The Future of Human/Computer Interface Raises Disturbing Issues
![brain](https://labs.sogeti.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/07/Neurotecnologie-al-politecnico.jpg)
- The lack of a filtering mechanism would likely result in sharing of much more inappropriate material in a social context. Do you really want your boss to know what you think of them?
- With the current legal models assuming that what happens in your mind can stay there, inviolate, what happens when a company uses this technology to “hear what you’re thinking”, even though you have chosen not to share it, to make advertising decisions, for instance?
But in order to ensure that Facebook is only translating the thoughts you want to share, the company says it will need to build new sensor technology that can better detect brain activity at lightning speed.(Let’s ignore the fact that building a “new sensor technology” has not a whit to do with ensuring privacy, but let’s take Facebook at its word that they intend to honor the privacy of your thoughts.) How well has self-policing worked in other cases where the cost of the controls, in terms of lost revenues, eventually overcomes self-enforced regulatory models? Not well, I’d argue. So, what to do? I have no easy answer, just a firm suggestion that we being to consider these issues, and craft thoughtful responses to them before we arrive at the moment of truth. That moment being the day when your thoughts are no longer entirely your own.