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This would be very interesting to see from a security stand point of view. We are introducing another attack vector. ex. Imagine if you could phish someone's br

This would be very interesting to see from a security stand point of view. We are introducing another attack vector. ex. Imagine if you could phish someone's brain.

keyme 9y ago
You'd have to train yourself to "think privately" now... Most people don't even know how to text privately. This may truly be a dystopian nightmare.
- tgragnato 9y ago
  This is already a dystopian nightmare ... Technology is pervasive Smartphones are the most used technological objects (everywhere, always, repeatedly, compulsively, in the subway, on a bus, in a queue, by car, in a restaurant, in a break). VR is massive, augmented reality is not (think about Google Glass): it seems that this sector has picked up the witness by reaching in no time extraordinary results and a public success that increased reality has completely missed. It will be that we are tired of the often difficult and oppressive reality, and instead of increasing it, we want to forget it, evade it and slip completely into an increasingly credible and perfect virtual reality. If this is not a dystopian nightmare ... Drones, artificial intelligence, biotechnology prostheses, wearable computing, automation, sex-bots. The urban layout has changed Vertical development with skyscrapers, horizontal developments with the sprawl and the hinterland. Increased air pollution, gap between rich and poor, extreme difference between some neighborhoods. Cities are becoming cyberpunk, and some have been around for some time. Hacking, surveillance, cyber war NSA, Snowden, Prism, Anonymous, the US government hacking the network of my last university, the Golden Shield Project, leaks, whistleblowers, the power of the ad tech corporations. The multinationals Large business conglomerates closely control the market by often enforcing laws, exploiting the underdeveloped work of innumerable employees by compelling them to work at the limits of slavery. All of this, of course, is aimed at the production of highly prestigious technology objects marketed at prices often overwhelmed by the iconographic presence of the brand, a new divinity created and powered by advertising and fetishically adored by conditioned masses. "Think privately" is something most people are not able to do right here, right now. The possibility that Facebook might try (in a future) to exploit my brain is only the last drop in a dystopian sea.
  - lstyls 9y ago
    It still requires consent. If it's really that bad, one can unplug and the problem goes away. Given you're still here and commenting on HN posts, the whole "we're in a dystopia already" schtick comes off as self-indulgent.
    - tgragnato 9y ago
      I'm sorry if it looks like a self-indulgence speech, it's not really my intention. A complete opt-out from ...all that... would probably require moving to one of the Svalbard islands or joining a couple of bedouins in the Sahara desert. One can sure avoid some of the most uncomfortable things in society, this may also give you the impression that "it still requires consent", an illusion of control. But I was born and raised in a world made up of people inevitably related to each other. Even if I have personally exercised the ability to choose in what to be involved with or not, I am aware I don't have any ultimate control over the whole complex around me. This doesn't mean I am fine with x,y,z. That's why the actual society is dystopian in the first place: because actually the best thing you can do is to speak out in order to raise awareness about the "we hoped for this, but ended up with that instead". Disillusionment may be a first step, indulgence not. A BCI technology developed in the pubblic interest will be a game changer, but I simply don't see that (any deduction excluded).
      - lstyls 9y ago
        Well said. I actually agree with you, apart from the semantics of "dystopia". And you're totally right that we as members of society don't really have much choice but to either go all-in or off the grid. The all-or-nothing starkness is good for nobody but the monopolists. > A BCI technology developed in the pubblic interest will be a game changer, but I simply don't see that. This seems to be the faustian bargain of capitalism. We get technological progress at exponential rates, and then the first purpose ends up to be selling ads.
- cJ0th 9y ago
  > You'd have to train yourself to "think privately" now In other words: Security through obscurity for your brain.™

This would be very interesting to see from a security stand point of view. We are introducing another attack vector. ex. Imagine if you could phish someone's brain.

keyme 9y ago

You'd have to train yourself to "think privately" now... Most people don't even know how to text privately. This may truly be a dystopian nightmare.

tgragnato 9y ago
This is already a dystopian nightmare ... Technology is pervasive Smartphones are the most used technological objects (everywhere, always, repeatedly, compulsively, in the subway, on a bus, in a queue, by car, in a restaurant, in a break). VR is massive, augmented reality is not (think about Google Glass): it seems that this sector has picked up the witness by reaching in no time extraordinary results and a public success that increased reality has completely missed. It will be that we are tired of the often difficult and oppressive reality, and instead of increasing it, we want to forget it, evade it and slip completely into an increasingly credible and perfect virtual reality. If this is not a dystopian nightmare ... Drones, artificial intelligence, biotechnology prostheses, wearable computing, automation, sex-bots. The urban layout has changed Vertical development with skyscrapers, horizontal developments with the sprawl and the hinterland. Increased air pollution, gap between rich and poor, extreme difference between some neighborhoods. Cities are becoming cyberpunk, and some have been around for some time. Hacking, surveillance, cyber war NSA, Snowden, Prism, Anonymous, the US government hacking the network of my last university, the Golden Shield Project, leaks, whistleblowers, the power of the ad tech corporations. The multinationals Large business conglomerates closely control the market by often enforcing laws, exploiting the underdeveloped work of innumerable employees by compelling them to work at the limits of slavery. All of this, of course, is aimed at the production of highly prestigious technology objects marketed at prices often overwhelmed by the iconographic presence of the brand, a new divinity created and powered by advertising and fetishically adored by conditioned masses. "Think privately" is something most people are not able to do right here, right now. The possibility that Facebook might try (in a future) to exploit my brain is only the last drop in a dystopian sea.
- lstyls 9y ago
  It still requires consent. If it's really that bad, one can unplug and the problem goes away. Given you're still here and commenting on HN posts, the whole "we're in a dystopia already" schtick comes off as self-indulgent.
  - tgragnato 9y ago
    I'm sorry if it looks like a self-indulgence speech, it's not really my intention. A complete opt-out from ...all that... would probably require moving to one of the Svalbard islands or joining a couple of bedouins in the Sahara desert. One can sure avoid some of the most uncomfortable things in society, this may also give you the impression that "it still requires consent", an illusion of control. But I was born and raised in a world made up of people inevitably related to each other. Even if I have personally exercised the ability to choose in what to be involved with or not, I am aware I don't have any ultimate control over the whole complex around me. This doesn't mean I am fine with x,y,z. That's why the actual society is dystopian in the first place: because actually the best thing you can do is to speak out in order to raise awareness about the "we hoped for this, but ended up with that instead". Disillusionment may be a first step, indulgence not. A BCI technology developed in the pubblic interest will be a game changer, but I simply don't see that (any deduction excluded).
    - lstyls 9y ago
      Well said. I actually agree with you, apart from the semantics of "dystopia". And you're totally right that we as members of society don't really have much choice but to either go all-in or off the grid. The all-or-nothing starkness is good for nobody but the monopolists. > A BCI technology developed in the pubblic interest will be a game changer, but I simply don't see that. This seems to be the faustian bargain of capitalism. We get technological progress at exponential rates, and then the first purpose ends up to be selling ads.
cJ0th 9y ago
> You'd have to train yourself to "think privately" now In other words: Security through obscurity for your brain.™