In rise of brain implants, blurring lines between man, machine?
It sounds far-fetched: With a computer chip implanted in their brains, humans could boost their intelligence with instant access to the internet, write articles like this one by thinking it rather than typing, and communicate with each other without saying a thing – what entrepreneur Elon Musk calls “consensual telepathy.”
Of course, it’s not really telepathy. It’s radio waves transmitting data from one chip to another. But it raises important ethical questions, as academic researchers and industry scientists pursue a path that could lead to the merging of human thought with artificial intelligence through the routine use of brain implants.
The entry of companies – and especially the flow of venture capital into the field – raises some important ethical issues. While some wrestle with big philosophical questions like the further blurring of boundaries between man and machine, scientists are focused on the more immediate questions of patient safety and corporate priorities. For radically different reasons, doctors, academic researchers, and industry scientists are moving to plant increasingly sophisticated technology into the brain.
