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Comment by baradhiren07 | Hacker News Reader

"I know that, somewhere, everything I do, think and dream of is recorded. I just hope that nobody will use it against me." -- This gave me a feeling that I am unable to put into words.

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Is that feeling an overwhelming sense of dread caused by the realization that we are already living in that world and most of us don't realize or care? The feeling of helplessness and doom?

No? Just me? Never mind...

This is why Neuralink frightens the hell out of me. I feel that no matter how they are planning to protect their brain-computer-interfaces, they will eventually fail at it (like it happens with any sufficiently complex technology). Once that happens, any dictator, autocrat or the 'ethically-challenged tech bro du jour' will use them to gain unfettered access to the minds of people and wreak havoc on what makes people themselves. And good luck working against this once they can read your thoughts.

Just like today's "don't spread personal data on the internet and avoid forms", the future of that will be "don't use a brain-computer device/software that is not entirely open-source".

We're warned. Now what we have to do is to work on reducing the power of malicious individuals who would want to read our thoughts by force. That's a political/societal thing more than technical. Or is it? what if it was financially not worth it for anyone to do such things...

Humanity does not yet have the wisdom to handle having that much power over everyone. We may never.

After reading these lines in Sapiens, I don't think that day will be that far away. "Sapiens by contrast is more like a banana republic dictator. Having so recently been one of the underdogs of the savannah, we are full of fears and anxieties over our position, which makes us doubly cruel and dangerous."

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