| </span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Samildanach,)
It strikes me that sooner or later within the next twenty years most likely, that we are going to have the ability to introduce brain implants on a rather wide scale. It is also likely with the utilisation of things like bluetooth that we are going to be able to communicate in a telepathic fashion with those within the immediate area thorough these implants.
My question is what do you think that throwing our minds open to all people within society will do for society as a whole?<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'> Well, I think that the ability to keep one's thoughts private is so treasured by most people that very few people are going to be willing to 'throw their minds open'. It's not just about coming up with the technology, it's about understanding how it will be used.
Anyhow, there are three possible scenarios:
The technology to read/transmit thoughts is effected by additions/extensions to the human nervous system. Then unless there are ways of (1) restricting access to your private thoughts; (2) setting up secure channels between yourself and someone who you wish to communicate with so that there isn't any eavesdropping, then I suspect that not many people will want to use it, or if they do, they will do so under very special circumstances.
The technology can enable people to read the human nervous system in its native state, but it is widely available to practically everyone. I guess lying will become a thing of the past - the question is whether people would adjust their actions to fit their previous lies and behave well, or whether they would adjust their actions to fit their real intent and behave badly.
The technology can enable people to read the HNS in its native state, but it is only available to a few (rich) people. Now this would truly be a scary scenario reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984... makes me thankful that this technolgy is many, many centuries away. |