Mind control in the future

Regarding the rapid development of computer technology in the last 20 years, it is obvious that things will continue to change. Though it is not popular today, many technologies have proven that our brains can be connected to a computer (Halpern, 2013, p. 1). Imagine if you could upload all knowledge to your head, no one would have to learn again. Imagine this would imply that every thought could be downloaded as well. Like we all know, the communication and our behavior on the internet is affected and recorded by big companies like Google. These companies try to gather as much information about everyone as possible. Moreover, they try to find the best algorithm to combine all this collected knowledge. Their overall aim is to predict our needs and our interests, perhaps even before we become aware of them. Thus, they can personalise the adverts we see on our homepage and influence our demand behavior. If we have a desire in our subconscious mind, a fitting ad could manipulate these feelings. 

If computers could be able even to read our minds, companies like Google could control every decision we make. They could not only personalize the advertisement in a most effective way, they could upload desires directly into our heads and we would not be able to distinguish what we really want and what desire the company has created to maximize their profit. 

This very conceptional thought could be one option about how, not the society, but a company will control our lives in the future – an option that hopefully will never become true.

Sources:

Halpern, Sue (2011) 'Mind Control & the Internet', New York Review of Books, viewed 10/08/2013 < http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet/>