How BMIs might affect the physical
understanding of our bodies and what we should consider. A comment.
Imagine you want to share an idea to someone, and you don’t have to say a single word. Your mouth stays closed, you even do not have to address the person visually. Your messages leaves your brain and enters the other one. It doesn’t matter if both of you are in the same room or on the other half of the planet.
This scenario isn't creepy Science Fiction, but the new idea, which one of the most efficient and productive investors of our times - Elon Musk - proposes. Neuralink wants to develop "ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers." (official website) The result: we will be able to enter a completely new stadium of communication, which doesn't need words to share thoughts, but is able to send emotions, thoughts and perception directly from one brain to another. For those who want to learn more about the company, click here! (if you are already lost by now it makes sense to follow the link and dig a bit deeper into the material.)
Connecting brain to brain, nice! But - what about the body?
A
connection between brain and brain to ensure a more precise and efficient
communication, that is the initial plan. Information, which jumps from brain A
to brain B, without losing any content. Anyways, looking down on us, we
recognize that there is something additional to all neurons inside our brain: a
body! A system using all it’s force to ensure walking, digestion, perception and
further more – connection. We use our hands to communicate, we smile in order
to attract people, we nod to share a feedback. According to Musk all these
processes result from the lack of possibilities to connect our brains
automatically to each other. Language is just a metaphor for our thoughts and
we need interpretation and experience to decode the message we receive. That
might be true and as a result a proper brain to brain communication seems
useful. Nevertheless, we should spend some thoughts about the question: what
happens to our body, if we don’t have to use it anymore to communicate?
As a
dancer, I experimented with the possibilities of peripheral vision. Peripheral
vision means, you focus another person from all angles you can use. Sometimes
it might look like someone stands nearly behind you, but from an angle of your
vision you perceive that the person is still there. We experimented to
communicate using this kind of perception. Witnessing two people who interact
with each other without looking at each other created an imagine of distance.
Thus, we all use phones and WIFI, direct communication still requires direct
interaction for some reasons.
Reflecting
our evolutionary roots, direct interaction is something all humans have
experienced from their first day of life. Parents looking down on us to
understand our needs taught us early how to attract people with looks and
smiles. Young children learn very early how to share a social smile, which
invites people to create a positive relationship. All we do is developing a
roadmap towards positive affections. First we smile, we focus our opposite with
your eyes, we smile again and then we physically approach the other person.
BMIs would shorten this process by sending a brain message saying I like you. Sounds very pragmatic, but
what it loosens is all the magic beyond creating a relationship to someone. And
what also remains on the way is the aspect of time.
If we think
about the social structures of the world in 2017 we already can observe some
small developments and their results in these directions. Using dating apps
allows us to send messages I like you
without considering a specific time frame for an adequate approach. Sexuality
is everywhere, easy to obtain and available for everyone. Nevertheless, when I
ask people if they are happy about these options, most use them for a short
duration, but then come back to the “real connection”, they feel more safe and
friendly about. People tend to draw a linear line (meeting, talking,
interacting sexuality) between each other, instead of an exponential one
(texting, having sex).
Nonverbal
communication also supports our physicality in general. If we need our body, we
are more likely to think about it very often. We receive physical feedback,
which invites us to consider our health, our charisma and the way we present
ourselves to the world. Direct communicati
“Yes, but since the stone age, the human body
has always changed, why is that bad?”
Our front
head grew and we lost much hair, while our muscles and teeth are weaker than
before. As we invented a proper medical system, we are able to cope with many
diseases and clothes keep us warm. Contrary we leak many things older
generations were more positive about. Studies show that our grandparents were
more sexually active than my generation. We suffer more from diseases like
cancer or psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety. The world we
live in, the fast growing and technological development also causes fear,
insecurity and dangers for the body.
“Should we stop it and go back to stone age?”
Of course
not, but we should be wise and reflect every invention we are planning. What
can be the benefits from our curiosity? And what should be considered as
difficult? If we are smart enough to build brain machine interfaces, we also
should be able to find some motivated people who think about their failures and
develop some strategies to prevent us. Years of technological development and
industrialization should work as an example for how to do this.
I interpret
the possibility to look into someone’s brain as a pathway towards empathy and
understanding. Seeing the world through
someone else’s eyes. That is a beautiful idea. We can understand the
perception of a baby, we might know how old people feel and improve technology
supporting them.
But BMIs
could also create disorders, we do not have to deal with today. What happens,
if someone doesn’t focus on the perception of someone else and ignores his own
sensations. Can we develop an identity disorder by ignoring the signals from
our own body? And would it be possible that people in the future forget how to
read and interpret their own physical feedback? Thinking about many disorders
such as anorexia or obesity, we can identify these processes already.
Another
aspect I want to add is motivation: Once
we do not have to read a book anymore as it is displayed to our brain, we will
never increase the motivation to learn or read any more. What motivates us is
the underlying process of learning, not the achievement itself. Reading, as an
example, teaches us multiple aspects: it allows us to gather knowledge, but
additionally to that, it requires concentration and invites us to experience
joy and curiosity. We can’t read faster than a certain timeframe allows us to.
The idea of “not knowing yet”, the desire we experience fosters imagination and
creativity. What we can learn is patience, listening and waiting. If all
knowledge is transmitted to our brains, all the joy and desire expires.
Einstein said, that imagination is what drives research, not intelligence or
knowledge.
According
to current researches, future inventions are viewed as the most complex and
perfect built machines, which might eliminate us due to its perfection.
Nevertheless, we should not forget that yet we possess the strongest weapon of
all humanity: physical intuition. Neurons merging in your stomach and
expressing the feeling of fear. Pheromones signaling attraction. A smile
allowing connectivity. What I want to foster is: whatever happens, we should
stay aware!
