<![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant - io9 Comments]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant - io9 Comments]]> http://io9.com Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:53:11 PST Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:53:11 PST http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4491530 CON: hackable into a Borg collective

nowop

]]> 8:359932:c4491530 Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:53:11 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4443294 (warning-QUITE LONG):My own comments on the idea of implanting a brain& networked-computer chip interface has several good and a couple of very bad possibilities should something like that to ever become reality. The good sides would be that a person could, as pointed out to instantly know facts about a restaurant, a mapped route to drive/travel from point A to point B. Also a person could instantly check out someone else by googling & accessing various electronic databases to find out if someone is good or bad/(insert any other adjective here) & bad: easy for an evil person to stalk someone else much easier anywhere.
Routers & other equipment for the networks for the WLAN/WWAN linked people along with other solar& fuel cell [or other advanced compact& long-lasting power sources needed) powered Personal Wireless Internet node(would have to be SUPER ubiquitous for overlapping signal coverage)wireless signal boosters would take BILLIONS of dollars in installing and maintenance (but the company creating the software and equipment would become the all-new and all powerful Microsoft/Google of the ultimate networked world. There would have to the equivalents of a super-server for all of it. If anything like an EMP happened, it would prove truly disastrous for the networked side of civilization (see ST:TNG [StarTrek: The Next Generation]}race called Binars -Episode 16: "11001001" ) The patents& legal system would be even more complicated than now on technology.
Education: Current methods and definitions of education would have to be radically altered, but tests of understanding sophisticated material just as needed.
Side note: Even if one could instantly 'google' any information, if a person googled something like thermodynamics, quantum chromodynamics, integral or differential equations of calculus, Randall-Sundrum Brane model of cosmological string theory of theoretical physics, truly understanding the complicated physics equations of gas/liquid fluid dynamics for aeronautical aviation engineering,or medical sciences- drug interactions with brain chemistries (etc), to know (about) something is VERY different than actually understanding what you're finding out by a brain wired interface (no different than today with current computers).
Cool point: there would very likely be 'applications' created to utilize the ability to instantly IM/email someone else (creating a form of personal& electronic telepathy; but very intimate connection & control of robots would become possible. To borrow from an idea in an episode of [ST:TNG], thoughts and brain patterns of someone could be infinitely preserved if someone wanted to do so in Data storage networks or to overlay/overlap an 'image file' of someone else on a current person's brain patterns. (Brings new meaning to NAS's.)
Bad points: People would try to create electronic viruses & worms to 'hack' people's brains, take over the brains, (necessitating yet another field of computer sciences with making truly personal versions of firewalls, intrustion detection& protection 'soft- ware'would become very necessary. Last Star Trek reference: A race of cybernetically Hive-linked beings from the Star Trek series comes to mind "We are the Borg. Your technological(intelligence) and biological distinctiveness is will be added to our own. Death is irrelevant. Desire is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated." Something to ponder.

IronManMn1

]]> 8:359932:c4443294 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:13:51 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4432432 C'mon guys. As your local neurosurgeon/engineer/programmer, I'm here to tell you that this just isn't possible in any foreseeable future time frame. We still have no idea how to communicate effectively with the areas of the brain that do this kind of complex processing - stuff that we just take for granted. For input (vision), the best we can do is project dots of light called phosphenes. For output (movement), the best we can do is jerky, imperfect control of a computer cursor in two dimensions. It will take at least 50 years of steady work before we can contemplate even a rudimentary version of what is being suggested here. But rest assured we are throwing a lot of resources behind these problems, and will solve them eventually. Just probably not in time for any of us to be able to make use of them.

neur_eng_prog

]]> 8:359932:c4432432 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:15:56 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4421015 another difference between just knowledge and experience is speed. almost any task can be broken up into a step-by-step.

but if you compare the speed of doing something like building a new gaming rig at home between a guy who knows from looking vs. someone who does it everyday... no contest.

same things goes for lots of things. novices can do a LOT of things and do them pretty darn well from a list. sometimes, it comes down to speed.

jin

jinchoung

]]> 8:359932:c4421015 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:17:50 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4402702 @Terry:

Not just leaders, corporations, ad agencies ...

