For one thing, this would make the free/open versus proprietary software issue a lot more crucial than ever before. I can imagine accepting software updates (fo

For one thing, this would make the free/open versus proprietary software issue a lot more crucial than ever before. I can imagine accepting software updates (for software I have opted into) from a well-run open source project. Of course the idea of mind=software is itself only a very loose metaphor that fails to capture the nuances of development of an embodied mind. But I could imagine some computer extension to the brain that would add new cognitive potentialities to the existing repertoire of brain structures. Who knows, maybe it's not that far off? There are already direct brain interfaces for very simple kinds of control of machines. If a programmable brain extension acts like other high-level brain modules then it should create a new range of abilities rather than dictate a rigid behavior. The former is something that could gain wide acceptance, and the latter would be an unethical way of enslaving people. The unethical rigid control of behavior also seems easier to implement with current knowledge since much more is known about low-level brain and spinal control networks than is known about high-level cortical abstraction.