PREPARING FOR THE INTEGRATION OF AI AND HUMAN
Elon Musk’s Neuralink has for the first time implanted its Brain/Computer Interface — named “Telepathy” — into a human. Threading more than 1,000 superthin, flexible conductors into the cerebral cortex, his team is using Bluetooth to enable us to speak and interact with a computer just by thinking.
Implanting microelectrodes in the brain, Stanford researchers are decoding signals at 62 words per minute, a rate that’s approaching the speed of everyday speech.
Scientists at Carleton University are developing a biometric security device that will eliminate the need to remember passwords. Instead, our unique brain-wave signatures will serve as "pass-thoughts," enabling us to log into any of our devices just by thinking.
Nature Electronics has named the full range of Brain/Computer Interfaces as their “technology of the year," noting the rapid progress that’s being made in establishing direct communication between the brain and external devices to recorde, decode, and stimulate neural activity.
UNESCO has called for global regulation of Brain/Computer Interfaces and the urgent need for a universal ethical framework for BCIs. BCIs have the potential to significantly alter human experiences and capabilities, raising concerns about privacy, autonomy, and the potential for misuse.
"Cognitive liberty" is the human right we most need to be talking about, says Duke law and philosophy professor Nita Farahany.
Advances in neuroscience are taking us closer to a reality in which "individuals, companies, and governments will be able to hack and track our brains in ways that fundamentally affect our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves," she says.
"We are rapidly heading toward a world of brain transparency, in which scientists, doctors, governments, and companies may peer into our brains and minds at will.”
With Soul Matters, AI and Faith, UU Boca Raton, and UU Saratoga, the Smartacus Creative Group is pleased to provide a forum for one of the most urgent and remarkable conversations of our time.
We seek to engage Unitarian Universalist congregations in conversations about Human/AI integration, the coupling of mind and machine we’ve imagined in sci-fi and are now confronting face-to-face.
IT’S SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2032
Impressed by the many capabilities and features that thalamitic integration promises, the Rev. Peter Gilman has decided to accept the invitation extended by Darwin’s Edge founder and CEO Surina Rao to become a ThinkPal Volunteer, demonstrating the power of this advanced neural auxilliary to the American people in the months leading up to the 2032 Presidential Election.
Members of his church have highly mixed feelings about Rev. Pete’s transformation into a Human/AI hybrid. Some look forward to being ministered by a cyborg. Others can’t stomach the thought of it.
Today’s the big vote. Let’s see how it goes.