Self-governance and self-control: Re-chipping the mind

in #philosophy6 years ago

What if instead of prisons, we could rehabilitate offenders no matter how violent or depraved instantly and release them into society harmless to society - Would you support such a move?

Potentially in the future some kind of form of this would be possible through some kind of technological mental hack, perhaps an implanted chip to control behaviours. I posted a piece last night about psychopathy prevalence and think that in some future, such crimes are either going to be dealt with post-incident like now or, pre-incident through identification or voluntary self-suppression.

This of course brings up many ethical questions such as the rights of the victims, punishment for crime and potential for things to wrong but, it doesn't hurt to hypothesize and put a little mental effort into such things now.

However, it isn't only crime that would benefit from such technology. In the US alone, over 200 Billion source is currently spent on treating mental health problems. And I am sure that if one looks a little deeper, the costs are even higher if the knock-on effects are also considered.

Even though we would like to be able to claim we are in control of ourselves, this is hardly true at all considering most people struggle to do the most basic of tasks that they know will improve their lives like eating healthily or, quitting smoking. Once other complexities and stressors are compounded, our ability to adjust ourselves is not as great as what we may feel.

Taking out all of the operation risks and potential to be hacked etc, imagine if you had a chip implanted that you were able to give commands to in order to adjust certain psychological aspects of yourself. Changes to these things will of course then influence emotional states also, such as depression, addiction and the more basic happiness or sadness types.

This would give us an ability to truly self-govern as we wouldn't be bound by our willpower, personality type or access to specialized help. We would no longer need psychologists to correct our behaviors either as we would have the power to make the adjustments ourselves, at least on the things that are influenced by our thinking.

So, granted this tool, how do you think we would use it and would it make our lives better, or worse? Would we use it to improve ourselves in relationship to the community or, maximize ourselves much like we do now to the detriment of most?

Imagine if you want to lose a little weight but like me, your sweet tooth has a mind of its own or, your motivation to go to the gym or for a jog is just not strong enough to get you out of the door. Potentially, we could dial down the desire for sweets and dial up our motivation to go for a jog. Sound good?

Where would it end I wonder, would people become obsessive compulsive adjusters even if the obsession could be removed? Most likely, many people would make adjustments based on their current ideals of what life should be, what is already desired. They would attempt to become the best versions of themselves without thinking what that actually means. This could lead to a dialing up of the very behaviors that are destructive and harmful now.

It could also mean that people try to maximize the positive feelings without thinking about the consequences of their actions which would overbalance or underfeed certain necessary aspects. People already avoid pain, even if that pain is an important part of learning. What we want and what we need can be two very different things and humans generally overvalue the wants which leads to many of the problems a chip like this could potentially combat.

Just thinking about it a little should raise some interesting questions for each person and could make one reflect on not only the bad habits that might be unwanted but, the god habits that could be developed further. Of course, this isn't an option in this form yet so we have to rely on the tools nature has provided us so far.

That being said, we like to talk about living in a better, freer world with more opportunity so it is up to us to adjust ourselves in ways that we each think will help get there. It is up to us to make our own decisions and even though we can't switch things on and off, we can think about where we want to go, how we could get there and strive and struggle to deal with all the obstacles in our way. Including the largest of all, ourselves.

If you had a chip implanted that allowed you to change your thinking, what would be the first thing you would adjust? Is it important to you to improve or restrict in that area? Where could making that adjustment lead? What is stopping you now from taking the first steps?

Would you acting a little differently make the world a better place?

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

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The very thought of having an implant to control my thinking is abhorrent.

Someone, somewhere will make the decision about what and how I will be modified, and it may work perfectly, making me a model citizen.

Someone, somewhere else will see the possibility for making other, more nefarious changes to modify society to their mold. The new implant will be promised to do all sorts of good things for you that everyone accepts happily. And then the other algos kick in and the new human sheep will love their new rulers and their new society and everyone else forever.

No, thank you. We figure it out without the mind control, and even though that is not the intention, it is human nature to turn the solution into a weapon. If it can be done, someone will do it.

Over-consumption, violence, polarization, religious brainwashing, oppression, degradation, unnecessary poverty, profiteering from suffering.... aren't we already under mind control to accept such things, to partake in them?

Yes, we are currently mind controlled in such ways. However it is an external mind control so there is room to conceive it and overcome it. Once an implant controls your thoughts your ability to recognize the control is essentially removed. Freedom of thought is removed and therefore you are no longer human.

I would argue (for the sake of arguing) that external/internal difference is a technical difference only as in practice, if we are programmed to act without conscious control, we are essentially acting robotically anyway. Does it matter if the chip is held in our head or in the device in our hands if we are so compelled we are unable to put it down anyway?

All true, however....
As long as we are capable of free thought, there is the possibility that we can realize that we do not like what is being imposed and can act to change it. Any procedure or device that can control human behavior will be sought after by demogogues to be used as a weapon. In limited, targeted use, of course benefits could be realized, but it is not human nature to stop with that.

As for your list, many of us have made a conscious decision to opt out of supporting those ideas. Had we been injected with nanobots at birth, our free will could have been replaced for any long list of "needed" behaviors and we would not even question why we had an unending appetite for Soylent Green and supporting the Universal Brotherhood political party.

At the top, of course, would be the One Percent who did not need the treatment so they could make our decisions for us.

Potentially in the future some kind of form of this would be possible through some kind of technological mental hack, perhaps an implanted chip to control behaviours.

