Recently Elon Musk unveiled ‘Neuralink’, an implantable “brain chip” that will “merge biological intelligence with machine intelligence.” It is supposed to treat neurological diseases such as dementia and motion disorders.
Cognitive psychologist and philosopher Susan Schneider said, “Merging with AI would be suicide for the human mind.”
Musk intends to enhance our intelligence by merging the human brain with computers; however some believe going for such a technology could lead human beings to ‘self-destruction’.
Schneider wrote, “The philosophical obstacles are as pressing as the technological ones,” For demonstrating this point she quoted an imaginary scenario inspired by an Australian sci-fi writer Greg Ethan, “Imagine as soon as you are born, an AI device called the “jewel” is inserted in your brain which constantly monitors your brain’s activity in order to learn how to mimic your thoughts and behaviors.
By the time you are an adult; the device has perfectly “backed up” your brain and can think and behave just like you. Then, you have your original brain surgically removed and the “jewel” will be your “new brain.”
“Because it’s implausible to think that your consciousness could magically transfer to the jewel upon the destruction of your brain,” Schneider reasoned, “it’s more likely that at the moment you opted to remove your brain, you inadvertently killed yourself.”
She wrote, “You could augment your intelligence with chips, but there will be a point at which you end your life,” “I call this horrific event ‘brain drain.’”