Musicians, celebrities, religions, conspiracy nuts, internet urban legends...

The difference is, all of those are subject to being filtered through one's reasoning ability. Most people don't seem to bother, but the ability is there. If brains could be 'directly' hacked, it would bypass that particular filter - you'd have 'always known' whatever it is.
-Kle.


Klebert L. Hall

]]> 8:359932:c4402702 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:16:00 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4393832 Con: Your girlfriend will be pissed.

Daradane

]]> 8:359932:c4393832 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:26:06 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4389051 Here's what I can foresee: at that stage of the game, if we could have information safely sent to the brain, then it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that we can take information out of the brain (for better or worse). Implications: We can save the "system state" of the brain, meaning that we can either move the state from body to body (From original to clone or from original to a robotic body for instance) or "restore" the brain from a previous state ( say a person has Alzheimer's disease, you could save a state then save the state every day sort of as a work around to the disease by restoring the state daily or weekly). The down side would be that if the "state" is stored as some kind of logical code that can be edited, it can be altered with obvious repercussions.

prerus

]]> 8:359932:c4389051 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:23:37 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4388448 This is a very different direction for a LH story, but I'm really enjoying it.
I've said for a long time (~20 yrs) that KNOWLEDGE is cheap. This changed over time from "20 minutes in the library" to find any info to "2 minutes on Google", but the result is the same. (Most) knowledge in our day and age is ubiquitous and free to obtain.
Given that, what is not so easy to obtain? What will continue to be valuable even when information is free? Experience, critical thinking, "high level" views on subjects (usually based on lower-level knowledge), and wisdom. I know I just threw out a bunch of ill-defined terms, but I think you get the idea. I can know the steps to changing oil or baking a pie, but this does not equal the experience of doing it. And unless you've made a few hundred pies, I don't want to hear your "expert" opinion on the subject. The knowledge Google points us to does not instantly and categorically make us experts. I believe experience (first hand knowledge) is a significant part of being an expert.
To me, it is irrelevant if that instant access is via a GPS phone, Wi-Fi Laptop, or wires in your cranium. To me, this just goes back to the library vs. Google: it's all about the speed of access. The result is so similar as to be a moot point. So, I think this is not some future day to consider, but TODAY. Some above have made this same point while describing using their phone to access Google.
I do think the futurists were right (15-20 years ago) about the great increase in the speed of our accumulation of information. I also think this will continue, but at some point you have to ask "why?". It's similar to the spooks' problem: they can capture all the conversations on all the phones in the world, but there is no good way to analyze all the data to find what they're looking for. Just having the data is near useless without a means to find what you want. This means is the "higher level" analysis that gives meaning to the raw data (and will be the valuable commodity/ability in the future, NOT the data itself).
Also, I have to echo others that this is not a totally new concept. Cyberpunk authors have been exploring very similar concepts for years. It is arguable that The Matrix films assumed a similar technology, etc.
There's a LOT more to this topic, but I'm out of time...

jonathan19

]]> 8:359932:c4388448 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:02:59 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4382851 "PRO:
Ability to "remember" many details about a person or issue in the middle of a conversation, so that you can marshal facts quickly and check the accuracy of what other people are saying.
CON:
The person you're talking to could much more easily pretend to be somebody they are not by googling information and feigning expertise."

Isn't that the point of the free flow of information though, to be somebody I'm not? It's not feigning expertise if what I just found out is complete and correct. Since by definition THAT is expertise.

Expertise : the skill of an expert
Expert :one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject
[www.merriam-webster.com]

Ex.

Right now I'm stuck in a Siberian forest next to a frozen lake with a friend. All we have is a pocket knife. The temperature just passed the 0 degrees centigrade mark, and it's heading down. My friend has acute appendicitis.

Without Google no chance, tomorrow we both will be frozen corpses.

