Someone called Rodney Brooks shared his fantasy about a Brain Internet Link which I found intriguing; to quote in part:
A few weeks ago, I was brushing my teeth and trying to remember who made "La Bamba" a big hit back in the late 1950s. I knew the singer had died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly; If I'd been downstairs, I would have gone straight to Google.
But even if I'd had a spoken-language Internet interface in the bathroom, my mouth was full of toothpaste. I realized that what I really want is an implant in my head, directly coupled into my brain, providing a wireless Internet connection.
Thankfully, that kind of technology is not available today though we have come close with Shazam1.
Googling for Robert Brooks shows entries which suggests he is involved with Robotics and Artificial Intelligence and while his idea for the future of the Internet is a laudable goal, I think we ought to solve the problems we are facing on the internet now before linking it to the human brain.
I may be paranoid here or maybe I am channelling some of the aliens I see on television, but I do not think that we as a human race, are ready for such Technology.
What do I mean by this? Well, if you look at the current state of the Internet, you will find that virtually every crime committed in society today has found its way into the Internet and have therefore gone cyber.
Virii, Trojans, Hackers, Spywares, Pr0n, cyber-terrorism, Espionage etc all have their human origin long before there was an Internet which gave them a bigger playing field. Unfortunately they continue unabated and cannot be controlled because they are all part of human nature and every party to this warfare has their own separate agendas which are rarely the same and I fear that developing a concept such as a Brain Internet Link only widens the playing field for everyone concerned.
What happens if we get a virus? And I don't mean the biological kind either! I could let my imagination run riot and introduce the concept of a neural anti-virus software but I will not go there. What happens if at some point in the future someone finds a way to network this device thereby bringing new meaning into the word "Collective"? (I am betraying my Borg roots here).
What happens if a Trojan is embedded into the Neural Link and an unwitting human uploads all his intelligence to an adversary, or if the Neural Link is hijacked by a hacker?
I have always wondered why we as a human race could do lots of stuff but are unable to read minds; if we live long enough, I think we will be able to find out why nature doesn't intend for us to do this.
Mr Brooks' dream is laudable, partically the Medical benefits of such Technology to the blind and the deaf but such Technology has a downside and is open to abuse.
Mr Brooks should also immerse himself in some scifi shows such as Star Trek or Farscape where such Technology is used in everyday life; it doesn't end well.
1Shazam or any such technology may be stale news, but unfortunately, I do not own a mobile phone.