The Next Tech Frontier: Hacking Your Head

There is no doubt that brain-computer interfaces will arrive - because they're already here, in simple forms, and we'll have movie-style mind links within a decade at most.  Which makes the movie idea of mind-hacking (as in Ghost In The Shell) an extremely serious problem.  Never mind how you keep all your most important files up there (little things like "me.exe") - if it gets damaged, unless you're a Buddhist there's no Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

The risk comes from the combination of the very best of technologized humanity with the worst: when medical experts and mindologists are building devices to let paralyzed patients communicate with the world, they shouldn't be worrying about some scumbag hacking the system for a joke.  If you don't think people would do that, welcome to the internet and don't give anyone any personal information.  As the technology advances out of medicine and into mass media (as it inevitably will) it'll only get worse. 

If you use the internet you know how much damage someone can do to you with just an image, and that's just visual meme injection - mental malware a whole new world of sabotage.  Viruses propagate because of exploits in existing system - every copy of a program by definition suffers the same flaws, so a single exploit can spread through the entire network.  Every mind is different, however, with even the most basic functions slightly differently mapped in every head so you don't have the same rapid-infection risk - but you do have a far more chance of malicious code interacting in unexpected ways and simply breaking part of your soul while it's in there, with no way to restore it.

The new neologism is "neurosecurity", an excellent addition to the language (which has only been used in infinity-billion sci-fi stories already).  If nothing else, you should be terrified of a cerebral SirCam - imagine a virus pulling a random thought from your head and telling everyone you know.

Brain Hacking http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/10/mind.hacking/

Comments

[WHO YOU WISH YOU WERE]

YOUR BRAIN IS NOT A COMPUTER

IM SPEAKING TO *YOU*

NOT YOUR BRAIN, AUTHORMAN

YOUR BRAIN IS BRILLIANCE

BASED ON YOUR WRITING I DECLARE YOU AN IDIOT

YOU THAT IS - NOT YOUR BRAIN

YOU ARE A 'BRAIN FAIL!'

YOUR PERSONALITY IS SHALLOW, CONTRIVED, FULL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S THINKING

YOUR ARTICLE IS SHIT REGURGITATED AS STALE SHIT

THE BRAIN IS NOT A COMPUTER

YOU PASSIVELY ACCEPTED THAT NOTION

STICK YOUR FINGER THROUGH YOUR EYE SOCKET AND TOUCH YOUR BRAIN

IS THAT A COMPUTER IN THEIR

NO

IT IS WHERE YOUR SOUL IS SUPPOSED TO BE EXPRESSED AS THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF A HUMAN BEING

YOUR PERSONALITY IS IN DEFICIT

YOU KNOW NOT OF WHAT YOU WRITE & SPEAK

IN THE PARLANCE YOU ARE HACK

AND IN TRUTH YOU ARE UN-HACKABLE

BUT I CAN POINT OUT TO YOU HOW NAIVE YOUR JUNIOR HIGH LEVEL WRITING AND PHILOSOPHIZING IS

THE BRAIN CAN NEVER BE HACKED OR INTERFACED OR FUCKED UP IN ANY WAY SUCH AS YOUR PERSONALITY HAS BEEN - OH GEEKY ONE

THE BRAIN IS WHOLE - YOU ARE REDUCED, CONFUSED, PARTIAL, UNCLEAR...

READ SOME REAL WORKS ON THIS SUBJECT MATTER

READ KEN WILBER'S 'TERROR OF TOMORROW' RATHER THAN ANOTHER RERUN OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

OH, AND STOP MASTURBATING TO PORN - YOU ARE IDIOCRACY!

I APOLOGIZE TO HAVE TO SET YOU STRAIGHT SO THOROUGHLY, BUT IF I DON'T...

WHO WILL?

[Raoul Duke]

Whoever this inbred jackass who types in all caps is...Transhumanism is the next frontier...your brain more than likely, will be hackable for good or "evil". The soul is a fallacy of mankind, but the mind is ultimately governed by chemical and electrical sciences. Have fun romanticizing about your right hand orange quadrant...Moron.

