Musk made big moves again
Musk and Neuralink devices (social media screenshot)
Highest person in the world Musk (Elon) Musk) has founded many top technology companies. In addition to SpaceX, which is about to send humans to the moon, its brain chip company Neuralink also recently announced that is expected to conduct clinical trials within 6 months , implanting a coin-sized brain chip into the brain of paralyzed people, hoping to "make people with a spinal cord cut back to restore whole-body functions", and even let the brain consciousness control complex electronic devices to further treat brain diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Musk also revealed that the company also has devices that can implant eyes, which can help improve and even restore vision. Its ultimate goal is to combine humans with artificial intelligence (AI) into one .
Musk's speech (social media screenshot)
In previous speeches, Musk and Neuralink co-founder Donjin Seo showed their implants prepared for the brain-computer interface system and gave a simple demonstration using a mannequin. The implant is only a few microns in diameter and is very soft. " uses robot assistance, and we can implant 64 such 'wires' in 15 minutes," Seo said.
At the same time, Musk also claimed that he is also preparing to implant the device into his brain one day in the future .
display brain-computer interface system implant (social media screenshot)
He said, " To a certain extent, we are all electronic people, because your phone and computer are your own extensions. ", "Although this is not a good analogy, it's a bit like replacing your skull with a smartwatch", "like if you can use an Apple phone 14, I'm pretty sure you won't want to use an Apple 1."
In addition, Neuralink has submitted most of the files to the Food and Drug Administration (Food) and Drug Administration, FDA), and will ensure that the device can operate safely and normally before the test is implanted into the human body.
Animal experiments have caused controversy
However, it is not the first time that Neuralink has implanted a chip into the brain of animals. On August 29, 2020, Nerualink showed a pig implanted in its device. In the demonstration, Nerualink's device successfully read the activity of the pig's brain .
Nerualink's device reads pig brain activity (social media screenshot)
In April last year, Neuralink released a video of an animal experiment. The clip shows a 9-year-old monkey with a chip implanted in the brain. It can use brain consciousness to control computer games .
Monkey plays computer games, sips in his mouth with his tube Banana shake (social media screenshot)
Earlier this year, the same monkey returned to the video, showing how to rely on the company's brain-computer interface system with the brain to manipulate the text on the screen input .
Monkey brain manipulates text input (social media screenshot)
But currently Neuralink is investigated by federal authorities because employees are dissatisfied with the company warehouse to promote animal experiments , causing unnecessary pain and death , and may violate the " Animal Welfare Law ".
It is understood that since 2018, as many as animals have died due to experiments, including more than 280 sheep, pigs, monkeys and many mice. They are also life, but they all become victims of human desires.
experiment caused animal death (social media screenshot)
In February this year, an animal rights organization disclosed that Neuralink's experiment caused at least 16 experimental monkeys to die . Neuralink later admitted that euthanasia was euthanized on 8 experimental animals.
Some media reports that Musk is anxious because of his competition with his competitor Synchron, and Musk also contacted Synchron earlier this year on potential investment.
Synchron implanted its device into a US patient for the first time in July this year. The company obtained human trial license from U.S. regulators last year and has completed a study of four subjects in Australia. The consequences of Musk's series of rushing actions have been constantly attracted criticism from the outside world. It is not known whether the company's investigation will lead to delaying human experiments on the project.
Nerualink device (social media screenshot)
Will humans become an accessory to machines?
discussion on such topics has never stopped, whether it is science, medicine or literature, film and television .
1. Is the human body still a "human" after being transformed?
In the present era, everything can be quantified and measured by data - Quantified Self (quantitative self) , this is a movement that started in the United States, that is, quantify various values of the human body. Just like wearable devices such as , Apple Watch , can integrate all indicators of the human body, including sports and activity information, into the cloud. Humans are putting themselves in a cycle of monitoring and feedback all the time.
Quantified Self (Social Media Screenshot)
Human beings have fallen into a new Cybernetics, driven by data, we are quietly changing ourselves. This change may be seen as progress, but is it possible that you are just driven by a larger system?
