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Gates Says No to Implants
Tamas Feher from Hungary writes "The future of Slashdot's infamous Borg Bill thumbnail image may be in jeopardy after Microsoft founder William H. Gates said technology will one day allow computer implants - but hardwiring's not for him. 'One of the guys that works at Microsoft... always says to me 'I'm ready, plug me in,"' Gates said Friday at a Microsoft seminar in Singapore when he was asked whether computers would ever be implanted in the human brain. "I don't feel quite the same way. I'm happy to have the computer over there and I'm over here.' "
Video games do propel technology. But open source propels it further, IMHO.
Do you have any kind of evidence whatsoever to back that up?
Would you want a body implant that runs on Windows?
I can just see it - adware popups that appear every 2 minutes on your ocular implants.
My rights don't need management.
when I can remember everything I have heard or read digitally?
That's not taking away an interface, any more than having a keyboard instead of punched card is taking away an interface!
Speech recognition merely allows for a different and faster interface between operator and computer, but it is still by definition an interface.
Indeed it could be argued that even hardwiring the computer directly into your brain still requires an interface, again by definition. It would just be a different type of interface, presumably much faster and one which required less effort to use, but an interface it would still be.
People should not be afraid of their governments - Governments should be afraid of their people.
imagine the implications for the disabled.
People who were entirely paralyzed could now operate many different types of machines & tools.
Amputees would have a new way to interface with more sophisticated prosthetics.
The only thing keeping us from replacing lost arms & legs with fully robotic arms & legs is how to do the interface in a simple, straightforward way that doesnt tie up the other hands / feet with control levers or buttons.
This could be a huge boon for the medical science in many ways.
I'd rather not. Imagine suffering the BSOD on a really personal level. You might end up soiling yourself as a result, or perhaps you'd be left in a catatonic state until somebody else would come by and reboot your Windows PC for you.
But, seriously. If such an implant were ever to be made by M$, you can bet that it would never work with anybody else's software.
Cochlear implants, which employ digital pulses that the brain interprets as sound, can help profoundly deaf people hear. Advances were also being made on implants that can help fix eyesight problems, Gates said.
Where did you read Windows(tm)? A chip is quite something else as an OS that you'll run on your brain. Your brain and neurons will take care of things an OS would take care of. Call it brainOS or whatever. It operates your body, duh. It interacts with the "kernel" being your contience or what you perceive as "you".
A chip sending pulses to correct certain things going wrong between the "kernel" is quite a difference, it'd be rather an "enchantment" to the "OS" you already have, and to correct bugs oneself introduced (heardamage by frequent load concerts, eye meets pointy object) or which nature has introduced.
I can understand Bills' viewpoint; "I'm happy to have the computer over there and I'm over here.". And partially share it, as if you're going to build in all sorts of gadgets when there is NO need and it wont improve your life in any significant way (using your brain as a flashdrive for your MP3s perhaps compared to improving eyesight or giving someone who lost his limbs the ability to walk again) then I feel it's not required and it's just getting horny, hence losing a bit critical thinking, over the silicon. (not thinking about obsoleteness over time either)
Surgeon don't give a BSOD either. They do Fuck-up as well. Wanting computer implants solely for the fact it's "cool", "geeky" and you can be like those actors on various SF movies and series, then.. it doesn't do much justice to your intelligence.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
This got me thinking... and what exactly is the prognosis for Open Source implants? Who wants to go first on the test bed? This ain't no operating system... testing could result in deaths and a lot of pain.
There are too sides to that.
On one hand, it's a lot more complicated than pain and death. There are probably a lot of people who would volunteer for it. Some would do it because they believe they are contributing for a greater good. Some would because they get a kick out of risks and pain. And who knows what else.
But the main problem would be regulation. In any first world country I can think of (and probably most third world countries), local health authorities are going to want to regulate it, and rightly so. Just look at all the hoops that pharmaceutical companies have to jump thru just to get a new drug tested on human subjects. And didn't just recently the FDA denied permission to implant a patient with a bionic heart? This is goint to be tested to hell and back before someone gives permission for this.
On the other hand, open source does not necesarily mean a lone coder in his basement/garage, tho sometimes that is the image that is sold by many. A consortium or a corporation with enough resources to comply with regulation could very well embrace the OS movement and develop OS implants. I don't know how likely this is since this would probably mean slower return of investment.
No sig
Well, I for one, was NEVER impressed with that here @ Slashdot... shows a "BIT WEE TOO MUCH LINUX/UNIX" bias imo, for a technology site... but, to each his own!
Putting down ole' "King Billy" as I call him seems to have been a trend the last decade now. Alot of folks are sheep that do it & want to be "part of the team" rather than being individual & being a breakthru maker/shooting star.
It's natural for many folks seeking acceptance.
However, like I said before here? I am SURE, or nearly sure, that the folks' who are our hosts here @ slashdot enjoy it, I would, because of the 'linux vs. windows' zealotry (if there is such a term on the latter, lol, creative english on my end, so shoot me "human grammar & spellcheckers" on that one if you like).
Controversy? Is good for webmasters imo!
On the topic though? Well, think about it guys, we already use prosthetics & implants: What do you think eye glasses are, or artificial limbs, or pacemakers for those with heart ailments?