With Google.
[en.wikipedia.org]
[insidesurgery.com]
[www.primitiveways.com]
[www.m4040.com]

With Google, chances are tomorrow we will both be dead. But at least it gave us a chance. Without Google, I'm nothing but an ordinary Mr. Joe Popsicle. With Google, I've become a wilderness survivalist and doctor, and there is a slim possibility that tomorrow we both might still be alive. Yes I won't have years of experience under my belt, but if the information I gathered is correct, then I have years of somebody else's experience under my belt. They may not like that I'm using their information without taking the time to reference them on a piece of bark, but at the moment I or my buddy wouldn't really care. And if the information is wrong, and I stupidly looked at www.at33nsguidetokewlsirgry.com because it was the first return, or a thread in a WOW forum about somebody's uncle who had an appendectomy, and I did not find a college textbook of emergency medical procedures then tomorrow my buddy and I are just as dead. With the added bonus that my search history will show what an idiot I was.

Of course if you have Google search capability, you will also have instant messaging, and gps location abilities, so you really wouldn't need to cut your buddy open or build a shelter and start a fire in the first place, since everyone would know right where you are and just go get you.

Invariably a lot of people worry about the unknowns of the future, and their fear holds them back from progress. Dreams of jaded cyborgs, hacked minds, and little annoying what if's replacing the boogeyman of old. Invariably somebody else with a more bland and boring yet productive and gung ho imagination doesn't worry, and ends up making the cover of Forbes and owning a multibillion dollar corporation. Our great grandchildren use the idea daily and wonder how we archaic fools ever got along without it, dying at the infantile age of 105, and not regrowing limbs, like the cro-magnon men we are.

A Phone? Why do I need to talk with other people? Communication is for spreading the devil's word by golly gee! Electricity? Evil magic out of the ether I say! The wheel? It will never work, my father used his back, my grandfather used his back, and I'm going to carry my load on my back like a man! None of this new fangled technology for me!

AA88J

]]> 8:359932:c4382851 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:39:46 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4379929 @Thorny: +2 for transforming education from rote memorization to teaching critical thinking skills.

Please, please don't make the assumption that just because you google something, the answer you receive will be right!

The first danger is the consensus trap: I recently read an excellent article that warned of the dangers of "consensus" when it comes to the scientific process (global warning in this article's case). Remember, in 1492 consensus said the world was flat.

The second danger is the PageRank trap: Just because a website is first on the search results list, doesn't mean it's the authoritative source. For example, vaccinations are generally credited by the medical community for greatly reducing disease in the last century. However, googling "vaccinations" gives you more negative info than positive, due to outspoken critics (to read more on how public health officials are concerned with google's influence on patients, see [www.abc.net.au]).

Ignoring the biologial (e.g. infection), societal (e.g. distraction), and security (e.g. hacking) issues, would implants that gave us all instant access to the global knowledge-base improve society? If you think of life as a series of high-school english position papers, an optimist would say we're expanding our reference list by many orders of magnitude. A pessimist would say most wouldn't read past the first few search results, meaning global "knowledge" would be reduced to the most popular viewpoint (aka the lowest-common-denominator).

What I'm trying to say is, do your research!

bobbo33

]]> 8:359932:c4379929 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:14:20 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4376365 I find it odd that so many here fear this idea because their brain might get 'hacked'. What makes you think that your brain hasn't been 'hacked' already? I don't know about the rest of you, but I live in a world where our leadership feeds us lies to foward their own ends (lies that the majority of the people BELIEVE), where corporations and ad agencies define most of life's most important concepts for us (like 'beauty' and 'decency' and 'honesty' and 'duty' and 'honor'), where history (with it's so-called 'facts') is written by whomever wins the war, and where morality and ethics are defined by the morally and ethically bankrupt (I won't even begin with this one). I think it's a little late to worry whether your brain will be 'hacked' or 'hijacked'.

Terry

]]> 8:359932:c4376365 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:41:12 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4375130 With this sort of implant, we can finally actually begin to learn, instead of having to memorize. I don't care that the Hundred Years War was 100 years long (it wasn't), but what was the point of the war? what impact did it have on modern culture?

We finally could get down to learning critical thinking and analysis without being bogged down by meaningless details.

