biotechnology

The "60 minutes" video clip we watched in class titled "Brain Power" was very interesting and fascinating. The technology enabling the paralyzed to communicate through the computer using only their thoughts has potential but, like anything will take time for the scientists and the users to get better with it.

In the interview the journalist reasons that perhaps if this technology progresses, maybe one day people could control the temperature of their homes, the dimming or brightening of the lights in their homes or turning on and off other appliances that we use daily around our homes or businesses.

My only concern is, Why? why would i want an implant for myself to enhance my abilities to use certain appliances or even enhance my memory or sensory perceptions? It's one thing if I'm 70+ years of age and couldn't remember how to make breakfast, it's quite another when I'm 23 and perfectly able to use my memory and enhance it on my own.

if the technology ever was marketable to the masses, what would entice all of us to actually believe we could have much more memory capacity than we natually have if we're normal, healthy human beings? I wonder what an advertisement would say? "forgot your keys, your grocery list, or just someone's name from a party? the new memory implant will guarentee your ability to remember it. yada yada yada."

I wouldn't want such a technology implanted in my brain to enable me to be "enhanced." I'd feel less dependent on me (however you wish to define that, because believe it or not, a neurologist or psychologist would probably define it differently than most people) and more dependent on my implant.

this arguement of controlling home appliances with your thoughts--Some people enjoy the experience of using their tools and appliances, just like they enjoy cooking or working in the yard. Why would I want to take away that experience of pushing the lawnmower, turning the sprinkler system on, tugging the hose across the yard to water my plants or pushing lots of buttons as I multi-task to make dinner for the family? you may respond, "because it's easier, joe--that's a simple no brainer."

my reply: Did it ever occur to you that 'easy, or easier' is a perception, a concept built in one's mind due to their already existing precepts/ideas or expectations or environmental conditions or surroundings that have made them come to the conclusion due to their inability to be satisfied with their interaction with alll the outside stimuli they encounter daily?

if someone told you running a mile would be easy but after you ran it, you said it wasn't easy at all, then you two have a different expectation and perception of what exactly 'easy' actually means. So you've been fooled due to your own inability to specifically question and define what running a mile will entail and how it might affect you. It'd be important to pose the same question for a technology that enables you to use your thoughts to 'control' things.

Similarly, this argument has come up numerous times with the deaf families who argue with their deaf child as to whether or not to get a cochlear implant because it could make it "easier" to listen. But some deaf enjoy using Sign Language and prefer not getting the cochlear implant due to their concept of what "easier" actually is. Some deaf believe Sign Language IS easier than trying to learn how to listen and speak. being a student in American Sign Language, i can attest that Sign Language can be argued as either easier or harder depending on one's attitude toward what they perceive as 'easier' and why.