BORGISM! You just don't think about it... they're fairly commonplace for those that need them.
(Pace makers aren't visible, & it's not like when you're a kid & your class laughs @ you for getting glasses... I went thru it, it sucked. Kids are direct & cruel @ times... you get over it, & so do they, by exposure & acceptance... if not going thru it themselves directly @ some point later. What goes around... comes around).
I think they will be degrees of it. In fact, I asked a girl I used to date YEARS ago, a question:
"If your child could take in entire masters degrees in an hour's time, but had to have a direct wire into their brain implanted, would you think this is a GOOD, or BAD thing?"
She said "absolutely NOT a good thing & horrible" so, there's the moral issue. Some folks might actually jump @ the chance... but, what if the s.o.b. in your head could be used for "mind control" (ala MKUltra but not with chemicals & brain-washing etc.) or short out in your head?
Personally? I don't think I'd go for THAT radical of an approach. Like in the film, "The Matrix", sure you might be able to have your MIND know "Kung-Fu" (martial arts, & afaik, kung fu means "proficient"), but your body?
Nope... needs actual training... kata, stretching, etc. to gain trained muscle response/instinctual use of it... thus, it's only 1/2 of the equation imo.
APK
P.S.=> What has more of a chance, imo? Nanotechnology... apk
I haven't read any replies and frankly don't need to. I have recently started a non-profit to facilitate our transition to transhumanism. I already have a few donors lined up--remember someone high enough to talk to Gates regularly believes in this stuff.
Gates could dedicate his billions to transhumanism and be remembered on the other side as a Moses. But apparently he will not. But he is no the only person with money, and even then money is not what is needed. He essentially declared himself irrelevant to the future--no matter how much money he collects.
Still, when he tastes the other side I have no doubt he will change his mind. And kick himself for not being the one to help with the change.
On the other side, money will not be as important. Think about being a self-sufficient cyberthalamus (or brain-in-a-jar). You'll be on your way to other solar systems and will have little need for cash.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
You obviously havent instaled SP2 yet.
Go "secure" your servers right now, and have a nive BSOD.
There are a lot more uses for cyborg'ish tech than simply being a more efficient worker bee at the office.
/.. Well, either you could carry a calculator with you all the time, or you could just offload the calculation to your built-in math chip, and get the answer back instantly in your mind. Think of the emergent behavior your mind would come up with if it could effortlessly carry out sequential math calculations with the speed and precision of a computer...
Need to calculate 356.31 * 2.4168. If you can't think of a situation in your daily life where you would need to do calculations like this, then you wouldn't be on
Another "cool thing" would be in-your-mind-internet/encyclopedia. Suppose you are hiking in the mountains, and you come across a bear. You aren't 100% sure what type of bear it is, or its intentions and behavioral patterns, or what you should do if it starts acting agressively (this has happened to me). Think of how useful built-in google/wikipedia would be. In your mind do an image search for bears, identify the species, check the relevant reference articles, and determine the best course of action.
6th, 7th, 8th, and more senses could be added. I drool at the idea of heat-sensing, sonar, enhanced vision, GPS, etc directly wired into your mind as if they were other senses.
Heck, you could even implement effective telepathy via wireless technology.
That's just scratching the surface.
Money as a Motivator > Pretty much anything but your life as a Motivator.
Sorry but that just isn't true.
Most people when they have enough money to live comfortably find other motivations (suggesting that money is only a secondary motive, and comfort/survival are the primary ones).. how many people here have quite a higher paying job for less money but a better environment? In that case the equation is evil Boss + Lots of money nice Boss + less money.
I myself quite a job earning double what I am now to work on my favourite opensource project full time.. I've still got enough to live on, just can't buy as much new hardware every month.. big deal.. I'm much happier as a result.
Heck I've known people who have quite *all* paying work to go voluntary for a few years, supported by donations that might or might not happen. They're some of the most motivate people I've ever met, too.
I would reply that I said 'Pretty Much.' I would also reply that true altruism is a very rare trait in human beings.
Bullshit, everybody is altruistic sometimes.
It's just enlightened self interest. When a boy scout helps a little old lady across the road, that's altruism. When Carnegie endowed CMU, that's altruism. When Gates endows third world health, that's altruism. When a homeless man tells another one where to get food, that's altruism. When a F/OSS source programmer writes one of the 100,000 programs on sourceforge, that's altruism.
I for one want to live in an altruistic world, not the sort of dog-eat-dog, push the underdog down dystopia that many corporate types try to push.
After all, putting others ahead of yourself is one of the most assured ways to not live, and therefore, to not reproduce. Therefore, people who are altruistic would reproduce less, and contribute to the gene pool whatever genes (if any) lead to the increase in altruism.
You are ignoring the fact that we share many genes. By helping you I help many of my genes to survive. The simple greed-is-good mantra people like you push is nonsense.
And that's completely ignoring the statistics of open source and IP in general, where all it takes is one person in a million being altruistic and you can get something happening. Software/IP only has to be written once and it can be copied a billion times. The broken IP model we are currently stuck with and the vested interests that push it completely ignores that.
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Every new patent is another opportunity for a lawyer to make money at the expense of the community - real life nomic.