R&D is accelerating in the vital field of brain-machine interfaces (BMI). Elon Musk recently disclosed in a Clubhouse interview that at Neuralink, his BMI venture, a monkey is playing video games via neural implants. He also made some signature provocative projections like his ultimate goal of connecting brains with a powerful AI. “The future of the world will be controlled by the combined will of the people of the earth.” He said, “That might be the most important thing that a device like this achieves.”
AI personal identification schemes are more and more capable of discerning who we are, and how we are. Recent research shows how our children’s virtual reality (VR) gaming systems can name users’ identities just by measuring how they move their heads, arms, and hands. In at least one notable case, the VR system supplier’s Privacy Policy grants a long list of rights to use and distribute those patterns.
When engaging in career planning, many of us end up unintentionally focusing exclusively on optimistic scenarios: “I want to do X, so I’ll do A, B, and C to make it happen.” Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of healthy optimism. But to ensure your plans are robust, you also need to identify and mitigate the potential risks that could threaten your vision for the future — and nothing has shown the importance of planning for risk more clearly than the current pandemic.
