BCIs and Mental Agility

What's in the future for us? I predict in the next few years, the mental integration of the internet will arrive.

Brain Computer Interfaces are being developed around the world to translate neural activity into digital signals, and medical applications of BCIs like Synchron may reach small- scale adoption by 2027-2028. Elon Musk, the CEO of Neuralink is aiming for future applications of direct brain-to-internet access. Forget about thought typing, whatever you can imagine will happen. 

You wish to create an app, make a frontend for your website, set up a payment channel- it will all start the instant you think of it. This would mean everyone has the opportunity to do anything in any field you could think of. The biotech researchers wouldn’t need lab experience, the software developers wouldn’t need to know how to code and the electrical engineers wouldn’t need to know what loads can blow up your circuits. Assuming an ideal AI, the guardrails for any project could instantly be designed by the AI itself- The engineer wouldn’t have to worry about if the beam would have too much stress in his design, the AI could simply tweak it to fix the error while staying as close to the original idea as possible. Whichever issue people generally point out about AI- vibe-coded apps have issues with cybersecurity, the edge cases always fail, random bugs because the creator doesn’t understand his code are all solvable issues in the near future.

As we require less time to complete projects, less time to struggle with coursework, less time to open a bank account, less time to finish any task we are assigned…

… The limiting factor stops being our tools (how fast an AI agent can finish a task would turn into how fast can you clearly define your exact specific task), and becomes our own mind.

The person who comes out on top becomes the person who can think with the most clarity, act the moment he gets an idea and struggles the least with conveying the idea to other people.

In a way, the winners of today are already these people.

Then what would be different? The gap between those who have mental clarity and those who live life aimlessly would grow further and further.

The first generation of people who get plugged into the internet will be addicted to pornography.

This hyperbole is meant to show that most people who are simply alive will choose the path of least resistance- being seduced by the deluge of dopamine one could receive.

Assuming our engineers and researchers stay at it, the day is not far when social media algorithms are perfected exactly to extract the maximum watchtime from a person physically possible, and through the grace of a neural chip, you could hypothetically watch the funniest tiktoks you’ve ever seen, in the best quality you’ve ever seen, for 20 hours a day, for the rest of your life. By the time 2K35 shows up, you will play with Wembenyama in real time, you can be him- live out your dream life. 

But all of these treats will rot your teeth and make you poor in ways you cannot imagine. None of these services will be free, the perfected subscription payment models will be designed to just make it possible for you to buy it for the next week, and you must work for it.

The job screenings will turn further into aptitude and behavioural interviews. No technical skills will ever be tested upon - you can find anything in a second. But if your colleagues cannot trust you enough to look into their mind when you work on a mega-project to the Moon together, you will never get hired.

I implore you, start meditating. Start living consciously. Your mental clarity is the only thing that will save you. In this era of the greatest innovations in history, it is getting more and more important to study philosophy and go outside to have tough conversations with people in real life. Your clarity is your sharpest sword, your strongest shield. The future has already arrived thousands of years ago, the clearest minds are the ones who win in every generation.

The next generations will be fine, people, health officials and governments would have figured out what is the optimal time to stay connected to the internet through these chips without completely melting your brain, maybe even put regulations into place on what content is allowed to be streamed into your direct consciousness and parents will actually enforce no ipad time for their toddlers.

But the first generation to see it will be going out into a brave new world.