Introduction
The current development of computer intelligence is in the converging of human bodies with that of machines. There are researches that are being undertaken, in different research institutions, to have computer memory chips integrated to the human body. This body of research has raised many concerns. It is lauded as a breakthrough that will enhance the enhancement of the human brain with machines. It will be one way in which the humans will have extra memory. This research paper will focus on the combination of the human body with computer technology. The paper will focus on artists, musicians, and scientists who have dwelt on this aspect. The objective of the researcher is to find out the extent in which this issue has been raised in the research that has been carried out.
Background of the research
There has been the idea to implant memory chips to the brain as a way of enhancing the human memory. This would allow the human brain to have advanced memory. In this respect, it will enable human beings to search their memories. There are funded projects that are doing this research. This is in line with neural science, which will enable humans have a way in which they will advance their memories. The objective has been to start the project where nature has not been able to work. This development would help to develop the substitutes for parts of the brain which have been damaged. This is a significant development that needs to be integrated in the research that is being undertaken.
For a long time, it has been argued that there is a need to have more computer power in order to match the human brain power. The power of the supercomputers that are used today has the factor of hundred of having the capabilities to mimic the power and behavior of the human brain. This is something that is still under research. There are issues that are still being research. It is hoped that future computers will have enhanced power to get near the mimicking of the human brain. The effort to have machines that have the same capabilities as human beings is a waste of funds and research time. The issue that researchers are striving to achieve is to have machines that will help solve mathematical and urgent physical problems. This reasoning has thwarted the research in this field of study. This is a significant development that needs to be integrated in research.
There has been the popularity of biomedical engineering instead of the medicine field. This has been enhanced with the developments that have been put in biomedical research. Also, there is the possibility of having electronics that are powerful and integrating them in the human brain. This has been a mere speculation and imaginations of the researchers. There had not been any development that has been made to have this as a reality. This is a development that has been done to ensure that there is a better understanding of the research made to have this possibility. The objective would be to have intelligent robots and soldiers that could use their brains in the fields of war. There have been speculations to have intelligence integrated in the robots. This is one way in which there would be developments.
There are obstacles that have been hindering these developments. One is that there is the belief that this would be a hindrance to the developments in the human brain. It is essential to understand the requirements and enhancements that would be integrated in the human brain. There are fears that having computer memory managed in external machinery would enable external entities could access private thoughts of people. It is feared that the more information that external entities have about a given population, the more they will have power on that population. This will affect the way the people operate. They will fear that they will be affected in their operations. This is a significant development that should be integrated in the operation of the human brain.
There have been speculations of the main intentions of DARPA funding these researches. One of the answers is that DARPA would want to have complete dominance in the spectrum. This is a significant development that should be developed and enhanced.
Managing the thoughts in the brain
There are researches that have been done to show the issues and concerns about the capabilities of the brain. Novelist Daniell Schacter in his novel, Searching for memory: The brain, the mind, and the past, shows the possibilities of the brain when it is enhanced with external power from a memory chip. The novelist illustrates a situation where people in a village all lost their memories. The issue that they underwent was that there was an infection which caused people to lose their memories. This is where the external memory was coined. There have been indications and developments that have been integrated in the management of memory.
There have been concerns about how memories are a collection of data that have been organized. At all times, the events that we undertake are stored in the brain. The brain should have an exceptional capacity to understand what needs to be stored and have a way in which these can be grasped and understood. It is a significant development in the management of thoughts. The researchers are basing on the fact that the memories can be organized into meaningful data. This is one way in which the brain can be used to understand the requirements and the issues that are associated with academic research. It is a significant development that needs to be developed and integrated in the research (Schacter 62).
There is research that is being done to have memory implants done by Google. There are some speculations that there are researches that are being done to have Google implant a memory chip to the brain to one of the workers. The aim of Google is to be a companion where they will be used internally in the brain. The aim is to have a memory chip to be inserted in the brain so that the search functions will be done in the brain. This will ensure that there is a research and search that is done from the human brain (Schacter 6).
