No, I Can't Talk Right Now, I'm Charging My Cell Phone in My Head.

I was reading this report by a professional looking group of people that discuss the ethics of human enhancements.  Whoever wrote this was extremely intelligent, because they keep citing studies (however vaguely) from places such as MIT.  In the beginning section, they answer questions about human enhancement, and I was particularily interested in the "future" sections of them.  Until I read that in the future humans will have neural implants in our brains that allow us to plug devices right into our heads.

Doesn't that seem a bit inconvenient?

To me, at least, it seems as though a normal, functioning human being wouldn't want to have a plug in their skull.  Of course, scientists are still studying this area for therapeutic applications, but not so that I can charge my phone up by the power of my neural activity!  While reading the section on page 15, I was reminded of the Borg, from Star Trek.  They had implants in them, and they used them to connect to each other AND they plugged themselves in to sleep. (I remember this specifically because one of the episodes -- or movies, I can't remember -- had them adventurous crew try and defeat the Borg by jamming their signals and telling them to sleep.  Then, for some unknown reason, the giant cube exploded.)  It's one thing to change other organisms, but that kind of change in humans is a whole uncharted sector.

Most of this paper deals with the possible outcomes if people start upgrading themselves.  When the phrase "enhancement divide" came onto my screen, I couldn't help but think of the movie Robots, where the pressure to upgrade was enormous.  But if you think about it, those kinds of upgrades were mostly aesthetic, not meant for some higher purpose.  Humans are shallow.  If we are going to spend the money on changing our selves, most of us will make ourselves look better, not have a video game in our head (honest, they said it... page 15).  We probably should worry about what new extremes we'll try to make ourselves look good instead of the ethics of implanting computer chips in our brain.

This organization seems legitamite, however.  Its contacts are two professors at state univerisities.  Bioethics is a sticky issue, dealing with the future and the present, while trying to convince the public not be scared of the new technologies.  Going into medical research myself, I find that these areas are important to consider, especially with the rate that science moves today.