However, I'll probably be using Google Wars anyway while I'm pretending to be interested in the persons around me :-p

atm0sfere

]]> 8:359932:c4375130 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:40:54 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4372692 As long as this does not effect your bowel movements sign me up ,do I have to pay for no ads?.

rtipping

]]> 8:359932:c4372692 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:18:36 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4372086 good point. tests WOULD be pointless. who the f cares when columbus discovered america if you can access it instantly on need?

maybe test people's ability ot access the info though. a subject as vast as LAW would STILL be challenging to access precedent and such on need....

jin

jinchoung

]]> 8:359932:c4372086 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:29:19 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4371722 "you can cheat on tests". Wont tests be pointless with this technology?

Monsterdog

]]> 8:359932:c4371722 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:54:12 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4371259 After some of Google's "missteps" in China and some recent negotiations with the U.N., they are the last company I want telling my brain what It can and can't access.
Now if I could access my own personal library, especially one that could be supplemented by "information modules" that dealt with a multitude of subjects then I might consider it.

Ottodi

]]> 8:359932:c4371259 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:55:41 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4371257 In terms of evolution, there's no such thing as cheating.

willentrekin

]]> 8:359932:c4371257 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:55:37 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4370705 and also... I embrace anything that will get me closer to a Ghost in the Shell reality

-emory-

]]> 8:359932:c4370705 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:48:04 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4370693 @SeanOHara: Ah... Isn't the more pressing question, "But can it Run DOOM?"

-emory-

]]> 8:359932:c4370693 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:46:57 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4369147 @HansDog:

The would almost certainly be 'naturals', at least for a while.

When is the last time sent a handwritten letter?

That one's been a couple years.

When is the last time used a pay phone?

Last Monday.

When is the last time used a foldup map or paperback dictionary?

Wednesday.

I wouldn't be a 'natural', but I am Old-Fashioned Man (tm).

I don't like using the internet for things like dictionaries, because they're either pay-services or of dubious accuracy, IMO. Hardcopy dictionaries and the like are better sources. I always use hardcopy maps of unfamiliar areas, I'm a real stickler for mapping and think e-map quality/accuracy is insufficient.

I don't have a cellphone, and don't want one. Eventually they'll evolve into something so useful I'll have to get it, but in their emergent form, I hate them so much.
-Kle.


Klebert L. Hall

]]> 8:359932:c4369147 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:01:58 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4368819 This sounds great, until some find away to circumvent whatever security measures are in place. So, then your brain gets hacked, or you become part of DOS attack.

Nice...

radio1

]]> 8:359932:c4368819 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:07:47 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4368624 Nice to connect to Secondlife
But for sure all your real time real life data you generate, will be logged onto the scary US Defense*s
Sentient World Simulation
[www.dailygalaxy.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]

rasti

]]> 8:359932:c4368624 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:50:03 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4366696 @MrThunderfield: at the point before the embedding of the screen in the retina, when people are wearing contacts as a screen, for any physical testing, the administrator/teacher/proctor/whateveryouwannacallthem could make sure that every student/testee removes the contacts.

PRO:
always available google talk/aim/IM service, although i precieve that google talk would dominate at that point.

CON:
you may occasionally forget to set yourself as invisible to your boss,when you told them that you were sick and you were really taking the day off to go out doing whatever.

MisterCow.Pnoy

]]> 8:359932:c4366696 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:58:00 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4366326 so few people out there would have clarity of mind enough to formulate a decent search string in which to search for.

cybergrunt

]]> 8:359932:c4366326 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:38:30 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4366219 Hi,

I hate to burst John Varley's bubble but there was an awesome sci-fi book that came out around '02 which dealt with this very subject called FEED by M.T. Anderson. [en.wikipedia.org]

Very few have probably heard of it because it was marketed as a "teen" novel, but is actually better than most adult sci-fi works.

Max_Julien

]]> 8:359932:c4366219 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:17:55 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4365759 Hmm, I wonde what happens when someone googles something while driving? The info flashes up before their eyes.... they never see the pole they wrap their truck around.

