privacy that even in its rudimentary form represents a quantum leap in the loss of same and with the loss of privacy, you have a definite loss of freedom. What exists now is interesting but far from the real and present concerns mentioned. I believe that if you stop and think about the ramifications, especially not too far down the road, you too would have such concerns.
So, in a nutshell, I am not in total disagreement as to where we are today however my focus is on what is coming next and how that will without a doubt influence our lives in ways not yet in focus. Truth be told.
Here’s a few bullet points with my point of view addressing your input and maybe a few other things.
- I’d really like to see success in an optical computer. They’ve been predicted and researched for decades now, but seem to be elusive. The promised speed and bandwidth capabilities are enormous, not to mention EMP immunity. IMHO though, they will still hold to the “fast idiot” description my friend placed on computers as I mentioned in the previous note except optical computers will be even faster idiots. They will still only do exactly as they are programmed.
- I understand now days any device that contains a processor chip and a bit of programming is labeled “smart”, such as if my refrigerator can message my iPhone with a full/empty status of the automatic ice cube container it’s called “smart” or even “intelligent”. IMHO, I know better. It’s still a dumb as a brick refrigerator with a nicely engineered feature (or annoyance, as the case may be, lol). If folks want to call an appliance with an onboard chip that improves its efficiency or adds new features “smart” or ”magic”, then I guess I don’t need to complain.
- If my devices are being “managed” (your TV example and my car computer example) without my knowledge it will be someone doing it. It isn’t an intelligent “what” out there, it’s an intelligent “who” and that “who” may not have our best interests in mind. I say the device being managed isn’t intelligent or even “smart”, but it’s onboard features are being accessed or used by a smart human with a motive. This brings up the dark side of what we are discussing and as you say there are many “building blocks piece by piece” even available today. Simple easy to see examples of that is Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home, which are always listening and need an Internet connection to process what they hear. Easy trick to tap into the conversation - George Orwell was way ahead of the game on this one. Less obvious is the fact that microphones and cameras built into our mobile phones and home computers hypothetically can also be accessed without our knowledge. Your statement “In reality, I am much more interested in the abuse of privacy that even in its rudimentary form represents a quantum leap in the loss of same and with the loss of privacy, you have a definite loss of freedom.” regarding this topic is right on the money, but I say it will be a “who” with an agenda invading our privacy through our devices.
- Merging man and machine, specifically the thinking brain to surf the net, which is what sparked this conversation to begin with. The way I see it, the most progress in physical man/machine interface has been done in the prosthesis field of artificial limbs, which I mentioned earlier. None of this is through direct brain interfacing to “thought control” an artificial part, but the most advanced connection is by monitoring an electrical pulse from a piece of muscle tissue or nerve ending long after the brain has sent the signal. It’s like responding to a computer controlled LED blinking light and having no idea how the light is made to blink in the first place. Even this connection is not an easy task and the field is in its infancy regarding common application. Matrix style brain/machine interface? This is where I say the “what if” hasn’t been invented yet and the “when if” is likely so far into the future it isn’t worth anyone in our generation to even worry about.
- AI. Very clever and complex coding techniques to approach a given problem. Yes, I’m being simplistic, but lets use an AI chess program as an example. Once the program “learns” to play chess, that is all it will ever do (and likely it was designed to be a chess program right from the beginning). It has no volition to self decide to stop playing chess and go for a ride on a spacecraft to mars. Likewise an AI spacecraft routine isn’t going to decide give up monitor/control of the spacecraft and play chess instead. As far as I know, at this time intelligent “volition” is not yet programmable. However, science fiction writers always assume such traits “somehow” manifest themselves without any clue as to how it was done. Computers do what they are programmed to do very quickly.
Uh-oh, I’m being interrupted and have to run…
As for the mind control angle, studies have shown how Google used information responses to sway millions of independent voters to support Hillary Clinton in 2016. With a more omnipresent connection, how much more influence a big tech company might have on individual choices?
The mind control angle. This is another vehicle of propaganda. People with an agenda hijacking tech. Do you think with exposure (like fake news being exposed) less people will pay attention to it?
The "protection" comes in a disguise to protect when liberal interests are threatened.