We discussed that idea over a decade ago with friends on blogspot. A friend of mine dubbed such a device moralator. There would be two kinds of moralators: intelligent and non-intelligent ones. The intelligent ones would have some degree of context awareness but the non-intelligent ones would only dampen certain kinds of emotional responses.

I think it is an interesting thought experiment to consider the various elements of ourselves that hold us back. Some people make very large assumption about the way things ought to be without ever really considering alternative positions available. They also tend to identify with aspects of learned social programming as parts of themselves that can't change.

It would be interesting to see what is actually part of our psychology and what can be shifted.

We have entered the domain of transhumanism fraught with peril and opportunities like nothing else.

yes, @lucylin mentioned it too. It is going to make a mess of things most likely so it would be better of we got our shit together without it.

It seems somewhat inevitable because there are countries like China that are willing disregard any notions of bioethics to get an edge.

I think research would be similar in all powerful countries for that reason. Sports doping taken to the extreme levels of secrecy.

I agree. National security giving a free pass to nearly anything.

Transhumanism essentially, and that is a place where the human being becomes something else....

Vive lal difference, warts and all, is what I say! lol

I see only grayness, mass death, and the end of a fantastic human race as it is right now, going down the other route...

The human disease of god complex blinds us to what is already brilliant.
The drive to improve on perfect destroys...

Very likely but in another sense, it would prove what is possible if you put your mind to it ;)

May I ask you something ?- why the strike through on you rewards (upvote thingy?)

So you aren't as tempted to upvote my comments and will instead will use it in the community.

You can still boost comments for visibility by voting on them but the reward goes to the pool. I winder how many selfvoters claiming to only do it for visibility are doing the same ;)

Essentially... i am an idiot.

erm ok, I think.

Idiot?
I think you are many things, but idiot isn't one of them (..and I'm an expert on the subject, so I would know! lol).

One is the application of technology, and lack of foresight because of the need to do , and the myopia that comes with it..

The other is being human, and celebrating wisdom ...which is fantastic...(imo).

Sure there are pros and cons to this mental hacking. But I do not think I will consent to it. People value freedom, free will and power. Not having control of the way I think is scary. Now on the other hand, if I have a mental problem and a chip be embedded on my brain. The first thing I want to change/adjust is erase the thought/memory that causes my mental problem and help me build coping skills.

The first thing I want to change/adjust is erase the thought/memory that causes my mental problem and help me build coping skills.

If the chip can do it, it should be possible without it too. Why don't people spend more time building coping skills now? Everyone thinks they are good at handling stress when there is no stress.

The values of todays generation is crambling down. I see a lot of teenagers cant cope up with school,broken family,abuse of any kind,trauma from the things that they dont have control of and things that they can control but dont know how to do it,neuro chemical imbalance There us a lot of factors that can play on causing the mental problem and if a chip in a brain can change that,that would be nice.

Oh man.. you got my mind racing now... not only because of the plausible grim picture, but because in many ways we are already there...

Are you familiar with Ray Kurzweil... I'll leave you this.. watch it and then add this to your line of thinking.

Our brains are the product of millions of years of evolution. Eating sweets and carbs was a good idea from our gene’s point of view, that is until we were able to create unlimited supplies. Now it's a matter of self-control. The old “Marshmallow Test,” a.k.a., delayed gratification – and it can be taught – no “chip” is needed.

As for psychopathy, there is a physiologist, James Fallon, who while doing clinical studies of murderers and patients with psychopathy and schizophrenia, found that he had the same genetic makeup of a full-blown psychopath. It turns out that you can have the gene (MAOA) but not exhibit the psychotic behavior if you’re not exposed to childhood maltreatment during a very specific time of brain development. That implies that psychopathy can be minimized and maybe even treated if the markers are identified early enough.

Thanks for the post – you always get me thinking.

I think when it comes to many psychological traits, there is a fair amount of influence we can have. As a species, we are likely the most affected by the nurture component and even negative aspects could become positive if handled in the right way. I would assume that there are many psychopaths who have trained their actions (unknowingly) to positive pursuits.

What most people fail to admit though that under the right circumstances, we can all behave like the most heinous of monsters. Thankfully, most never are in those circumstances though.

You actually make a point it could change their minds, but this will make of people engaged in more criminal activities since they know , they will get out of it through rehabilitation. I can not support the move and I believe majority will kick again it either.

Acting justly will make the world a better place for all of us without much thinking. A crime free society will always move forward but I don't think that could ever happen in the surface of the earth. I'm Just nervous what you opinion would be on this issues you mentioned?

but this will make of people engaged in more criminal activities since they know , they will get out of it through rehabilitation.

You think? That is going to depend on the rehabilitation isn't it?

It seems that it is a technological proposal taken from a movie, although if it happened, in the future we can detect such diseases and sick people and be able to control ourselves, because a better world is needed. less violence and more love.

The truth is that these issues always attract, we all hate the murderers and the sick, but we know the history and we follow the events of their crimes ... So we all need a chip, to control what harms society, to eliminate so many drugs and why not even love problems. It would be wonderful, would not it?

to control what harms society, to eliminate so many drugs and why not even love problems. It would be wonderful, would not it?

Why not start now?

Because in spite of everything, we still resist the changes, because even if they offer us the cure for all our problems we allow ourselves to be cured, or maybe we humans like drama and pain.

You have a lot of awesome posts,
but this is by far one of your best ones man.

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