Im not just a bleeding heart here. I cant see being trapped in a body that you are not in control of, but can still feel, must be the punishment in some level of hell. Its calous to just write-off all the other critters on this planet just because thier not "sentient". Frankly, apes have advanced social dynamics, are tool-using, can learn to do sign-language, paint interperativly, ect. They're only a few evoloutionary steps behind us. If fact, the only thing that seperates them from us is...
Wait for it....
ETHICS
Im an Intellectual, and an Athiest, and I still know its wrong to light cats on fire and throw them into my history profs front lawn. If you disregard ethics, you disregard a great deal of what makes us human.
The Ethical Implications of this plan are just sickeing. We all know it will only be a few years (decades?) before this technology is advanced enough to control every movement that an infected animal makes. Why spend billions of dollars to develope an ASIMO type stand-alone robot for physical labor when you can just jamb $200 neurocontroller into the brain of a fetal monkey and have a basicaly free slave creature? And don't even get me started on the privacy ramificiations.
We need to get some international laws established to govern the abuse of tehnologys like this. Training dolphins and dogs for warefare is one thing, but forcing them to act with microchips inside thier brains is another entirely.
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Im not just a bleeding heart here. I cant see being trapped in a body that you are not in control of, but can still feel, must be the punishment in some level of hell. Its calous to just write-off all the other critters on this planet just because thier not "sentient". Frankly, apes have advanced social dynamics, are tool-using, can learn to do sign-language, paint interperativly, ect. They're only a few evoloutionary steps behind us. If fact, the only thing that seperates them from us is... Wait for it.... ETHICS Im an Intellectual, and an Athiest, and I still know its wrong to light cats on fire and throw them into my history profs front lawn. If you disregard ethics, you disregard a great deal of what makes us human.
The Ethical Implications of this plan are just sickeing. We all know it will only be a few years (decades?) before this technology is advanced enough to control every movement that an infected animal makes. Why spend billions of dollars to develope an ASIMO type stand-alone robot for physical labor when you can just jamb $200 neurocontroller into the brain of a fetal monkey and have a basicaly free slave creature? And don't even get me started on the privacy ramificiations. We need to get some international laws established to govern the abuse of tehnologys like this. Training dolphins and dogs for warefare is one thing, but forcing them to act with microchips inside thier brains is another entirely.