Reading this article: http://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html the author mentions that he doesn't get why people are worried about "brain chip implants for much improved cognitive abilities". I'm worried about it, and I can tell you exactly why: it has nothing to do with the technology, and is social and financial.
Simply put: society already puts a premium on "intelligence". So, say we invent a chip that "improves our cognitive abilities".
Who will be able to afford it? Who won't?
The author mentions LASIK as a technology that sparked initial fears but soon caught on, but elides a fundamental concern: we can sharply divide society into "people who would benefit from LASIK and can afford it" and "people who would benefit from LASIK and can't afford it". And brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are unlikely to be /cheaper/ than LASIK. Beyond that, the people who would most likely benefit from BMI are among those LEAST likely to be able to afford it.
So unless Elon Musk is planning on running a charity to provide BMI devices to the people who would benefit most and can least afford them, yeah, I've got concerns.
(Also, I've read /Flowers for Algernon/ and /The Terminal Man/. Not that I expect them to be predictors of the future, they're just a part of my cultural consciousness surrounding BMI.)
@StreetWanderer That's possible. I don't think that in the US LASIK is covered as a standard part of insurance (or it might be considered a Voluntary Outpatient Procedure, with a deductible etc.) Heck, it's only this calendar year that my insurance started covering /glasses/ for adults. Basic mental health care was added at the same time, and my state had to pass a law requiring it for them to do that.
@StreetWanderer And my state is one of the more progressive in terms of that sort of thing; there are many states where basic insurance is essentially "maybe you get to see a doctor once a year".
@noelle On the other side, if we ignore the Lasik example and look at the smartphone comparison the installation/procedure might be free if you get a 2 years contract for NeuralNet.
Like telco are doing now and that pushed forward the "everyone has a pocket computer" revolution
@StreetWanderer Well, sure, if you have the credit rating, live in an area with cell coverage, and are willing to live with three years ago's model. :) (Maybe this is a way in which CAN and US cell carriers differ?)
@noelle Yeah. CAN is the Stone Age when to comes to cellphone/internet pricing and model.
@amsomniac I am looking forward to my gay space post-scarcity society
@noelle Does it come back again to the lack of healthcare in the US?
In Canada the national healthcare system will pay all or part of the Lasik procedure. It's also very often encouraged in company insurance plans as it's cheaper than glasses.
That's why I didn't see any problem with this comparison.
As, if it can solve mental health problems it will covered by the national healthcare, at least in part.