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Hackers' Next Target — Your Brain?
Hugh Pickens writes "Wired reports that as neural devices become more complicated — and go wireless — some scientists say the risks of 'brain hacking' should be taken seriously. '"Neural devices are innovating at an extremely rapid rate and hold tremendous promise for the future," said computer security expert Tadayoshi Kohno of the University of Washington. "But if we don't start paying attention to security, we're worried that we might find ourselves in five or 10 years saying we've made a big mistake."' For example, the next generation of implantable devices to control prosthetic limbs will likely include wireless controls that allow physicians to remotely adjust settings on the machine. If neural engineers don't build in security features such as encryption and access control, an attacker could hijack the device and take over the robotic limb." Relatedly, several users have written to tell us that science may be closer to the science fiction "mind wipe" than previously thought. Put this all together and I welcome the next step in social networking; letting the cloud drive my limbs around town via a live webcam and then wiping the memory from my brain. Who has MyLimb.com parked and is willing to deal?
Go insane. It's the new encryption.
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Goddamned, the unintended consequence of techonological evolution is that it makes every conspiracy theory ultimately more likely to do in the future.
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If it means that in the future our government will employ cyber-babes in ridiculous fuck-me outfits to fight crime.
(Still finding it ridiculous that the Major was essentially wearing a one-piece bathing suit and leather jacket as her uniform in the GITS tv series.)
Kwisatz Haderach
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This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
If everyone could hack into any person's brain and have sex with whoever they want, then what kind of society would that be like? On one hand, some super hot chicks are going to be pretty busy, but on the other hand, you would be reprogrammed periodically to think that bigfoot was hot.
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Brain Hacking I can see happening (taking control of someone's bionics), but doing the mindwipe is what I was taking aim at. TFA talks about rats getting their memories wiped, but I'd want to know more. Does the rat's basic personality stay intact? Did the rat relearn? Did the rat display the same actions after the removal of the enzyme? (That'll teach me to take a moment and think before typing - let this be a lesson to you!)
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you might be right, but I am building a new tin foil hat just to be sure.
1. after all in Soviet Russia tin foil makes people into hats 2. 3. profit!
you must be new here, and so on.
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Okay, this only holds true IF we are truly biological machines with advanced programming. If we actually do have a soul, then this whole idea goes out the window (and a whole lot of other, much bigger problems come in).
I don't see how the soul comes into play here.
Correct me if I'm wrong (I have ZERO medical background), but throughout the years there have been examples of conditioned responses and hypnotism. Then there is shock therapy and some drugs to help wipe some thoughts and memories, and let's not forget about sleepwalking and sleepdriving.
If a person gets amnesia, does that mean the soul has left the body?
If a person sleepwalks due to a personal problem or a medication reaction, does that mean during that time there is no soul?
etc
Given enough time and advancement, who's to say that in 100 years that either a combination of the above couldn't take control of a person and wipe their memory afterwards. Especially once we start wiring hackable devices into our nervous system.
The big worry is not hacking, after all I am sure that there will be plenty of security software you can download, but rather the effects of spam.
Who else has a clear mental picture of Dr. Strangelove being choked by his own (gloved) hand?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Someone at work mentioned to me recently that it will be a scary day when someone can program your brain. Well I've already seen it happen. My local Walmart is in sort of a high-risk part of town, so the "greeters" will ask to see your receipt if you have any bulk items in your cart that aren't in bags. So people get used to having their receipt handy when they walk out the door. Now yesterday it was kind of busy, and one greeter to check receipts. Guess what I saw? A line of about 10 people waiting to show their receipt before leaving the store. Meanwhile I push my cart right around them (I've already waited in line for 25 minutes just to pay, I'm not going to wait again to leave the store). It appears that those in line were robots that have been programmed (conditioned) so much that they couldn't think of leaving without waiting to show their receipt. Keep in mind that there is not sign saying you have to show your receipt.
Which is why if/when direct brain IO is developed, you won't find me anywhere near it, unless I am in a situation where it is the only option to restore normal faculties (ie: injury or illness). Currently, when a power surge or an attack occurs against my device/computer the damage maxes out at the value of the device (assuming I'm backing up data). If a power surge or an attack occurs via a direct link hooked up to my brain, the damage is total.
That said, the article is still relevant because neuro-tech has great potential to increase the quality and length of life in ways currently not possible. As always, it's important to stop and think about the short/long term consequences of actions (novel thought).
Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
While mylimb.com is parked, mydick.com is available. Many guys already claim that their dick has a mind of its own.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Realistically, how hard would it be to include an OFF switch on the external interface used for doctor diagnostics?
I mean, for pete sake people, what possible gain would there be in trying to break into a mechanical leg?
Can you take any part of that to the bank? There is no money to follow. There is no information to gain.
Do you see anyone hacking your IP Oven, or you IP Coffee maker? http://workingmomwa.blogspot.com/2008/06/coffee-maker-needs-security-update.html
How does an interface to a prosthetic limb somehow suggest a "mine whipe". Does my pedicure predict a lobotomy?
Come on, people. There is some fool snickering somewhere that the drunken brainstorm he posted somewhere has actually morphed into a story on Slashdot.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
They've found through extensive research that a bullet to the back of the head affects a very thorough mind wipe.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
If you have soul you've already been hacked. By God.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Even if your personality remained intact, if the memories responsible for learning skills, values, and relationships were wiped, at best you'd be like a complete amnesiac, at worst, like a young child but without the fast-developing brain of a child.
