Would You Like a Microchip In Your Brain?

17 Aug Would You Like a Microchip In Your Brain?

Photo by Xiao Cui on Unsplash

It is possible, today, to place a microchip in your brain to biologically interface with a computer. In August, 2020, Elon Musk demonstrated the ability of one of his many companies, Neuralink, in doing that very thing quite successfully. It was accomplished in a pig named Gertrude, but nevertheless showed the possibilities of doing so with humans. Musk’s stated purpose is to solve brain and spinal problems, but the applications can go far beyond that relatively narrow focus. The chips can be inserted via a surgical robot (to bring down the cost of doing so), carry over a thousand channels of possibilities, and be inductively charged overnight with no apparent discomfort to your body.

When I worked in Silicon Valley in the 1980’s, I learned that our military had been actively pursuing this technology, particularly for fighter pilots flying computerized jets built for high-speed warfare. They only recently announced it in 2014, however. The hope is to speed up cognitive responses through a direct brain-computer interface. The Veterans Administration also has an active interest in helping wounded veterans interface with multiple types of prosthetics when their legs and/or arms have gone missing in combat.

Is this a good idea, or is it fraught with potential peril for anyone participating without really knowing the long-term consequences?

Scientist, author, and visionary, Gregg Braden, in a recent presentation at the Arlington Institute in West Virginia, raised the question about this very advancement in technology. He made the point that technology is neither good nor bad, but it is how we apply it in our lives that really matters. If, for example, we implant a microchip in our brain to immediately enhance our ability to biologically interface with a machine, do we run the risk of losing an innate ability that we already have, but have not yet developed? Braden believes that when our unique biology is replaced by machines, our natural biologically intuitive abilities begin to atrophy.

Our bodies hold tremendous capability that most of us are not even aware of on a daily basis. Braden points out, for example, the average adult holds over 50 trillion cells in the body. Each cell produces .07 volts per cell, which equates to over 3.5 trillion volts of electrical potential. We regulate our internal technology by our own thoughts and emotions, both conscious and subconscious. We know that our thoughts create energy that is released into the universe just as soon as we think them. I wonder what would happen if you were directing all of your potential electrical energy into creating something for yourself? Do you have any doubts that it could work?

A recent magazine article in The Week reported on a Russian doctor who has been dubbed Doctor Chip because he has had a half dozen chips implanted in his body. It was done, in his words, “to make life easier.” He has a bank card chip in his palm, other chips that store his passwords, a chip to open doors at the hospital where he works, and a key to the hospital’s intercom system. This certainly shows the possibilities of how chips can make daily life easier…you’re certainly not going to lose or misplace your bank card if it is implanted in your hand!

In another area of technology development, scientists at MIT have developed a computerized pill that can be swallowed and sit in the stomach or lower intestines for a predetermined amount of time. In his TEDTalk of May, 2021, TED Fellow Kahlil Ramadi showed how these pills can initiate “bionudges,” which can produce electrical or chemical stimulation for the body in a number of different medical scenarios. He believes that this method can be used to control Parkinson’s, alleviate Alzheimer’s, and many other possibilities. He suggests that these electronic pills can used more effectively than pharmaceuticals are today. The vision is certainly an admirable one, but I can see it causing a slight problem for the stockholders of major drug companies!

Another probable side-effect of our fascination with everything digital is that it becomes an addiction. Our brains are equipped with a neurotransmitter called dopamine and is associated with pleasure. The brain regulates the amount of dopamine released into the body, and therefore the amount of pleasure we feel in the process. The same part of the brain regulates both pleasure and pain, and works very hard to keep both in balance. When we become addicted to any substance, whether its drugs, exercise, sex, or extreme sports, it is because we are consistently trying to recreate that feeling of pleasure. Of course, with alcohol or drugs, it means increasing the amount we ingest just to maintain a high level of pleasure…hence, addiction.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, psychiatrist and Stanford University professor, Anna Lembke identified what she refers to as our “digital addictions.” She notes that they have become a major source of anxiety and depression, particularly among young adults who spend an inordinate amount of time online with various social media apps, playing video games hours on end, or any number of other possibilities given the over abundance of technology temptations today. The effect on the brain is a constant release of dopamine (to keep feeling good), but if there is no down time to reestablish some equilibrium, then a depressive emotional crash is inevitable.

The main remedy she uses is a “dopamine fast,” and she has had good success with motivated clients. She recommends putting time limits on your technology interaction to give your brain a chance to level out the chemical imbalance and relieve any feelings of depression and anxiety.

Now, think about how difficult this might be if you had a microchip planted in your brain. How do you stop using the direct connection to technology (like locking your laptop in a drawer), when it is implanted directly, and attached to, your brain? That would seem to be another very important questions we would have to answer for ourselves before ever considering an implant.

So, where are you with your beliefs on the use of technology to aid in the repair, the healing, and the enhancement of the human body? It would seem to be a major plus in many areas where it allows people to continue living as normal a life as possible before a brain or spinal injury. On the other hand, if it is used solely to enhance human capability that is already possible, but just not developed, then is that good thing?

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