While doing some reading this morning, I came across an article about the ability of social networks to be used to spread malware, better known as viruses, Trojans, worms, the stuff that make network security people have nightmares. The person writing the article, a certified IT security professional peppered his brief article with terms I am well familiar with, and some I thought were only used in scifi. These terms include wetware , liveware, meatware or the abbreviation PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair), generally used to refer to a person operating a computer.
Having been involved professionally with IT since 1979, I have seen a lot of the progress in computer technology, but I find it disconcerting to see the trend of equating humans and the technology they invented. I think it is demeaning to the human to use these terms as I find it repulsive that some would want to become integrated with the technology, by having chips, RFID's implanted; it is to me unequivocally repellent to want to have a computer connection implanted to directly interface with a computer merely for convenience sake. These are the same concerns I voiced in a forum at a major chip manufacturer some time ago.
The concern is where this leads, in terms of migration from the voluntary to involuntary. That said, there are situations where a person is implanted with technology, for the benefit of the person. Examples include pacemakers, cochlear implants, even some experimental vision sensory equipment that hold the promise to restore sight; implants to detect muscle commands from the brain to make artificial limbs perform similar to human limbs.
I am not alone in these concerns; as Neurochips develop further, for example the artificial hippocampus, issues become raised about what it actually means to be human.
Some of the ethical considerations that Brain Computer Interface (BCI) would raise under these circumstances are already being debated in relation to implants and the broader area of mind control, and in particular in the discuss regarding two way communication via the bci, the most common issue being the potential for mind control.
I think this is summed up in this quote:
"The potential for neural prostheses to do good must be tempered with the understanding that the road to realization is pitted with potholes that remain to be negotiated. Yet the promise is stimulating indeed." (Victor D. Chase , science and technology writer based in Yorktown Heights, NY.)
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