Technology

So reading what was posted my concern is that medical startups that sell it properly aren't prepared for several decades of supporting it.

I'm quite supportive of disability assisting technology and the ability to use machines to connect the brain to the body or prostheses are things I'm generally in favor of (when the disabled are consulted and listened to).

Now, Elon's cyberpunk nightmare version of this where minds and computers are swapping thoughts directly? No, I'm not on board with that. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be anywhere near the horizon.

Yo count me in

Bidirectional is a "hell no." One-directional I can get on board with, though I don't like the idea of my thoughts being available to anyone else. Minimal interface where I can control typing of a keyboard or drive a car or whatever, sure. I don't want anything that can read ALL of my thoughts, because once that thing is connected to the internet then you know it'll be monetized and weaponized.

I don’t think the understanding of the human brain is really good enough to engineer a properly functional one.

And I suspect that any companies touting they have such a device are ether overstating how effective what they have is, or outright lying about the capabilities.

If we did have enough understanding to engineer a device, I suspect it would be possible to fix such issues without grafting in electronics.

Anything beyond publicly funded research smells of grift to me.

what do you mean my thoughts on bidirectional brain-computer interfaces

The guaranteed abuse of this technology far FAR outweighs the benefits, imo.

A better solution to combat those disorders would be to prevent their formation in the first place with early detection and improved medical sciences and procedures.

The human brain is one of the last places we have left that isn't entirely owned and controlled by some corporation or state agency. I do not trust any government to regulate it properly and I do not trust a single corporation to develop it with good intentions. It would be abused instantly as shareholders pitch tents in their pants over selling it to law enforcement and advertisers.

It is simultaneously the most promising and most dangerous tech imaginable. There are so many amazing and wonderful things it could enable. There are so many horrifying and terrible ways it could go wrong. It has to be approached with utmost caution and incredibly well thought out regulation and standards. I'm not sure I trust any government or institution in existence in the world currently to manage it the way it needs to be.

I think it's the one thing available to us that can make sure we're still alive and useful after AGI really comes into existence.

Once real real AGI AI is here with access to robotucs, we will either be relegated to the status of pet or, judging on how badly we treat the world and eachother, culled to more manageable proportions or just plain exterminated. The only way for us to continue to exist would be a direct brain to computer interface that gives us access to the same brain power as AI by then will have

As samxary as that is, I think that for humanity it's the only way to survive. If done right through open source principles, it'll be a system you can control yourself and activate/deactivate on command, and as needed. If it's something they comes from corporate America it'll force you to buy useless shit into perpetuity as a mindless drone. If it comes from China or Russia, it'll just make you a mindless drone.

It'll only be possible to be a good thing if we fix humanity first, so yeah...

Medical miracle AND a manmade horror beyond my comprehension.

I don't like it. I might be able to get on board with read-access to my brain (especially if I end up paralyzed or something) if I felt the tech was secure enough, but I'd be very worried about abuse of write access (writing in loyalty to the community party, for example)