The Google chip plant will work in such a way that the chip will understand the search requirements of the users. They will present the users with whatever information they are looking. This service will be available to users who are registered. This capability will mean that there will be issues that will be associated with the search. The implantation of the memory chip will mean that it will be possible for Google to understand what people thing and present them with information. This is a significant development that needs to be understood. In this aspect, there are issues that need to be known and understood. Google chips will be able to predict the search needs of the users and present them with the results that they are searching. The search results will be transmitted directly to the microchip that has been implanted in the brain of the users. This way, they will be able to get the results that they are looking for with the use of external power (Gayle).
Google is making use of the wheelchair where the disabled use the wheelchair to substitute their disability. In the same manner, the brain chip will be used to substitute the brain incapability to get information and process information that is said to be hard to get. This is a prestigious development. There is a need to ensure that there is better management of this information. The sense of direction with the wheelchair is what is inspiring this new development. It is essential to understand the requirements of the research. The interactions between the chip and the human brain have to be done with care so that all the cautions are observed (Gayle).
Programming the human brain
There is another aspect that has been researched and is getting interesting. This is the aspect where the human brain is being programmed to have a memory that is not true. Writer Philip Dick shows this in the article where there is a Mr. Quail who wants to get some memory that he had gone to Mars (Dick 72). This is a development where there is a need to have an actor to have the intuition and the memory that he has travelled to Mars. Mr. Quail decides to have the brain programmed so that he will have memories of a trip to a place that never was. The complications are met when the actor does not have a way in which to convince the wife, Kirsten that he (Mr. Quail) had visited Mars. He was passionate about the trip to Mars so much so that he wanted to satisfy the brain by having programming the memories. This raises the question whether this will work. It is necessary to understand the aspects that are associated with the brain and whether will work with the environments that we live. Mr. Quail ends up getting the payments that he had made so that the programming could be done. One problem that the actor faced is that there were many contradictions. There were promises that had been made by the programmers and the owner of the business that there would be items that Quail would have to remind him of the trip to Mars (Dick 26).
This raises the question of how the brain can be programmed. The chips that Quail had implanted are an aspect that is coming. There are also concerns of developments of how patients in hospitals can have vivid memories of events that never took place. It is a significant development that has been blamed on the undertakings and developments that are seen to be taking place in memory management. It is a significant development that should be integrated in the brain.
The issue of manipulating the memory of patients does not involve memory chip implantation. It rather involves the use of substances that can alter the brain. There are chemicals that can change the memory of individuals.
Scientific take
There have been developments in the field of robotics to have a way in which robots can be able to have human intelligence. There are possibilities that the human mind can be downloaded to the computer. This is what the scientists are arguing. The arguments are that we are able to be posthumans and our thoughts can be separated from the body. This will enable human beings have the thoughts separately and be able to understand the requirements of the human being.
This development shows that the human mind can be analyzed in a computer after it has been downloaded. There are researches that are being carried out to have this as a possibility. This will enable human beings to understand the thoughts of other people. With this scenario, it will be possible to have thoughts of an individual running in a parallel place apart from the human brain. This is the development according to scientist Hayles Katherine (Hayles 52).
Conclusion
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K., and Thomas M. Disch. We can remember it for you wholesale. Millennium, 2000.
Gayle, Damien. Is Google planning a microchip for people's brains? Engineering boss at internet giant says sci-fi-style technology will begin by helping disabled people control wheelchairs. July 21 2013. June 1 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372591/Google-planning-micro-chip-peoples-brains-Engineering-boss-says-sci-fi-style-technology-begin-helping-disabled-people-control-wheelchairs.html
Hayles, N. Katherine. How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Marcus Gary, and Koch Christ. The future of brain implants. May 2 2014. June 1 2014. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/the-future-of-brain-implants/story-fnay3ubk-1226902478563#. Web
Schacter, Daniel. "Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past." Neuropsychoanalysis 1.1 (1999): 125-128.
