In recent science news, a computer chip placed in a rat’s eye successfully sent signals to its brain. This is one step toward having mechanical eyes for blind people. And one step closer toward me having my robot body.
Every day we are more accurate and more detailed in our maps of the human brain. Programming mechanical eyes that sync up with our brain to produce images from the data they collect, I think, is just around the corner.
And of course, if an image can be produced, it can be recorded. I imagine that cybernetic eyes would be equipped with cameras and recording capabilities, so you could record your favorite moments as they happened.
As mechanical eyes become used by choice instead of by necessity, privacy will become a thing of the past as any conversation you have with anyone, any time you walk down the street and people are looking at you, these can be recorded and uploaded at will. And with the rate storage capacity is increasing, there will be no reason not to upload anything and everything on a whim, just in case anyone might want to see it.
After this, we will learn to ‘record’ the other senses. Sight and sound, easy, but what if we added in smell, taste, touch? If we can ‘record’ sensory input in a way that it can be played back in other brains, we have just unlocked a whole other type of entertainment. One could upload full sensory experiences, for sale, or for their own safe keeping, to re experience later.
One might be able to buy the experience of sleeping with a famous celebrity, or fighting on the front lines of war, or any other number of extreme things.
Want to travel? For every location in the world, there is someone who’s been there and recorded it. Much like google maps has integrated many photographs to give the illusion of continuous motion, all the experiences of all the people who have recorded them could be meshed so that you could experience a trip in whatever city you liked, going wherever you liked.
Of course, with all that data uploaded for sale or for free, with all these sights sounds and feelings to choose from, it’s not going to be long before someone starts mixing and matching, and creating entirely fictional experiences out of the real ones.
Want to be able to fly? Well we have plenty of visual recordings of the sky from planes and high buildings, and sensory info from skydivers, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to edit those together and create an experience of flying through the air. Want to throw fireballs? Well we have plenty of recordings of fire and heat and the smell of smoke… and so on. Any experience can be made out of already recorded experiences.
From here, it is only a matter of time before we have total immersion virtual reality, in worlds where any experience is available at the press of a button. Why would anyone want to spend time in the real world when the recorded experiences are just as ‘real’ feeling, and can be anything you want? You can be a powerful sorcerer or knight or space alien or playboy or murderer or whatever your sick mind desires, all at the press of a button. Why would you want to be a janitor or desk jocky or day laborer?
With robotics technology also on the rise, we’ll have the answer. The human workforce will be replaced with robots, who’s sole purpose is to keep our computers running and our bodies nourished while we sleep, willing members of the matrix. So the human race will end, with no one awake having real sex, we will sleep in our fantasies until we die, watched over by our machines, rotting in our own pleasure.
All thanks to chips in a rats eye. Great job, scientists.
Jonas David 