/ News
The Drug Lords of Tomorrow Will Be Biohackers
Through various sources—mainly transhumanist biohacker friends—I've been hearing about how some drug traffickers might be taking an interest in cranial implant technology.
If scientists can get a brain implant to give neural stimuli that affects our perspectives, moods, and behaviors, then the future of drugs could be totally different than what it is now. In fact, in such a future, drug creation would become the domain of engineers and coders. This could become the next major frontier of the so-called drug market.
About half a million people already have chips connected to their brains. Most of these are cochlear implants to aid against deafness, but some are also deep brain stimulation (DBS) types, sometimes used for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, andepilepsy.
Generally speaking, DBS cranial implants work by firing electrical impulses via electrodes into certain regions of the brain. In the case of epileptic patients, they help control seizures.
But improving forms of brain implants may use more EEG technology—a part of the brain-computer interface field—where they can distribute brain waves over a certain portion of the brain. If this portion is one that affects mood—thought to be determined mostly by the amygdala—maybe they’ll be able to give us a real high.
Thync is already an external device claiming to work something like this. Only out this year, wearers have been reporting some success with the device, which can give you a quick electronic pick-up or help you achieve inner calm. And the gadget looks cool too.
One major challenge with cranial implant highs is hacking
Of course the holy grail of brain implants would be the sex chip. A physician has experimented with this before, working on directly stimulating the erogenous zones of the brain. The researcher was reported to be seeking investments to make the implant commercially affordable.
If a wealthy drug lord were to get this type of technology and further develop it, they might sell time slots of stimulation to people who received the implants. For example, you might use your smartphone to purchase an hour of sexual ecstasy.
Of course, this might also be accomplished simply by a brainwave headset, but I think it’s the chip implant will really take off. After all, if you’re at work or at home with yourspouse, you might not want them to know you’re walking around with a digital high all day or being sexually stimulated. So the privacy of implants may make headsets obsolete someday.
A big benefit of implants too might be how it deals with addicts. Perhaps if a user has addiction problems, the chip could be used to wean themselves of the drug, or only allow certain amounts—ones that never allow the user to miss work, or become violent, or anything that disrupts one’s lifestyle too much.
Fundamentally, the reason implants will probably be the “drug” of choice over plant or chemical substances is because of this type of possible perfect control. One could program it so chips could never overdose people—whereas a problem people always have with drugs is quality. People never really know what they’re getting until after they’ve taken it—and then they can’t stop it. With plants or something made in an illegal laboratory like LSD, it’s always a crapshoot to know what you’re getting, the quality of it, and especially where it came from. With chips and downloads, there would always be a digital trail and signal to follow.
One major challenge with cranial implant highs is hacking. How can you avoid hackers messing with programming? A bad trip could be really bad. But here again, perhaps a foolproof program could make it so a chip could never harm an individual, and would shut down automatically and immediately if it ever did. And of course users might be able to control their implant stimuli by their smartphones or other devices.
Of course, such dangers will be the focus of big government too. Probably like many recreational drugs, the most important question is whether government would allow brain implants for recreational uses at all. However, if they don’t, and brain implant technology keeps developing, maybe in a few decades the War on Drugs will soon involve a War on Implants.
I've tried most every drug I know—and cautiously support legalization of all drugs—and I would enjoy having the freedom to experiment with brain chips and the kind of new experiences they might offer.
Naturally, illegal drug suppliers will be interested in this coming transhumanist field of implants and direct brain stimuli—and may play a big part in it, especially if government outlaws it as dangerous (which they probably will, at least at first). However the future of cranial implants unfolds, I hope the public will welcome new experiences through technology that safely allow us to expand our minds.
Zoltan Istvan is a futurist and the US Presidential candidate of the Transhumanist Party. He writes an occasional column for Motherboard where he ruminates on the future beyond human ability.
Source: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-drug-lords-of-tomorrow-will-be-biohackers
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru