Elon Musk has turned heads this week with an announcement claiming that the first Neuralink chip has been implanted in a human. The company’s goal is for people to unlock their full potential with brain chips.
But the idea of a brain chip will never catch on, and here’s why.
The Vision
Neuralink wants humans to see their full potential. As the website claims they are striving to, “restore autonomy to those with unmet medical needs today and unlock human potential tomorrow.”
What can the brain chip do?
Well it is designed to let you “control a computer or mobile device anywhere you go”.
Seems cool, right? You could listen to music, play video games, and do almost anything you want at all times.
And all with the power of a little chip in your brain, no laptop, phone, or VR needed.
Yet with all its potential benefits, two major problems will hold the brain chip back.
Advertising
Ads are everywhere. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, ads can drive our economy forward, but they can also be incredibly annoying.
The brain chip is the most ideal place to advertise, you would potentially have full time access to the consumers thoughts.
If brain chips were to become more mainstream, companies would surely take advantage of it.
Things like food advertisements as soon as a chip detects your hunger would not be impossible. In fact it would be convenient, your cravings would be instantly satisfied by a DoorDash nudge to buy some McDonalds.
This would certainly not sit well with people. We like our privacy, and a brain chip would totally violate it with advertising.
While some chips would claim to be ad-free, it will inevitably evolve into a large advertising market.
Which will turn people away.
Autonomy
The entire concept of a chip inside of your head is foreign, and it will remain that way.
Let me put it this way. How would you like a piece of plastic, that you cant control, stuck inside of your head? Permanently altering your thoughts, actions, and how you see the world.
Few people, I believe, would truly have no aversion to this idea.
And why not, its human nature, we don’t like putting unknown things into our body. Sure, you could counter with the example of unhealthy food, but food has no power over our mind.
Simply put, brain chips aren’t enticing enough at the moment for people to want to break their own nature.
Conclusion
I am not saying that brain chips will never sell, I am saying that they will not become mainstream.
However, Elon is a genius, albeit a little strange, but still very smart. If anyone could make brain chips popular, it would be him. It will surely be interesting to see how Neuralink plays out.