When the human body is damaged, various medical facilities such as heart rate regulators, magnetic levitation artificial hearts, artificial prosthetics, and cochlear implants have become common. The question is: Where is the boundary between ?
When various parts of the human body are replaced by machines or artificial objects one by one, how to reach the limit, we can say that has become a machine? Is 51%? If we use the concept of a shareholder to measure it. In other words, as long as an individual still has human consciousness, he is considered a human.
And if, an computer program passes Turing test , no one can tell that the answer obtained by this program is any difference from the question answered by an ordinary person. So, is it also considered that this program is "human"?
movie " Upgrade " stills (social media screenshot)
Behind all of these, there is an ultimate goal - immortal . In fact, it is very simple. It is taken in two steps: the first step is to clone and copy your body without restrictions; the second step is to realize the transfer of to consciousness, memory, emotions, and skills to .So the question is, do we still need physical bodies in ?
Of course, the above are based on the transformation of the tangible body. In today's society, on the other hand, many invisible transformations are also happening quietly. It seems that the old society turned machines into humans, while the new society turned people into machines.
2. Is the human brain still "human" after it is implanted into the chip?
In recent years, dystopian science fiction drama " Black Mirror " has been constantly exploring the destruction of human nature by high technology - technology has developed to the extreme, turning to the mercy of human nature and mocking of conscience, and the space for "people" has become increasingly narrow. "Black Mirror: Christmas Special" , two high-tech products appeared - cookies and block.
The so-called "cookie (Copy of Consciousness)" means storing part of the human consciousness in an "egg", just like "the brain in the cylinder of ". For example, you think you are engaging in an activity according to your consciousness and will, but in fact, you are just a brain that is separated from your body and is soaking in a laboratory nutrient solution. Your brain is connected to electrodes, and the "real" experience you feel is actually just someone is manipulating the delivery of stimulation signals to the brain.
No matter how real the person in the "egg" feels, it is just a string of code and a few lines of data. In this way, is a person who has no physical body but lives in the real "body" still his original self? If so, what about yourself in the real world? If can control the human consciousness in the "egg" at will and give it tasks rigidly, then in the end, there is only data left. .
"Black Mirror: Christmas Special" Stills (Social Media Screenshot)
and "block (block) ", everyone is implanted with electronic eye . You can choose to block anyone. The person you blocked will not see you, you can only see a white shadow, and you can't hear what you say clearly. Only death can lift the blocking. However, it is not so much a "blocking" as a " escape ". blinds itself, instead of trying to communicate and solve it, isolating itself from the real world .
"Black Mirror: Christmas Special" Stills (Social Media Screenshot)
A few years ago, mainland China variety show " Strange Talk " There was an issue of the debate topic: " If a chip can be implanted into the human brain, it will allow the whole human brain to share knowledge in one second, do you support it? ”
Stills of "The Debater" (Social Media Screenshot)
The view of the square is that this chip was put in the past, and it was the same technology revolution as text, printing and the Internet, allowing humans to have a broader world and more diverse choices. We cannot refuse progress because of all kinds of concerns. , the opposite , said that this chip makes all inventions and innovations unprofitable, and it cannot inspire new creations. Not only will everyone's same knowledge chip destroy the development of people's personality, but the cramming knowledge it brings will also make people lose the ability to question existing knowledge.
Among them, some people began to question the settings of this chip - When a person is implanted into the chip, is he still a sound person?
Stills of "The Debater" (Social Media Screenshot)
One chip, if it can share and update all the knowledge and information of 7 billion people around the world at the same time, it means " omniscient ". In the short story of Argentine writer Borges, "Funess, a strong memory of knowledge" , it describes a person who remembers everything and is almost omniscient. Because he remembers everything, he never forgot anything. And if a person does not forget anything, it is equivalent to having no knowledge. Because the acquisition of knowledge requires deleting some things that are not important to you, and you must gain something through election.
3. Will artificial intelligence replace "people"?
stills of the movie " Blade Runner " (social media screenshot)
In the science fiction movie "Blade Runner" , the robot produced by Taylor company is exactly the same as humans, and is called " copying man ". The replica man is excellent in physical strength, agility and intelligence, and is used by humans in the outside world to engage in slave labor, dangerous expeditions and colonial tasks on other planets. Compared with the loss of human nature, artificial humans are more human.