If your moral values were gone, someone bent on evil could teach you the values he wanted you to have. If your relationships were forgotten you might latch on to anyone who gave you love and attention.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If a person is being uncooperative, you may have to "let them go" but you can make a note of who they are then ban them from the store and possibly the entire chain "just because" you don't want their business. "This store reserved the right to not do business with any person" is legal in the USA, unless it's used to discriminate against a group.
If you have cameras blanketing the store and are bored, you can check the security cameras to see if he was just being an ass or if he really did have something (stolen) to hide. If he did steal something, your outdoor video cameras should have his license plate.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
That's because they wipe your brain so you don't know you've heard it before.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
there, fixed that for you.
Well, it probably affects a previously-done thorough mind wipe too but I don't think that's what you meant.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
That's preposterous, Megahard doesn't have a mind of his own, he does what I tell him. Wait a second.... Either your username is coincidentally what my dick's name is, or he has developed a mind of his own and has begun to frequent slashdot.
All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. -PF
Why would you believe in souls? Where does the program go when you turn it off? That great hard drive in the sky?
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By the time you have decent neural I/O, you'll have a world of simulators to choose from. Nobody's going to kidnap anybody if they can experience the same thing with a cheap simulation.
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If the soul was all that mattered, then if we smacked our head really hard and our brain was damaged, it would have no effect on our behavior. But we know that people with brain damage are severely impaired both physically and mentally. So if you can disrupt the impulses in the brain you could shut down a human. If you can control the impulses, you can control the human.
I am not saying people can't have souls, I am just saying the soul doesn't control our body.
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please define 'soul'
It would be hard to do per genus proximum et differentia specifica... Let me just say that it's what creates time and space, enables you to make choices (free will) and controls the body via the brain.
Some people (like Dawkins, IIRC) like to say that the brain is an on-board computer, of sorts, for the body. It's a great analogy, because a computer is blind and inert without someone to either operate it or program it. The soul is the "user", what you experience is the "software", your body is the "hardware".
it's called advertising.
You remember , because of your physical brain , but you are , because of your soul.
QFT. It's somewhat sad that people overlook the most basic experience they have... Even Descartes, when he wanted to put every bit of knowledge he had to doubt, still could not doubt that his soul exists. After all - without a soul, we would merely be biological machines (the kind La Mettrie spoke of), which would not be aware of their own existence, but would simply do what their brains would order them to.
Let me use my favourite quote:
"It must be confessed, moreover, that perception, and that which depends on it, are inexplicable by mechanical causes, that is, by figures and motions, And, supposing that there were a mechanism so constructed as to think, feel and have perception, we might enter it as into a mill. And this granted, we should only find on visiting it, pieces which push one against another, but never anything by which to explain a perception. This must be sought, therefore, in the simple substance, and not in the composite or in the machine."
It is that ... by silently critiquing religion, you've fallen into your own self defined trap of "US or them"..
And, we might also note, that "threats against the afterlife" is essentially interchangable with "saving the planet"
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Everybody else thought the reference was too obvious, and didn't want to be the dork thinking he was being all clever by posting it.
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Ummm, no, it really doesn't. Even if we do have a "soul," it has no known effect on how our bodies function. There are, however, records of people's personalities and memories having changed due to brain trauma and chemical alteration. Additionally, the "soul" has nothing to do with your body's motor control. We KNOW that electrical impulses control our limbs, we can trigger them, it's how a defibrillator works.
So exactly what part of this would the "soul" prevent from taking place?
I find it interesting that you are so easily able to deny that something could not possibly be self-aware without a soul. Do you have any proof, any at all beyond hopes and dreams? Many modern philosophic theories of consciousness eliminate the necessity of the Cartesian theatre (I find Dennet's pretty compelling), and many experiments bear out a reality that would be quite bizarre if an external entity such as a soul really drove us.
As long as we are talking of merely feelings with no basis, I find no evidence to dissuade me that I am anything more than a meat machine with some clever biological and memetic tricks. I see no reason to increase the complexity of the system by necessitating that we have such (odd at least it seems to us) advanced biological machinery that is our brain with such complex parallel behaviour and yet it exists without purpose or meaning because it does nothing. Because requiring the existence of the soul which drives us means the brain is nothing, it serves no purpose. Why do you have it? Why does our body expend so much resources keeping it functioning? Our pure autonomic functions can be handled by the cerebellum and the spinal cord (and probably far less), the rest of it is totally meaningless.
Combine this with the fact that our brains share so many similarities with many of the animals around us, yet oddly (at least inasmuch as many humans find it necessary to place themselves on a higher pedestal than everything else around us) they have no soul, ought to make one stop and ponder again why one insists on declaring we have a soul and that is who we are and not the biological machine. Do elephants have souls? They are self aware, they recognise themselves in mirrors. Or do you subscribe to a school of thought where it would be impossible to say an elephant is self-aware yet will deny solipsism in the same breath?
But honey, it wasn't really me! Someone hacked into my brain and *MADE* me do that!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Its similar to the question of "what is life?". Just making blood pump through a dead animal does not make it come alive. What exists in our brain to make us "conscious".? Its more than just logic and machine-like things. Its more than just a complex programmable organ.
We have the ability to "learn" and we have the ability to question ourselves, etc. We also have something that even animals do not - the ability to think "morally". We have "free will". And we have an imagination.
Exploring the brain will not uncover the secret to life. The brain is just an organ, like any other. Sure its more complex, but just having a brain and pumping blood through it does not create life.
Its a very good question. However I do not find the possibility of a God scary. That option is actually a LOT more comforting than if there isn't one. If we're fully responsible for our own destiny, then THAT is scary.
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