[swamijie]

@WHO YOU WISH YOU WERE: Huh? Whatever drug or drink you're on, you need to stop. First, the all caps makes you look like a douchebag; second, the brain is very hackable and people have been doing it for millenia upon millenia, whether through (a process you're probably not all to familiar with) learning, meditation or through drugs. The circuits that make up a brain can easily be described as a series of 1s, 0s, and analog circuits and developing technology to interface with that has happened and I'm sure it will only get more sophisticated. Lastly, there's no such thing as a "soul". When we're dead, we're dead; no ancestors, spirits or angels or whatever will come back to help or haunt you, me or anyone else; they're just a figment of your imagination. So, get over yourself, get out and perhaps, learn to like someone other than the idiot in the mirror.

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

The human mind is WAY, WAY too complex to be described as a fancy computer data - file that can be copied or hacked into. The mind is basically electro - chemical responses, actions & interactions, yes, but to simply label it as that & nothing else is something of a limitation.

Notice that I'm not using the word " Soul " here either. Psyche will do just as well. I'm not even going to touch the question of where a psyche goes when the body it inhabits takes its last breaths.

If we can make a copy of the mind & upload it into a computer, will the original continue to live on in said computer, or would it be just like an audio - visual copy of late Aunt Virginia at the last family gathering ? A nice, high - quality recording, but no ability to interact with or respond to people outside the computer data banks.

I respect the reductionist view up to a point,but excuse me if I think that there's more to the mind than neurology & electro - chemical interactions & that it's more than a black & white, zero & one area. Hey, at least I'm not ranting like THE GUY WHO TYPES IN ALL CAPS......

[James]

I think you are all right to an extent. Although I don't quite understand where all the hatred is coming from we are all just commenting on a pretty interesting theme here. I can understand where the passion comes from though. It is a topic that brings so many questions and thoughts to mind. Although the mind is much more than just 1's and 0's, as time progresses there is no doubt that our technology will be further and further integrated with our bodies, and yes our minds as well. When debating about the "soul" or our "psyche" things get much more complicated but we can already alter our mind through introducing chemicals, why not with electrical impulse or planting a microchip? Whatever is going to happen I am very exited to see the results. Imagine instead of introducing a chemical into your body that damages say your liver or kidneys to relieve pain, you simply upload a software package to your mind chip. Wow. I want one.

[Cybortron-X]

I am looking at this article. I am someone who is studying Computer Science in which Artificial Intelligence will be the main focus of my degree. I have been researching BCI's and Neural prosthetics for quite a few years. Adaptive resonance theory microchips are already at amazing standards.The brain does consist of electrical and chemical synaptic transmission, also know as spikes.If an invasive neural processing computer , which i believe is already in existence , could interact with spikes and interacting with the action potentials recording and manipulating hyperpolarisation, this could mean bio molecular control of the brain and anatomy rooting as far as DNA/MRna manipulation and mutation. Anything will be possible, programmable and also receptive to external frequencies and compatible to adaptation and also intelligent with Intelligent virtual personalities communicating with the person. Yes, I am sure there will be malicious intent with those who are criminally inclined, and I am sure that there will be relevant software and upgrades which I am sure will be for sale.
Neuro technology has a future. Which I am sure will be with us sooner than we think.
Cybortron-X

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

James -

Software to prevent or stop addiction. I could live with that, definitely. OR software to improve math skills - I wouldn't complain, because I need a calculator & computer to help me balance my checkbook. Language software downloadable to the brain ? BRING IT ON !!! Or understanding of other cultures & customs ( Cultural Anthropology on a chip )? Great.

All that we can get from books, CD's, DVD's & CD - Roms now. If we can make it like a software peripheral for our minds & brains, so much the better. But that's not the core part of the psyche ( I've been dancing around trying to avoid the term " Soul " really hard. ) The central part, our basic identity, cannot really be hacked into like a computer file, although some aspects can be modified by education / re - education, behaviour mod.

A part of me REALLY wants to resist comparing an individual's core identity to a computer sub - routine / binary code / machine language, if you get where I'm coming from.