Thursday, November 19, 2009

So by 2020, we'll all be cyborgs?

This terrifies me a little bit.

I also have the feeling that by admitting that this terrifies me, I will soon find myself eating my words in the same way that everyone who claimed that the Internet is destroying language ate (or are still eating) their words. I'm like that father who said watching Elvis perform will destroy his daughter's sexual purity, like the mother who said TV will rot your brain. I've suddenly grown into that older generation in which all new technology is scaaary. I mean, I must be getting old if it freaks me out that the folks at Intel have been working on learning how to read brainwaves to create a chip that would be implanted in your brain that would replace your mouse and keyboard, right? I'm, like, soooo not with the times that this is totally terrifying.

But Intel Lab's vice president of research Andrew Chien does not seem to be even remotely phased by this idea. He equates the misguided notion conceived by those silly humans of twenty years ago that it was "unnecessary" for everyone to carry around computers to us now-laptop-toting humans of today, those of us now near-sighted individuals who think we will never need an implant in our brain to more easily and intuitively complete our daily computer-centric tasks like surfing the web and leafing through digital documents. I say that implanting something in to your brain - effectively submitting to invasive, elective surgery - is a way bigger deal than just carrying around a laptop or a mobile device everywhere. Sure, one could liken our laptops and mobile devices to a sort of appendage, but it is an appendage that we can remove from our hands at any given time and set aside away from our bodies.

To me (and I of course understand that this might not even come to fruition) I think that a separation of body and technology should to be maintained. I could see this being useful for individuals who do not have use of their hands (for example, those with severe Carpal Tunnel or Cerebral Palsy), but I suppose the idea just freaks me out in relation to all those who are fully capable of typing and clicking who could potentially still elect to go through this implant procedure. And the article on Computer World does not mention this development as being an implant for those with disabilities; the article goes so far as to state that "users will tire of having to manipulate an interface with their fingers" and would therefore elect to put themselves through this surgery.

Is it just me, or am I getting old?

2 comments:

T Relth said...

Yep. You are reeeaaalllly. old. 8-{i>

Princess Leah said...

Aww! How cute! KJ's blog has a spambot.