6 minute read
Dystopian Bodies
by Michael Magee
In past Balkan Beats issues we’ve looked at transportation technologies and the more and more feasible colonisation of Mars, but soon, sci-fi tech will be finding its way closer to home; into our own flesh.
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About a year ago, a video surfaced on youtube of an electronic music producer with a prosthetic arm. While having a prosthetic may not be as bad for a synthesizer player as it is for a guitarist or a pianist, turning the small knobs and dealing with the abundance of cables is problematic at best. Understanding that his prosthesis functions by receiving electrical signals from his muscles while the synthesizers in a similar way to how synthesizers receive electrical signals to control them, Bertolt Meyer got to work to see how he could combine the two. By amplifying the electrical signals emitted from his muscles with a specially constructed DIY prototype fitted in place of the prosthetic hand, Bertolt can then control aspects of his synthesizer (such as the pitch of the tone it produces) simply by thinking about moving his hand a certain way.
In fact, a similar effect can be achieved with an EEG (electroencephalogram) device, which picks up faint electrical signals from the scalp. Another Youtube user, “The Apples in Stereo,” uses a commercially available EEG connected to a synthesizer to change the pitch with the intensity of his thoughts by going from “totally, like, zen” to a more mentally aroused state in order to make the synth tone go high or low.
The Age of the Cyborg
Cyborg-like prosthetics represent the good side of innovation, although it has its own downfalls and points to improve on. Less modern and advanced prosthetics can function on a lever-like system where, for example, a mechanism for moving the prosthetic is attached to the opposite shoulder, requiring the user to perform awkward hunching movements to operate the hand. Nowadays, however, there are prosthetics available with individually moving fingers attached to a hand that can turn 360 degrees.The University of Utah has even developed a prosthetic known as the LUKE arm (yes, it is a reference to Luke Skywalker) which gives the user a sense of touch. This is done by sensors in the prosthetic that send electrical impulses to the brain, mimicking the touch sensation and making delicate operations like peeling a banana or picking grapes possible without making a smoothie.
BM - Bertolt Meyer with his synthesizer prosthesis.
© Bertolt Meyer, youtube.com
Another notable example of computer-brain technology is one of Elon Musk’s projects: Neuralink. This tiny 8mm chip is to be inserted into the brain by a robot surgeon, with the aim of using it to control machines hands-free. So far it has been successfully installed in a pig and in a monkey, the latter of which can use it to play the classic videogame “Ping Pong”. It’s in its infancy, but the possibilities for Neuralink may be endless; at the very least it could be used by disabled people with physical limitations restricting their use of smartphones and computers. If we stretch our sci-fi imagination far enough, we could assume that it’s theoretically possible (but unbelievably expensive) to make a quadraplegic person walk again by combining the Neuralink with robotic limbs.
Neuralink© TechCrunch
Technologies for our brain aren’t just robotic; for over half a century, medical scientists have been treating the brain with drugs like prozac and opiates. Many mental problems can be described in terms of brain chemistry, as these chemicals seek to repair damage done within the brain with the aim of helping it function “normally”. However, if we can find problems before the issue by monitoring brain chemistry, we may be entering a new realm of medicine, and not just regarding the brain. If we could measure blood pressure, the health of our cells and the balance of nutrients in our bodies, it could be theoretically possible to detect cancers and heart conditions much earlier. This is where biometrics come in.
Fingerprints are a common example of biometric data
© cbs-biometrics.com
Biometrics
We already use biometrics. In forensic science, biometrics are used to identify fingerprints and DNA, as well as faces. Even an Apple watch or the jogging app Strava measures your biometrics to gain an understanding of the condition of your heart. The dystopian dimension of biometric technology presents itself when we question who will have access to this information, which is a topic heavily explored in Yuval Noah Harari’s book Homo Deus. More or less the key point of this book is to explore how we, as a species, will upgrade ourselves into living “gods” through technology, which will allow us to surpass our God-given physical limitations.
But if technologies like biometric data are placed in the hands of questionable governments or corporations, the possibilities for manipulation and exploitation are extensive. For example, if your Strava profile shows that you jog a lot and are improving, you may become the target of advertising for fitness products. If your Apple watch identifies a weak heart, shortness of breath, or high/low blood pressure, you may be targeted with medicine ads. The real 1984 scenario arises if we imagine governments to have access to biometrics. The data can be used as a form of surveillance; if someone can monitor your biometrics in real-time, they can decipher what behaviours from politicians disgust you, and which excite you. One example given by Harari in an essay a year ago imagines this far-fetched scenario, “Imagine North Korea in 2030, when every citizen has to wear a biometric bracelet 24 hours a day. If you listen to a speech by the Great Leader and the bracelet picks up the tell-tale signs of anger, you are done for.”The potential for the use of biometrics in control and surveillance is already being put to use. The combination of the high processing efficiency of artificial intelligence and facial recognition allows authorities to track and locate wanted individuals, or to identify them from surveillance cameras (think about how speeding cameras on motorways work; the same thing is done with cameras that identify number plates and send a fine to the person linked to that number plate). This is done extensively, particularly in China and particularly during the pandemic, during which multiple apps were made available to people so that they can avoid possibly infected individuals.
Essentially, we are going from having our internet browsing monitored and used to target us with specific ads to having the same thing done with our biological data. This makes it clear that our biological data can be used for us, or against us. Every piece of technology has two sides in this sense; in theory, the medicine we take can be used to make us happy, or to control us. The neuralink might be used to control us too, or to make life easier. The rockets to Mars might save us, or they might abandon us. The key to making sure that the entire human race can benefit from technology lies in acting early; we need to make sure that the law catches up with technology’s capabilities.
