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Some thoughts about wetware
Feb. 23rd, 2007 10:59 amI've been reading in the news lately that we're getting closer and closer to real working wet-ware. There are now thought-powered controllers for artificial limbs for amputees, in japan, an exo-suit has been demoed for helping elderly people get around and function in a normal environment. Computers continue to get smaller and more powerful, and personal data devices are becoming more and more prevalent. It's exciting stuff and generally makes me giddy. Who wouldn't want to be smarter and have access to more information?
But, at what price? Not worried so much about things crashing or breaking down. That'll happen and there will be strategies for dealing with that. What scares me more is corporate power. Anywhere you go on the web, you're assaulted with ads. Even a lot of applications you pay for have ads. DVDs are loaded with promos for other shows.. What marketer could resist the idea of direct-to-brain marketing? One need only look at clothing or one's own ignorance of ads on websites to know that society won't even put up a whimper to stop this kind of advertising, so long as they get the product cheap.
But where does it end? Certainly not with marketing. Imagine, if you could see an entire movie crystal clear in your memory whenever you wanted... Shouldn't you have to pay to view? Books? Songs? When wetware becomes more integrated into daily life, what becomes of your private thoughts? If you write a song and you remember a beat from someone else's work and want to change it up a bit, could a DMCA controller in your implant flag it and make sure you micropay the appropriate royalties? Maybe it wouldn't even be money they'd want. After all. What's more valuable than money in a world where copyright is everything? Perhaps your thought of their controlled media when creating your new content results in their getting a chunk of your idea. They could instantly spin it out, 'Upcoming music star X, combining the classic lyrics of Y with their own unique style has produced the new hit single Z! Direct to wetware only on SuperCorp Instant Classics! Here's a promo.' You might laugh, but this more or less sums up the music experience of going to a movie theater lately.
But what if we went further still? What if corporate power were not just to control what you think about but how you think it? Imagine for instance, a future where strict copyrights are enforced to a degree such that if you were to imagine Mickey Mouse giving Mike Eisner the finger, perhaps you'd get a nice shock to the central cortex? Or maybe a more subtle gland stimulation, where thinking this thought might release cortizol or damp down your dopamine levels, and only let you feel happy again when you started seeing the trademarked icon the right way. You might never even know that you were being manipulated if it were done this way. Think of the possibilities! Total, absolute, abject power!
So... Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Personally, I look forward to cybernetics, but I am wary of being Borg. The thing that bothers me is that like personal computers, laptops, and cell phones, people will feel they need wetware to compete, or simply to keep up with the Jones'. One only need look at a brand new Dell with Windows Vista to see what that means. In the future, even if you have high-end wetware that doesn't have these sorts of limitations and controls, the average person you interact with is going to be using the cheap junk that modifies their every thought, and for every one of you, there will be a thousand of them. A cyborg alone in a sea of Borg, with all the knowledge of mankind at your fingertips and no one who will listen to it.
But, at what price? Not worried so much about things crashing or breaking down. That'll happen and there will be strategies for dealing with that. What scares me more is corporate power. Anywhere you go on the web, you're assaulted with ads. Even a lot of applications you pay for have ads. DVDs are loaded with promos for other shows.. What marketer could resist the idea of direct-to-brain marketing? One need only look at clothing or one's own ignorance of ads on websites to know that society won't even put up a whimper to stop this kind of advertising, so long as they get the product cheap.
But where does it end? Certainly not with marketing. Imagine, if you could see an entire movie crystal clear in your memory whenever you wanted... Shouldn't you have to pay to view? Books? Songs? When wetware becomes more integrated into daily life, what becomes of your private thoughts? If you write a song and you remember a beat from someone else's work and want to change it up a bit, could a DMCA controller in your implant flag it and make sure you micropay the appropriate royalties? Maybe it wouldn't even be money they'd want. After all. What's more valuable than money in a world where copyright is everything? Perhaps your thought of their controlled media when creating your new content results in their getting a chunk of your idea. They could instantly spin it out, 'Upcoming music star X, combining the classic lyrics of Y with their own unique style has produced the new hit single Z! Direct to wetware only on SuperCorp Instant Classics! Here's a promo.' You might laugh, but this more or less sums up the music experience of going to a movie theater lately.
But what if we went further still? What if corporate power were not just to control what you think about but how you think it? Imagine for instance, a future where strict copyrights are enforced to a degree such that if you were to imagine Mickey Mouse giving Mike Eisner the finger, perhaps you'd get a nice shock to the central cortex? Or maybe a more subtle gland stimulation, where thinking this thought might release cortizol or damp down your dopamine levels, and only let you feel happy again when you started seeing the trademarked icon the right way. You might never even know that you were being manipulated if it were done this way. Think of the possibilities! Total, absolute, abject power!
So... Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Personally, I look forward to cybernetics, but I am wary of being Borg. The thing that bothers me is that like personal computers, laptops, and cell phones, people will feel they need wetware to compete, or simply to keep up with the Jones'. One only need look at a brand new Dell with Windows Vista to see what that means. In the future, even if you have high-end wetware that doesn't have these sorts of limitations and controls, the average person you interact with is going to be using the cheap junk that modifies their every thought, and for every one of you, there will be a thousand of them. A cyborg alone in a sea of Borg, with all the knowledge of mankind at your fingertips and no one who will listen to it.
