The Unimaginable Advancements In Technology, What if there was an invention that could transfer data directly betwe Options

I was thinking about this while I was in class (information technology). What if there was a device that could directly link your mind to your computer, just like an external harddrive. Let's say this device could look like nothing more then a headphone set with a brain symbol on it that rests on the upper part of the head. It would show the contents of the person's mind just like that of an external harddrive. The user could copy text, audio and video files from the computer straight into memory. Of course the device would have to be able to convert the format of the files.

What impact do you think the availability of this invention would have on society?

I think it would be a means to get a college level education in minutes or hours, depending on how fast the computer can transfer data. It could be used as evidence in a crime, or to show dreams and nightmares to others. Users could even delete traumatic memories that haunted them for years if they wanted to.

Of course this could have disadvantages too. Steganography is one of them. This is the technology of hiding a text document in a picture file. The text isn't part of the actual visual image and so the hidden message wouldn't show in a printed copy. With this scenario, a person could be brainwashed into associating whatever the hidden message was with the image. Another disadvantage would be spyware. A device like this should never be used while the computer is connected to the internet. As far as computer viruses getting into the mind, the only way this could work is if the attacker was skilled in both hacking and neuroscience. A working rootkit would be the worst thing to get into a persons mind.

This may seem like a strangely random thing to discuss, but class was just that boring today and I had to imagine something off the wall to stay awake.

In the summer of 1978, a group of buddies and I sat around after a session of Dungeons & Dragons and started a series of discussions about how fantastic it would be if someone somewhere invented a way to make a role playing video game. And when I say "video game" I mean the real basic home version ala Pong, and old-school coin op versions that started coming out on the market. After all, if they could make a science fiction based game where we shot aliens invading earth from the sky, why couldn't they make one according to a fantasy theme, where warriors wield swords and wizards cast spells to defeat attacking monsters in dungeons? Perhaps there could even be a system for character creation, where the computer would handle the dice rolls and all the complex rules, so that the game play could be less encumbered and more action oriented! Given the technology of the time, such talk seemed to us then as only plausibly coming out within the next hundred years. Anytime sooner than that seemed as likely as sparkling rainbows shooting out of a bull's backside.

One year later, Adventure for Atari came out and completely blew our minds. Others followed on Intellivision and Colecovision. Gauntlet appeared in the arcades in the mid 80s. And increasingly interactive graphics began to be added to various beloved RPG text games RPG TRS80s and Commodore64s. Ultimata seemed like the Second Coming. And the slew of MMORPGs that followed as the computers and Internet connectivity advanced have lead to the point where, today, what my old group of friends and I once dreamed for fantasy RPGs actually has come about, and even transcended our wildest speculations at the time.

Our concurrent discussions about technological innovation during the 80s ran ramptant, and were even more bold and brazen given our group's reading, movie, television, and computer interests. Although it's called the Internet today, back then the terms "datasphere", "dataplane", "cybersphere", etc... were used in the general speculative language for talking about and explaining it through various fiction. The most conservative guesses for when it would be invented, based upon technology of the time, was somewhere between 2030 and 2045, if we were lucky. Around 1995, the Internet truly hit Critical Mass and since has become the reality that my generation had dreamed about, but mostly dismissed as just truly entertaining grist for the science fiction mill.

Seems to me as if we are in the process of a similar visualization and manifestation cycle right now regarding the fulfillment of techno-neurological accomplishment. While crude, these devices are finally becoming available to the public. They seem to me to be akin to the "Pong Phase" of home video games - and I have no doubt that they will be considered as clunky and as laughably archaic as kids today used to playing World of Warcraft consider Adventure for the Atari2600.

Although Ray Kurzweil's timeline remains suspect, his basic premise regarding the climax (The Singularity) for the exponential evolution of technological advancement seems not only plausible to me, but also inevitable barring any serious societal glitch (like true economic crash, devastating world war, etc...) that would dramatically slow (if not completely halt) its arrival.


I am thrilled to see this all happening.
And I am looking forward to the progress to come.

This post has been edited by Praxis: Nov 11 2011, 11:01 AM