Super-Rich Tech Gurus Seek Brain Implant Surgery To Plug Into AI Matrix

In a previous post, I gave a number of ways one could unplug oneself from the Matrix; but a recent story from The Mirror reveals that there is a growing number of those who want to become even more plugged in. 

The headline reads: Rich Americans seek black market brain implants in bid to plug into artificial intelligence matrix. The Americans mentioned are, according to the article, "A pair of super-rich American technology gurus are planning to undergo surgery to install experimental implants directly into their brains." After reading this, I must admit to wondering who this pair of super-rich technology gurus is--don't you? One person who comes to mind is Peter Diamandis, the co-founder with tech guru Ray Kurzweil of Singularity University and the founder of XPrize Foundation. The other could be Ray Kurzweil himself who has written extensively about the singularity when humans and machines merge for enhanced intelligence (his book "The Singularity is Near" is among my list of 5 books that will prepare you for the future). 

Some readers may be reminded of Kevin Warwick, the British computer engineer who performed an experiment in which he had computer chips implanted in his arm through which he could control the machines he was working with, and, incidentally, they could communicate with him. 

The Mirror provides snippets from an interview with U.S. Presidential candidate, and global leader of the Transhumanist movement, Zoltan Istvan. Transhumanism is a belief system that touts the importance of humans fusing with machines to live forever, enhance their powers of thinking and living, and become truly autonomous beings. According to Istvan, he is personal friends with the two seeking these implants, and they are trying to find someone in central America to perform this highly risky and novel surgery. Istvan will not disclose the names of the individuals out of fear that authorities may try to stop them from undergoing the surgery. 

But what exactly are they attempting to do? It's simple: communicate cognitively and directly with artificial intelligence. According to Istvan,

"They work in AI and it would be the very first time someone got an implant specifically to use brain waves to connect with rudimentary artificial intelligences. The technology will allow them to carry out basic conversations. That's how far this telepathy idea has come."

It seems crazy to those of us who are trying to live in the matrix of the conventional North American way of life; but we have to remember that thought-leaders in the area of technology are privy to technological advancements and tools that would spin our minds. Just look at Annie Jacobson's book The Pentagon's Brain to see that DARPA has access to technologies 20 years ahead of those we are using now. So it may seem ludicrous to us--and indeed it is--but to those working in technology itself, it may not be such a long shot.

There is, however, something about Transhumanists that might compel a tech guru to enter into such risky surgery: the power to shape one's own destiny. Transhumanists believe that life must be taken in one's own hands, that technological enhancement is a simple evolutionary process as axiomatic as life itself, and the things we take to be part of the human condition (death, disease, illness) are part and parcel with a former evolutionary iteration of the species that must be overcome for true human potential to be realized. So if the way to such an evolutionary plane requires one to risk ones life for science, so be it--it won't be the first time. 

But think about this for a minute--having your brain connected up, say, to the internet. We have already heard about minority reports for the common person, so how would this be any different if your brain were wired up to the internet? Already our finger prints are being documented and used as currency and we've seen the NSA's back door from all mobile devices tracking emails and phone calls and other such human activity, so how much more control would these systems have (government or otherwise) when/if they had access to your brain? And yet this is the future these technology gurus imagine for all of humanity. Is it humanity reaching a higher state of consciousness and potential, or a much more sophisticated form of slavery? 

What we can conclude with is these technologies are out there, and some very rich, very intellectual people are willing to risk their lives to push these 'solutions' into the general arena of experimentation and documentation.