There are about 100,000 people in this world who has had microchips implanted into their brain for medical reasons. However, the future promises brain implants available to the wider community for convenient reasons.
In fact, an article found on www.infowars.com, suggests that the US government will be spending over 70 million dollars within the next five years on the development of brain implants.
The second article I want to bring your attention to features on www.lsureveille.com. It also talks about brain implants, but concentrates on the issues they could raise.
I’ve chosen these two articles on brain implants because I like the way they seem to contrast each other. The first article is more optimistic about the idea of brain implants, while the second article seems to be more skeptical and even advises its readers to “sit out this fad”. The writer of the article ‘future brain technology could go a step too far’ seems to be against it for ethical reasons. While I am all for the idea of brain implants for some specific reasons, I see where this young writer is coming from. She mentions how brain implants would be used as a marketing scheme by companies to boost profits. She also mentions the threat of hackers. Such software in our brains, like normal computers would need updates, so more surgery would be needed and these are not straight forward. Also the writer mentions what’s stopping the ‘tech doctor’ from stealing someone’s credit card number from your microchip data? She also mentions the government and privacy. The government find it way too easy to hack into anyone’s computer. Therefore this way, what is stopping them hacking into anyone’s brain? A simple way to completely take away someone’s right to privacy and what’s worst is, it’s out of the individuals control.
The first article labelled ‘A chip in the head’ suggests that one could simply think of a fact and the chip would find the answer out of you straight away, or one would be able to download a book within a few seconds. These are extraordinary advantages. Others include the furthering of mental health care as well as medical care. An article on www.infowars.com, suggests that ‘rebooting’ of the brain can help mood disorders such as depression, as lot like ECT, electroconvulsive therapy does. It could also carry great health benefits for people suffering from Parkinson Disease, Epilepsy, and strokes.
Another incredible medical advantage suggests that the use of these brain implants could possess the ability to detect your body for any sign of diseases. Further advantages include, the ability to surf the web in your own head without the use of a computer screen.
Personally, I think the idea of brain implants is incredible and the technology worlds plan for them are slightly over ambitious. I feel this sort of advancing technology should have its limits and very strong control by the individual with the microchip. I find the ability to detect disease early and help people living with lifetime illnesses is a positive, however the concept of privacy and dependence raises an issue for everybody involved. What would happen if everybody had a microchip implanted on their brains? How would education be affected? What about our ambition and memory? Wouldn’t they fade? I mean, if I could download a book to my memory, surely there will come a time where we will be downloading intelligence?
Who knows, maybe there will come a time where we could actually hack each others minds through this wireless network, and everyone knows that would cause some new controversial problems in our world. Overall, I feel the proposition of possibly getting a brain implant in the future, should not be taken lightly. It should come with a health risk. If this idea was to become a reality, I hope that doctors and neurologists will ensure the people receiving these microchips will be making an informed decision.
nicolaob13 
Thanks for sharing these articles. Development of brain implants is a really interesting topic and seems to offer a lot of major advantages. It’s something I hadn’t heard of before I read your blog post.
Yes this is really interesting! The thought of somebody hacking your brain is pretty scary though!
Really interesting, it’s so crazy to think of the government or companies being able to hack into our minds! Hopefully though, with the codes of ethics that are now firmly in place, it won’t ever really materialise.
This is a fascinating post, especially the potential of implants for the treatment of mental health issues. As it stands, the use of medications in this area only mask the symptoms via the chemical manipulation of brain chemistry. Not only do these medications have side effects, they are not a permanent ‘cure’ and do not have any beneficial effect on cognitive function.
You mentioned ECT so it seems it would function in a similar way to the cochlear implant, which is already in use. This device is tiny, implanted behind the ear and uses electrical impulses to stimulate the nerves.
Wow, this actually scared me a little bit. The idea of having a microchip in our brain is pretty extreme. But I really like the way you pointed out the positive and negative effects this can actually have for human, so I can analyse it and think of what I agree or disagree with. Great summary.