Or will we have automated cars before google-brains?

napthia9

]]> 8:359932:c4365759 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:48:59 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4365498 it depends on how far you want to take the whole "tech and brain thing" really

go far enough and you can say

pro: be able to learn how to do anything instantaniously (a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, plumber)

con: would destroy the worlds economic system. the only jobs that would have any real value then would be unskilled ones. skilled jobs tend not to be hard, they just require you to know alot. take away the difficulty in learning the material and they lose damn near 100% of their value. however, unskilled jobs are not about knowing anything...they're just about putting in alot of hard work and a great many deal of hours.

jrghoull

]]> 8:359932:c4365498 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:02:43 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4365434 Con: It would could cause elitism, with different versions and upgrades.
I can imagine this happening in 2 or 3 years as a small chip either fastened to you're head or implanted in your skull that can project onto an eyeglass. Problem is that what I just described would still need a keyboard...

AlexCrafter

]]> 8:359932:c4365434 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:51:59 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4365213 story sounds like a rip off of an new Outer LImits episode where people got their collective knowledge by reference in a giant google like network.

The concept of learning is diminished since everyone is so dependent on easy referencing of information, on demand.

ironchef

]]> 8:359932:c4365213 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:12:52 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364974 I can see where this is all going. There will come a day when the lo-techs will be ostracized and forced to live in the woods.

There is no way I'm putting a computer in my head. I'll be a lo-tech for sure.

FrankenPC

]]> 8:359932:c4364974 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:28:44 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364812 Great.
There goes Price Is Right.

Drew Carey: "Well, you've all bid the exact amount... again."


SenorDunda

]]> 8:359932:c4364812 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:55:18 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364760 CON: People installing MS Windows on their brains; millions of humans turned into zombies by MS crap, MS "Genuine Advantage" (sorry, your brain is not properly registered with Microsoft; we'll have to deactivate it"); and bad automatic MS updates.

PRO: Forget where you put your keys? Just google it.

CON: Isn't this how the Borg got started?

kentlee7

]]> 8:359932:c4364760 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:43:41 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364688 On cheating in tests:
The test moderator could have a shutdown key of some sorts (Given by Google to the school/university/institute/whatever that has a valid reason for a key like that and requests it) that they could use to temporarily suspend the Google chip when the test is running. Of course then there'd be hackers trying to get around this. But hey, nothing is perfect!

On annoying ads:
The people annoyed by the ads (yes there WILL be ads) could pay a monthly fee to remove them and maybe get some other benefit.

MrThunderfield

]]> 8:359932:c4364688 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:29:00 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364470 its all fun and games until someone accidentally installs "bargain buddy".

lodger

]]> 8:359932:c4364470 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:44:48 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364344 Great, I'm going to have to deal with people who flutter their eyelids and then announce, "I know kung fu."

mpantone

]]> 8:359932:c4364344 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:21:15 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364207 Just as soon as we all get google implants, google will announce that they're changing their motto to "Don't be evil... JUST KIDDING SUCKERS!!!!!"

Shai

]]> 8:359932:c4364207 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:54:45 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4364164 Lovely article and very funny. Slight spelling error though: "Every time Google ads a cool new service." It should be 'adds.'

shreveyboy

]]> 8:359932:c4364164 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:44:06 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363993 I was having drinks with some friends before hitting the town. I left the apartement a couple of minutes before eveyrone else to have a smoke [the ladies like it] and I saw a pay phone. Not having seen a pay phone, less used one in mebbe 15 years I decided to call one of my friends up.
Once everyone realised that I was calling from a pay phone they all started laughing. So retro, dude.

Hai. When can I has teh brain implants, pls?

Katana_Mind

]]> 8:359932:c4363993 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:06:29 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363930 Wonder if a "natural" class of people would arise, waving off the technology and going it the old fashioned way. Like the Amish living off the land.
When is the last time sent a handwritten letter?
When is the last time used a pay phone?
When is the last time used a foldup map or paperback dictionary?

HansDog

]]> 8:359932:c4363930 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:42:27 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363900 Con: Google is already Big Brother, this would be even worse.

Honestly, they're at least as vile as Microsoft, but everyone inexplicably loves them.

Summary: Functional direct brain interface=good; Google=bad.
YMMV
-Kle.



Klebert L. Hall

]]> 8:359932:c4363900 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:34:34 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363831 wouldn't it also be possible that one may confuse memories and things looked up on google since the information is just as readily available

osnofla

]]> 8:359932:c4363831 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:05:09 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363625 @DrMathochist: Beat me to this very point.

