Elective Cyborg Surgery

If you read the title of this post and immediately said, "What!", your not alone.  I did the same thing when I saw an article in the NYTimes magazine entitled "The Cyborg in Us All".   It seems that within the next few years, we will be able to have an elective surgery to place a sensor pad directly on our brain which will enable us to control computers and other devices with our mind.  I am really not joking here.  If you don't believe me, follow the link to the article to read for yourself.   This technology came about, as most innovative technologies do, not as a direct effort to have our brains control computers, but as an effort to help epilepsy patients get rid of their seizures.  The way this entire process started was through doctors placing this pad with electrodes directly on to an epileptic's brain to detect which part of their brain was causing a seizure so they could go in and cut it out, hopefully curing that person of his/her malady.  But as an offshoot, they figured that since they already had an pad on the patients brain, why not see what else they could do when that patient wasn't having a seizure.  So what they did was wire up that pad to a computer and through a number of trials, see if they could get the patient to play a video game on the computer with only the use of his brain, no hands, no fingers, no toes or anything controlling it.  Well, they figure out how to do it.  They were somehow able to link certain thoughts in the brain such as "go right" with actual computer commands or something and allow the patient to play the game.  Trust me, my explanation of this is rudimentary and insufficient so please go read the article. 

It goes beyond just the ability to control computers with our brains.  Part of this effort is being underwritten by the department of defense in an effort to produce a technology that will allow soldiers in the field to communicate telepathically.  If you think about it, it is not that far of a stretch if a person can already control a computer with his brain.  It is only a matter of time before they will be able to provide that channel of communication between two people via a small computer like a phone that is able to process the brain's commands.  Another option that this technology will permit to happen is for us to control our phones with our brains as well.  We will be able to manage our contacts if we want without physically touching the phone.  Personally, I want nothing to do with this.  I will not be one of those people who has this elective surgery to place a pad with electrodes on my brain just so I can control a computer, my phone, or communicate with others without actually talking.  Even the author of the article is doubtful as to who would actually get this surgery done once it becomes available (really only a few years away).  As the doctor/scientist put it who is developing this it, why wouldn't people get this elective surgery, after all thousands of women get elective breast augmentation every year and that by far is more invasive thnt this procedure would be.  I don't care how invasive or non invasive it is, I will not be one to get it. 

The line between technology and humans is becoming thinner every year.  We are getting closer and closer to melding computers with the human race and I fear that once we take that final step, we will never be able to separate the two.  I have no problem with technology, as long as it remains outside my body.  I have a problem when we start to mess with the human body in a way that fundamentally alters it functionality.  Yes, we may be increasing the ability of the brain to do more, but at what price?  When will we go too far and overstep our bounds, irreversibly altering the future of humans.  Does this sound a little dismal and depressing?  I hope so because I don't think that we should mess with the human body.  If we want to increase the ability of our brain to function then we should train our brain through mental exercises and activities that stimulate neurons and increase the flow of blood to our brain.  We have within us the ability to do amazing things.  If we were meant to communicate telepathically, then either we would have had the ability from the start or we will develop that ability through human evolution.  If you look at this technology, a human brain was able to create the system which allows brains to control machines, not a machine.  One of the aspects of the human brain that will forever trump technology and computers with is imagination and creativity.   In any case, I am sure that there will many people who get this implant and become essentially a cyborg; part machine, part human.  Its not for me.  Today, ask yourself what you would do if given the opportunity to have this pad placed on your brain that allows you to control computers or talk to others telepathically.  Would it be worth it?