Would you want cybernetic implants?

[jimmy olsen]

If it could be done safely, I say yes.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/05/neural-implant-artificial-intelligence-opinions-columnists-john-zogby.html?partner=links

The Way We'll Be
Cyborg Status
John Zogby, 08.06.09, 12:01 AM EDT
If you could have computer chips wired into your brain, would you?
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So just how dependent on, and even addicted to, the Internet and computers have some of us become? Would any of us want to be actually hard-wired to the cyber-world?

Zogby International found out by asking very large online samples of U.S. adults some hypothetical questions about whether or not they'd like to connect their brains to the Internet or have computer chip implants. We weren't expecting anywhere near majorities to say they would indeed want to be players in this brave new world. But if you believe that only the most daring super-geeks among us would want to go there, you are wrong.

Here are the four questions we asked, and the results. The first was in an interactive survey of 3,030 U.S. adults conducted from May 29 to June 1, 2009. The other three came from a super-sized panel of 41,175 that was polled July 2 to July 27, 2009.

--If you could have the Internet wired directly into your brain, would you do so?
Yes: 13%
No: 82%
Not sure: 5%.

(We asked the same question in October 2007, and found 11% said yes.)

--Would you agree to have a computer chip implanted in your brain if it would make you immune to disease?
Yes: 25%
No: 54%
Not sure: 21%

--Would you agree to have a computer chip implanted in your brain if it would provide you a storehouse of knowledge?
Yes: 23%
No: 58%
Not sure: 19%

--Would you agree to have a computer chip implanted in your brain which would provide you with entertainment?
Yes: 6%
No: 86%
Not sure: 9%

A quick analysis reveals a hierarchy of needs. One in four would be open to allowing an artificial intelligence into his or her body to ward off disease (and possibly mortality itself). Slightly fewer are so sure knowledge is power that they too would want the chip implant. But only 6% would want a computer chip just to be entertained. Being wired to the Internet can satisfy a lot of needs, both practical and prurient. So the fact that we found 13% who might want to turn themselves into Me.com makes some sense in this needs hierarchy.

We don't know how many would-be cyberheads might actually go through with this when the hypothetical physician enters the room with surgical lasers and nano-sized computer chips in hand. But we can certainly draw conclusions from our polls about which demographic groups are most open to being hooked up to the Internet and computer technology. This is especially true in the survey of 41,175, where sub-group sizes are in the thousands.

If your first guess is that younger people are the most likely, you are correct, but only to a degree. On being wired to the Internet, the First Global generation of 18- to 29-year-olds is the leader at 24%. The percentages decline with age to only 8% of people 65 and older. First Globals are also more likely than the other age groups to want the entertainment chip, but that number is still only 10%. First Globals are about 5% more likely to want the knowledge chip. However, there is no age difference on the immunity chip question.

You might also expect that more men than women might be risk takers, and willing to alter their brain physiologies. That is born out, with men ranging from five to nine points more likely to answer yes to all four questions.
The largest and most consistent differences were found along the nation's deepest fault lines, political ideology and religion. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to answer yes by a range of four points on the entertainment chip to 13 points for the immunity protector. Independents fall somewhere in between.

It's clear that the religious practices of liberals and conservatives are the primary reason for their different answers. People who never attend religious services are significantly more likely to answer yes than are those who attend services weekly or more often. The biggest difference (19 points) is on the disease immunity question.

The public's ideas about brain implants may come from TV and movies, such as the X-Files, Dark Angel, the Matrix series and Spiderman 2. But such procedures are already happening under limited medical situations. Physicians currently connect neural implants directly to the brain as a treatment for stroke or other head injuries.

In an April 2008 New York Times Magazine article titled "Total Recall," New York University psychology professor Gary Marcus wrote: '"A team of Toronto researchers, for example, has shown how a technique known as deep-brain stimulation can make small but measurable improvements by using electrical stimulation to drive the cue-driven circuits we already have. ... Making our memories both more accessible and more reliable would require something else, perhaps a system modeled on Google which combines cue-driven promptings similar to human memory with the location-addressability of computers." Marcus writes that what he envisions would not turn us into computers.

We may soon have real ethical questions about implanting artificial intelligence into our bodies. Our poll shows with certainty that there are some people willing to take that step. When it happens, our culture wars will have a new battlefield: the human brain.

[CountDeMoney]

What, forget my name and shit myself uncontrollably after downloading Service Pack 3? No thanks.

[Faeelin]

This poll suggests to me people are stupid, and the peons will be fodder for my carnivorous robot army.

[Razgovory]

Yeah, that's what I want.  Have someone open up my head every 3 or 4 years to upgrade my processor.

[The Brain]

Would you agree to have a computer chip implanted in your brain which would provide you with entertainment?

No, but I would happily see it implanted in other people's brains for my entertainment.

[DontSayBanana]

Funny that the largest percentage is the "immunity chip" group. It strikes me that, as the cells that perform defense for the body have no direct contact with the central nervous system, that would require a whole nanotechnical platform to interface the immune system with the unconscious neural processes.

[Neil]

An immunity chip would require the slaughter of billions of people.

[DontSayBanana]

An immunity chip would require the slaughter of billions of people.

True. Without razing Africa, there'd be too many variables for effective processing.

[Neil]

An immunity chip would require the slaughter of billions of people.

True. Without razing Africa, there'd be too many variables for effective processing.

I'd like to see global population reduced to about a five hundred million before I give out panimmunity.

[CountDeMoney]

Funny that the largest percentage is the "immunity chip" group. It strikes me that, as the cells that perform defense for the body have no direct contact with the central nervous system, that would require a whole nanotechnical platform to interface the immune system with the unconscious neural processes.

Don't we already have that?  I think they're called Lymph Nodes.

[Zanza]

Only delta-ware as it would lower the essence too much otherwise.

[DontSayBanana]

Don't we already have that?  I think they're called Lymph Nodes.

Those function mostly as a filter for pathogens. An active immunity platform would need to 1) define characteristics of pathogens and aberrant cells, 2) constantly monitor the status of cells and pathogen levels throughout the body, and 3) route white blood cells or an alternative defense mechanism as quickly and efficiently as possible to avoid symptoms.

[I Killed Kenny]

What, forget my name and shit myself uncontrollably after downloading Service Pack 3? No thanks.

USEH LINUCS

[Queequeg]

What, forget my name and shit myself uncontrollably after downloading Service Pack 3? No thanks.

Presumably it could cool my heart down during a heart attack or move my metabolism up so that I don't have to work out and can eat what I want. 

Sounds great to me.  Then again, I've dreamt about it ever since I first played Deus Ex.

[Slargos]

I would certainly be in the market for various cybernetic limb replacements.

I feel that a Vibro Sword pretty much requires a cybernetic power arm to be taken seriously.

I'm also still waiting for powered armour.

What would be a bit worrying though would of course be the potential for malware.

I mean, you don't want to be busily stroking your... sword.. when a virus suddenly orders your arm to powersqueeze.