@Eaton Yorke Hunt: Says you. I don't believe you ever need to turn that shit off. ;)

Mister Adequate

]]> 8:359932:c4363625 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:39:50 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363594 I wonder if this would have an impact on Dunbar's number, as you would be able to manage relationships with more people because the access to offline data would allow extended grooming.

hitmouse

]]> 8:359932:c4363594 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:19:04 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363573 I'm a long-time Lifehacker reader/commenter; I believe this is my first post here. Kudos to you, Annalee, for such an insightful post. I agree that over the next 10-50 years this could be a real issue.

I feel as if I already operate using the 'external collective brain' to some degree. Using my 3G smartphone and Google, I can look up, in about 30 seconds or less, just about any miscellaneous fact that I need. Maps (GPS phone), images and videos included. The weak link in the interface is the fact that this is still done using a device and my fingers, so the input is slow. When you think about it, all that's needed to make this a reality is a faster interface--brain implant, eye gestures, etc.

As we rely on external sources for basic factual information (still of course using our minds for logic and analysis), I do worry that we'll begin to lose something. For example, the portions of our brain responsible for wrote memorization: will they atrophy due to the fact that we don't memorize much any more? Will this inflict currently unforeseen collateral damage on other parts of our brain? Perhaps contemporary neuroscientists have already studied this...

Has anyone seen the 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' series? Worth watching in it's own right, but particularly interesting in relation to this particular discussion. The series deals with computer-human hybrid brain issues, in a very trenchant manner. There is even some thought given to future diseases that may be caused by 'cyberization' of the brain.

I recall one scene in particular involving 3 characters: two of them are having a complex discussion in involving a barrage of literary and cultural references. The third character, eaves-dropping, interjects and remarks that they're having a fascinating discussion, but he couldn't follow it because he didn't have an 'external memory device'. In other words, he understood the logic and essence of the conversation, but his brain wasn't connected to the internet, so he couldn't 'look up' a lot of the specific references.

Perhaps a scene from our not-to-distant future... Funny thing is, I can recall at least two times in the past 3 months that I've been in a group discussion and I snuck out my phone to Google a historical reference that I didn't get at first. I looked it up on the sly and kept plugging right away at the discussion without missing a beat. Would have been easier with a brain implant...

onesix18

]]> 8:359932:c4363573 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:58:53 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363548 Viruses would be a bitch if you've got NeuroImplants.

You'd start seeing things around every corner, and you won't even know it's only a virus.

Klappstuhl

]]> 8:359932:c4363548 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:42:46 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363316 in civ3, it's interesting to note that when you develop "the internet" the effect this has on your civilization's populace is that INTELLIGENCE GOES UP.

it's weird to end up thinking about life through a game but i think that the game gets it really quite right. people are a lot smarter these days simply because they have sooooo much info at their finger tips.

it used to be that you either knew something or you didn't. if you didn't, you either asked until you found someone who knew (most likely encountering people pretending to know a thing they don't) or took a trip to the library.... unlikely.

now, you can find out everything from thermodynamics to fundamentalist literature at howevermany words per minute you can crank out.

brain interface will amplify this.
--------------------------------------------

interesting problem seems to be with the meat however. for some reason, there seems to be an upper limit to human intelligence. you can get really quite brilliant but at a certain point, you seem to hit some form of autism... maybe like opposing diagonal lines (intelligence, level of autism) passing on a graph....

wonder if a really intimate link with all that info will really drive people nuts.

jin

jinchoung

]]> 8:359932:c4363316 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:26:21 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363243 interesting post, but i see how all of these pros/cons are immediate effects of the population having access to a service like google through a brain - tiny monitor interface. the long term effects could be rather interesting... take externalisation for example. this is a process of your brain not remembering information it knows it can get instant access to, given it is needed. we would certainly remember less, but concentrate on the efficiency of doing research and information integration. a paradigm shift in education would eliminate cheating as we know it, since the information would be availible to us anywhere, anytime. there are probably gains from this that are difficult to imagine - see how different cellphones are used by people who were born way before the became commonplace and today's teenagers.

