Some things should be left alone

Today on my lunch break, while browsing articles on Digg, I came across a story on New Scientist Tech about a neckband that translates thought into speech by picking up nerve signals. The device has been developed by Texas Instrument in conjunction with Ambient Corporation. According to Michael Callahan, the co-founder of Ambient, the band’s primary goal is to make cell phone conversations more private. (Read article here)

While the idea in itself is pretty neat and, needless to say, the technology behind this device is absolutely amazing, some inventions should never see the light of day. And this is one of them.

I am not a conspiracy theory nut, nor am I a paranoid nerd sitting in my mom’s basement, looking for ways to thwart the governments’ attempts to probe my brain. And even though I am a staunch believer in technological progress, I’d be the first to admit that sometimes progress simply for the sake of progress is a bad thing.

Let’s assume that in a year or two this neckband hits the market and we’ll see fewer people in public places who annoy the hell out of everyone by talking loudly on their cell phones. That would be great, wouldn’t it? Now think about what would happen if someone expanded that technology to scan nerve signals of anyone who happens to be nearby? That would truly mean the end of privacy. Who needs phone tapping if you could sit outside of someone’s house and listen to their thoughts?

This argument might seem childish and simplistic, but the scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project probably created the nuclear bomb just to satisfy their scientific curiosity. Surely, they had good intentions and were probably assured by their military superiors that the bomb would only be used as a deterrent to other superpowers. Unfortunately, as we’ve been brutally taught so many times, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Whenever someone invents a device that could potentially backfire, it is often difficult to make an objective and ethical decision about whether or not that invention should see the light of day. As a software engineer, and as a vain human being, I can understand the ego trip and the satisfaction of making a name for oneself. To be honest, I don’t know where my morality would go if I invented a nano robot that could clean cholesterol-filled arteries of an obese patient, but could also be used to shred the arteries of an enemy soldier.

The more I read about modern research in artificial intelligence, medicine and robotics, the more I become convinced that Terminator scenario is not so far-fetched, and judging by the exponential rate of the growth of modern technology, not so far away.