With Brain-Machine Interfaces like Neuralink, how would our future look like?

Breakthrough technological advancements have very drastic impacts on not just our day-to-day lives, but also on our existence and evolution as a species.

Ever since the advent of human race, we have been inventing technologies to overcome the limitations of our physical self across two dimensions- physical and cognitive. The following matrix can help in illustrating the kind of technologies that we have been inventing to either augment our capabilities, or to externally assist us in performing the tasks.

Innovator Elon Musk has been working on Brain-Machine Interfaces like Neuralink with the objective of keeping pace with the developments at the other end of the spectrum, i.e. the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). His suggestion is valid- if we do not progress fast in augmenting cognitive capabilities of humans, soon assistive technologies like AGI would overcome us in the evolutionary race. We have already seen this happen on the front of physical capabilities, as no human comes anywhere near close in matching the mechanical prowess of machines. Except that in case of cognitive capabilities, the impacts of AGI would be very drastic and unimaginable. More on AGIs on some other day.

Brain-Machine Interfaces tackle one of the most complex problems for humanity- understanding how exactly the brain works, and creating a device that non-invasively, bio-compatibly fits into the brain to interact with billions of neurons at once.

What is Neuralink? Also called ‘Link’, it is an implant the size of four small dollar coins, which will be placed on the surface of the brain by a mini surgery. It will place about 1024 thin, wire electrodes in the brain, which will pick up the signals from the neurons, and connect the neural networks in the brain to the digital networks.

Currently, BMIs like Neuralink are at a very nascent stage, and are more hype than breakthroughs. Although, it would be prudent to have an insight on how the world would look with widespread adoption of BMIs. So, let us assume that in a couple of years from now a near perfect BMI has been developed, with high bio-compatibility, full brain coverage, complete with ability to read, write and communicate with the neural networks. It would essentially mean connecting the brain to the internet and the cloud.

Let us delve into the different brain functions, and how would they evolve with such a device in our heads.

(A big assumption here is that before all this tech comes to fruition, we would not kill ourselves with a stupidity like a nuclear war, or be killed by a pandemic or global warming or asteroid collision. To be honest, all these have fairly high chances of happening)

1. Motor Control

• Our control on the movement of our body parts is already pretty autonomous, so that remains unchanged.
• We would be connected to the internet. There would be specialized devices like robots and drones which would essentially work as our hands. Hence, we would be able to move things outside our body with just our minds. Telekinesis would become ubiquitous! Just like Harry Potter yells “Accio Firebolt”, and the broom zooms over to him. Except that in Harry’s case at least Firebolt flies out of its own accord, with the speed, direction and path selected by itself. In the case of the “Link”, we would internally command a robot or drone near the Firebolt to bring the broom to us, just like we order our hand to pick a piece of paper.

Just think about how cool video gaming would become!

2. Memory:

• Neuralink would be able to record memories, play them at whim, and delete the unwanted memories. (and possibly undo the deletes if we have a cloud backup?) Remember the Black Mirror episode “The Entire History of You“, in which people get an implant called “grain” which is used to record everything that they see or hear? In this case, it would be a level ahead, as it can record not just these two senses, but also touch, taste, smell and thoughts.
• And soon enough, new industries would spawn which would enable us to edit our memories, and create false memories. And all this can be combined with Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR), which would have progressed much further by then. People would start living in their bubbles, with artificial memories implanted as per their whims. It is highly likely that humanity would soon forget what is real and what is a simulation. But to be honest, can we actually confirm if we are not living in a simulation already?
• There certainly would be some protocols to set internal (brain) or external (cloud) memory for default storage. Since we would be connected with a cloud with huge storage capacity, we would not feel the need to rely on our original, forgetful memory. Due to lack of usage, internal memory would start to decline in size. The course of evolution (devolution?) would take place, and in a couple of hundred years our memory capacity would start to diminish, resulting in a reverse evolution. We would still have our external storage though. As the external hardware body would become redundant over time, we would not need it after a while and instead of becoming a rival to AI, we would simply become AI.

3. Consciousness

• Here is where it becomes extremely scary. Even if we assume that humans will never understand consciousness in the near future, such devices would seriously screw with our identities.
• People would start to allow other people into their minds, and concept of collective consciousnesses could emerge. What makes you unique is your body and mind- your memories, experiences, peculiarities etc. Even if there are strict regulations, some people would voluntarily choose to share their most intimate moments with specific people.
• Bodies would become transferable. Some people would fetishize living in and enjoying with other people’s bodies. When mind is transferable and powers with the internet, body would become disposable, just another piece of cloth. Bodies would become a commodity, with rich people buying more beautiful, powerful, synthetic bodies with added capabilities. Remember the Netflix show Altered Carbon? And just like other commodities, there would be excessive branding, marketing and black marketing. Fashion industries already have a significant experience in glorifying certain body types, so they would quickly adapt to the new market and become the front runners.
• Whether humans would learn to control and conquer their baser instincts is still a mystery. For example, imagine we could simple trigger a part in our brain to mimic the sensation of eating. These instincts are necessary for the survival of the species. If we would be able to override the control centers of the brain, would it make sense to override these instincts?
• Option 1: Yes. If we eliminate these natural desires, then what would be the purpose behind all our actions? What would be really want to achieve in our lives, if not ensuring the survival of the species in some way or the other? The simple consequences would be either draining ourselves in artificially created pleasures, or an extremely high suicide rate.
• Option 2: No. Most likely, we would become a servant of our base desires. All the gruesome human tendencies from the HBO series Westworld would come to life as major industries. Interestingly, the show’s tagline was- “Free will is not free”.

4. Some other foreseeable changes in our social constructs:

• Internet bandwidth would become the most wanted item. It would most likely have dynamic pricing.
• Humans would simply become addicted to this new life as a Cyborg. They would not be able to imagine how their ancestors (us!) could live with such a rudimentary brain (and a default body!).
• An event like Solar Flare which could disrupt electrical grids would have devastating impact on us. Millionaires would invest heavily in batteries and backups.
• Hijacking of the brains would become the next kind of terrorism. Cognitive security will be a major industry.
• Countries, governments would be less and less relevant. Instead, businesses would become large and powerful. Political environment will change in incomprehensible ways.

But in all possibilities, we need not worry. We are not even close to understanding the mysteries of the brain, let alone conquering it. As a philosopher has conveniently put in words-“If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t.”