i see how this would be a difficult step to get yourself modified like that, but the benefits in a radical change of life quality and the potential gains from more effective thinking outweight the costs by far. since by the time this would be possible out search engines will become more effective. the adaptation curve will go slowly at first, but once people with modifications like this gain a viisble over those without it, it will climb very steeply. it wont be like having access to all information anytime, it'll be something going further, i think. plus, since we have a brain interface and a screen on our retina, why stop at google? why not dive into an extended reality? the anime dennou coil comes to mind, yet the technology there was underused.the interface itself was very cool thou.

omik

]]> 8:359932:c4363243 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:48:00 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363229 read this, thought stars in my pocket, registered to comment, then scrolled down and found delany...gotta love it

noobie123456

]]> 8:359932:c4363229 Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:41:50 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4363084 So many possibilities with this, so very exciting. I think the most interesting aspect is the way that it is dealt with in the Ian M Banks Culture novels.

When "neural lace" technology is combined with godlike A.I. he suggests that the result will be anarchistic, resource-rich socialism with no government or money. With everyone in constant communication and Machines running the difficult stuff, we will be free to do whatever we want to - and difficult decisions can be voted on by general consensus. My suspicion is that googling our brain will cause profound societal change.

Research into neural implants and the creation of true A.I. brains are probably linked. Once we can understand enough of the brain to interface with it electronically, we are surely that much closer to creating A.I.

Then the future can begin!

bascule

]]> 8:359932:c4363084 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:46:45 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362933 @Eaton Yorke Hunt: those aren't survival decisions they're quality of life decisions. not long ago neither of those decisions would have been made because they were radical and no competent and sane surgeon/engineer/programmer would have been willing to perform them. the technology will continue to develop and eventually it will reach a point where the risks involved are so small it would be crazy not to get the implant, just like it currently is with stents and electrodes.

tetracycloide

]]> 8:359932:c4362933 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:01:51 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362916 @cardsharp: Yes, and it's better if this new system's interface is not in your brain in a physical sense. As I tell my ten year old all the time, " We just need to turn that shit off sometimes."

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt

]]> 8:359932:c4362916 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:55:49 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362900 @tetracycloide: All six of the stents in my father's arteries are necessities, as are the electrodes in my friend Jim's brain that will hopefully soon zap the parkinson's away. You are not speaking of choices but survival decisions. Again, in SF, a networked brain can be an effective device. And I don't deny that there may someday exist in our future a fringe who desire this kind of radical modification, but I doubt that any competent and sane surgeon/engineer/programmer would be willing to perform the procedure. Come to think of it, I don't think I know any surgeon/engineer/programmers. The risks to health are far greater than the benefits. My argument is with futurists who think this is inevitable.

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt

]]> 8:359932:c4362900 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:50:50 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362725 @Dooga: imagine what the government would be like if decisions were automatically made based on retrieving preferences from every relevant individuals experiences instantaneously. the entire system would stop being about marketing a representative to the public just to gain political power to actually serving the people.

tetracycloide

]]> 8:359932:c4362725 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:18:56 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362489 Yay now Google can read our minds.

Dooga

]]> 8:359932:c4362489 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:43:34 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362278 I don't necessarily like the idea of brain implants, but if we had glasses/sunglasses/contacts that could do this, that would be bad ass, and have like a receiver in your pocket.

This seems much more likely...and yes, definitely Linux.

jacobnorton

]]> 8:359932:c4362278 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:13:31 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362245 We'd have to rearrange the educational system such that it's centered around how to search, how to organize information, how to apply information to formulate arguments and ideas.

Oh wait, maybe this is something we should be doing now. :)

+1

cardsharp

]]> 8:359932:c4362245 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:10:17 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362200 SEO's like myself will rule the world

oh, and my brain is DEFINITELY running Linux.

Hoaxe

]]> 8:359932:c4362200 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:02:54 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4362180 But can my brain run Linux?

SeanOHara

]]> 8:359932:c4362180 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:00:11 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361490 We'd have to rearrange the educational system such that it's centered around how to search, how to organize information, how to apply information to formulate arguments and ideas.

