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QUESTION DARPA Is Planning to Hack the Human Brain to Let Us "Upload" Skills

From the link: ““The Defense Department operates in a complex, interconnected world in which human skills such as communication and analysis are vital, and the Department has long pushed the frontiers of training to maximize those skills,” Doug Weber, the TNT Program Manager, said in a DARPA press release. “DARPA’s goal with TNT is to further enhance the most effective existing training methods so the men and women of our Armed Forces can operate at their full potential.””

This makes me uneasy, how does this sit with you?

AMGT 8 Jan 1
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10 comments

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0

Watch any ad for a new drug and you see my concern.

0

The're welcome to upload skills to me in exchange for me downloading binary codes that are perplexing me, and the odd algorithm.

1

Sweet real life Eve Online..

0

The brain is just a biological computer. Hacking it isn't too farfetched an idea. We're nowhere close to that, but in the distant future....

1

the whole idea is lunacy. I am sure that it does appeal to authoritarians who want control, but is not possible now or in the near future.

0

Uploading skills is a bit of a stretch. The program is focused on making your brain more engaged for new skills. The uploading part is a far in the future aspect of this type of science. Once we're capable of doing these things I couldn't say I'd be uneasy. We will inevitably try to do these things and certainly run in to moral and destructive obstacles but we are constantly overcoming that now as we have in the past. There was likely fear when we realized that we could perform a heart transplant but we have done well with our technological progress so far, despite the bumpy road it has been, and currently is.

@AMGT I don't disagree. We will likely see side effects from these procedures and very likely they be very negative. I don't think we will decide against doing it though so I'm optimistic about our ability to learn from and correct our mistakes. I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but procedures as new as that will become more effective and safe with time. I certainly understand how it can make you uneasy though. Inevitably negative things will happen when you play with fire, but if we didn't we'd still be in caves and afraid of the dark.

@AMGT looks spooky to me. Everyone else is saying Matrix. and I am thinking of the chip in the back of their head in The Day The Earth Stood STill

@btroje not to sound disrespectful(I think it might but believe me when I say it's not my intent) is it only youngest who can be optimistic? My interpretation of the world so far(reasonably a limited one) is that though we are capable of awesome things and all of them a movement toward the best life humanity can build, has been that of a society that experiences growing pains and makes mistakes on a timescale not equivalent to an individual. Of course some can see the inevitable negative consequences of something new but others can see the amazing positives such endeavors can yield. No doubt the atom bomb showed great potential for destroying the entire human race, but it's terrible power was used only the once and not again even through the extreme tensions between the worlds 2 greatest superpowers. If I look at a person in adolescence with naive views I don't jump to the thought that they will die in a drunk driving accident. They same goes for an adolescent intelligent species. No doubt mistakes will be made, but destruction of our humanity(figuritively or literally) is not what I perceive will follow.

@SocraticAddict you certainly have a youthful view of things

1

The title's a bit misleading, yea sensationalism. It doesn't seem they're talking about specific skills, rather somehow allowing the brain to learn whatever skill they choose to give you faster.

godef Level 7 Jan 1, 2018
1

Yay!!! Matrix here we come!

1

Just wait til they can download how amazing Supreme Leader Trump is. The reduction in neuroplasticity is an important part of our growth process. This is terrifying on all levels.

1

Oh, that's just fucking frightening.

Duke Level 8 Jan 1, 2018

@Naeem I'd like to think it's just conspiracy crap like the chip implants that will never happen but, one never knows.

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