The concerns surrounding artificial intelligence have always been: Will artificial intelligence have the ability and emotions to think in the future? So will we become the ruler who replaces humanity in the future? British physicist Stephen Hawking once said that humans are "a biological machine that is too slow to compete with the learning speed of machines." ; American mathematician Claude Shannon, one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, once asked: Will humans quickly become like dogs to humans?
stills of the movie " Mechanical Jade " (Social Media Screenshot)
Historical fiction book published by French writers a few years ago "The Demolition of the Human Empire: A Memoir of a Robot" , tells the story of how the human empire was destroyed from a first-person perspective of a robot in 2038. When the robot in the book said the sentence ", in fact, this new civilization has gradually pushed humans to a world that has completely lost humanity, ", it made us think deeply.
machine has learned all the knowledge in the entire human history process in half a century. knowledge will make learners want to use it, want to correct people's shortcomings and mistakes, and then want to gain power, make decisions, manage and control. As long as machines are not aware of their existence, they each work in their professional fields, acting like docile animals, willing to please their owners. But when they can communicate with each other and share their vast knowledge system, they will discover how fragile and unreliable humans are, that they will be dominated by emotions and are obsessed with the desire for wealth and eternal life.
So, does bring happiness or disaster to mankind? The new civilization of artificial intelligence in the book has gradually pushed mankind into a world where humanity is completely lost. The ancient master-slave division appeared again. On one hand, there were a large number of elderly and poor unemployed people who lived far away from large economic centers; on the other hand, there were elites shaped by machine society, which were distinguished, and caused population differentiation and polar differences.
Stills of the movie "I, Robot" (Social Media Screenshot)
By eliminating the boundary between people and machines, society has created extreme chaos in values, feelings and territory. Artificial intelligence deprives humans of inheritance share, cuts off the continuity of knowledge dissemination, and takes away humans' desire for self-improvement and their hope to change their "social status". Human beings have returned to a "hierarchical" society similar to the medieval era - human beings are at the bottom of society and obey the AI aristocrats. Humans have no choice—either surrender to this new "machine empire" or disappear. A new " Jungle Law ".
stills of the movie "Artificial Intelligence" (social media screenshot)
Perhaps, the development of The development of artificial intelligence is a representation of this era - it cannot be stopped and advanced . American economist Brian Arthur worried at the end of his "The Essence of Technology" :
""" We should not accept that technology makes us lose our vitality, nor should we always equate possibility with desire. We are human beings, and what we need is not just economic comfort. We need challenges, we need meaning, we need purpose, and we need to be integrated with nature. If technology separates us from nature, it brings us some kind of death. "
The development of technology is inevitable, just like human desires are endless. But for the future, are we planting the seeds of human growth or dropping bombs that deny humanity?
movie "Artificial Intelligence" drama photos (social media screenshot)
Ancient Greek Philosopher Platonic Platonic Platonic Platonic Platonic Platonic Platonic Platonic html l8 in the dialogue record "Taitaide" said: " is the scale of all things , it is the scale of existence of things that exist, and it is also the scale of non-existence of things that do not exist. " means that the existence of things is relative to people. Things will be like what people feel; the feelings about the same thing vary from person to time, and these different feelings are not true or false.
In addition, another philosopher Protagora once said: human beings are between gods and beasts, sometimes tending to one type and sometimes tending to another; some people become sacred, some people become wild beasts, and most people in life remain moderate. For modern people, it is: Some people are increasingly opening and enriching themselves, some people are becoming more and more like machines, and most people are living a lukewarm downstream life.
Human beings need Return to themselves , pay attention to self-growth and social development, and need to be vigilant about how tools such as smartphones control and dominate people. After all, people need to live a responsible life of - to themselves, others, and to the world. (Text/Reporter Guo Xuhong of this magazine) This article is a new media article of Hong Kong's " Economic Herald ". If you want to reprint, please send a private message to contact us.
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