Oh wait, maybe this is something we should be doing now. :)

Thorny

]]> 8:359932:c4361490 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:25:09 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361454 @baltwade: You're joking, right? Google has all of those features...

DrMathochist

]]> 8:359932:c4361454 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:20:18 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361445 The person you're talking to could much more easily pretend to be somebody they are not by googling information and feigning expertise.

Once someone has that sort of access, wouldn't that be expertise? No feigning involved. Am I feigning expertise when a student emails me a question about a technicality and I look it up on my bookshelf rather than recite it from memory?

DrMathochist

]]> 8:359932:c4361445 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:19:31 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361175 Con: Cybermen

92BuickLeSabre

]]> 8:359932:c4361175 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:44:09 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361039 what about the "brain pals" from john scalzi's old mans war series?

antimatty

]]> 8:359932:c4361039 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:26:50 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361026 This is also reminiscent of the "microsofts" from Gibson's Sprawl series, allowing instant info just by plugging one in; this is just online. I'd be concerned about having my brain hacked.

Frozen-Tex

]]> 8:359932:c4361026 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:24:48 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361004 @Eaton Yorke Hunt: people already receive surgical implants to make up for other organs in their bodies, why not their brains too?

tetracycloide

]]> 8:359932:c4361004 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:22:41 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4361001 An episode of "SG1" had a planet's population all wired together with brain interfaces that allowed them to instantly access historical records, etc... But unbeknownst to them, the master computer was constantly changing the info in their heads, in order to disguise the fact that it was killing off the population and shrinking their habitable environment to preserve shrinking resources.

Frozen-Tex

]]> 8:359932:c4361001 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:21:44 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360994 On thing that can't be compressed is the timeline of approving these technologies in animal and human trials, which could take decades. Saying that we'll have the technology to do this tomorrow is a long way from being to walk into a clinic and have it done. And yes, curmudgeonly luddite that I am, I'm going to be one of the people campaigning very hard to keep that testing cycle nice and loooooong.

Chris Wren

]]> 8:359932:c4360994 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:21:20 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360832 If I was going to have something implanted in my brain I'd want something besides Google, like...
...math processor
...dictionary
...translator
Google probably wouldn't make my top 10.





baltwade

]]> 8:359932:c4360832 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:59:20 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360768 @cronick: Let me be the first to web spam your brain!

Annalee Newitz

]]> 8:359932:c4360768 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:50:08 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360759 Let me be the first to hack you.

cronick

]]> 8:359932:c4360759 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:48:48 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360713 I love having so much information at my fingertips
and being able to fit it in the palm of my hand.
Like on my ipod touch.
But cramming it, or even surgically implanting it,
anywhere inside my body,
let alone in my brain, is retarded. Sorry.
But it's great fun in SF!
Really speeds the plot along but can get a little "cube of forcey"
without a judicious pen.

Rev. Eaton Yorke Hunt

]]> 8:359932:c4360713 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:43:20 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360687 Am I the only person disturbed by the likelihood of serious brain injury as a result of this type of thing being commonplace? Not to mention infection, and a big ass wire jutting from your skull.

Cool idea, I'm just not sure I would be willing to sacrifice my health for this technology. However, you know, there are some serious pockets of humanity out there...

Sraf1968

]]> 8:359932:c4360687 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:40:22 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360679 I believe this is the kickoff premise of Neal Asher's first Cormac novel, Gridlinked -- i.e., the protagonist, an agent of "Earth Central Security," the AI that is primus inter pares in the AI-dominated human society that has filled the galaxy, has spent so long tethered, mind and spirit, to the universal information network that he is losing or has lost something that distinguished him from an AI in the first place, and hence made him suitable for his job.

Other books in the same "Polity" setting revisit the issue, with intelligent nonhuman creatures being exploited by humans until they manage to obtain net implants that let them communicate and access information.

Rasselas

]]> 8:359932:c4360679 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:39:29 PST <![CDATA[The Pros and Cons of a Google Brain Implant]]> http://io9.com/359932/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-google-brain-implant#c4360664 "The person you're talking to could much more easily pretend to be somebody they are not by googling information and feigning expertise."

it's like annalee is watching me while i post

tetracycloide

]]> 8:359932:c4360664 Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:38:15 PST