Brain-Computer Interfaces (43)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2008
After his family home is destroyed and his father is killed, Memo must become a part of the global economy. He is expected to do this at the Sleep Dealer Factory, where citizens of Mexico who are implanted with “nodes” connect to a brain-computer interface which they use to remotely control robots in the United States. This was meant to be a solution to the “migrant problem” to the United States in this imagined future, allowing the United States to contract labor from immigrants without actually having people cross the border. However, the wages payed by the Sleep Dealers for the exhaustive labor are incredibly low, thus most laborers there live in unlivable conditions. The technology is shown to not only be exhausting due to the menial labor, but also dangerous if someone is connected during a short-circuit.
- Kinolab
- 2008
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2008
Networked Laborers and Remote Workforces
After his family home is destroyed and his father is killed, Memo must become a part of the global economy. He is expected to do this at the Sleep Dealer Factory, where citizens of Mexico who are implanted with “nodes” connect to a brain-computer interface which they use to remotely control robots in the United States. This was meant to be a solution to the “migrant problem” to the United States in this imagined future, allowing the United States to contract labor from immigrants without actually having people cross the border. However, the wages payed by the Sleep Dealers for the exhaustive labor are incredibly low, thus most laborers there live in unlivable conditions. The technology is shown to not only be exhausting due to the menial labor, but also dangerous if someone is connected during a short-circuit.
How could technology theoretically exacerbate the gross xenophobia displayed toward Mexican immigrants in the United States? How does automation lower the value of labor, causing harm to those communities who need jobs? How can automation and robots be used to avoid putting workers in dangerous scenarios? Could a system using the technologies displayed in this narrative ever be designed to be truly fair?
Sleep Dealer: Opening Sequence-
- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 1973
On a faraway planet, kidnapped humans under the name of Oms live as an inferior race to the Draggs, giant blue aliens that either keep the Oms as pets or banish them to the wilds to be consumed by extraterrestrial monsters. One of these Oms, Terr, is the pet of Tiwa, and begins to acquire an education through a malfunction of Tiwa’s brain-computer interface, which beams knowledge directly into her head. Terr eventually uses this cutting edge technology to which Oms do not usually have access to spread knowledge to other Oms and begin a revolt.
- Kinolab
- 1973
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 1973
Technology and Educational Inequalities
On a faraway planet, kidnapped humans under the name of Oms live as an inferior race to the Draggs, giant blue aliens that either keep the Oms as pets or banish them to the wilds to be consumed by extraterrestrial monsters. One of these Oms, Terr, is the pet of Tiwa, and begins to acquire an education through a malfunction of Tiwa’s brain-computer interface, which beams knowledge directly into her head. Terr eventually uses this cutting edge technology to which Oms do not usually have access to spread knowledge to other Oms and begin a revolt.
How can access to technology determine the quality of education that a certain person or group receives? How are people with less technological access or fluency somewhat at the mercy of those with more? How can educational technologies be made more equitable?
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 1995
In this world, a human consciousness (“ghost”) can inhabit an artificial body (“shell”), thus at once becoming edited humans in a somewhat robotic body. Major, a security officer, sees how a garbage man is sad to know that his ghost has been hacked and filled with false memories of a family, and dives to set up her own reflections with self-identity developed later in the film, especially as she starts to believe that she may be entirely a cyborg with no knowledge of such an existence. Essentially, because the human body has become so thoroughly and regularly augmented with cybernetic parts and even computer brains, defining a real “human” becomes harder and harder.
- Kinolab
- 1995
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 1995
Identity Through Memory and Data
In this world, a human consciousness (“ghost”) can inhabit an artificial body (“shell”), thus at once becoming edited humans in a somewhat robotic body. Major, a security officer, sees how a garbage man is sad to know that his ghost has been hacked and filled with false memories of a family, and dives to set up her own reflections with self-identity developed later in the film, especially as she starts to believe that she may be entirely a cyborg with no knowledge of such an existence. Essentially, because the human body has become so thoroughly and regularly augmented with cybernetic parts and even computer brains, defining a real “human” becomes harder and harder.
If robots develop to the point where they can question their own existence as human, does the line between robot and human truly matter? For what reason? Is questioning human existence a fundamentally human trait? Can fake memories contribute to an identity as much as real ones? Is this a dangerous concept, or might it have positive utility? Do you agree with the assessment that “all data is just fantasy,” or an inaccurate abstraction of real life? What kinds of data, then, make up the human identity?
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 1995
In this world, a human consciousness (“ghost”) can inhabit an artificial body (“shell”), thus at once becoming edited humans in a somewhat robotic body. The Puppet Master, a notorious villain in this world, is revealed not to be a human hacker, but a computer program which has gained sentience and gone on to hack the captured shell. It challenges the law enforcement officials of Section 6 and Section 9 saying that it is a life-form and not an AI. It argues that its existence as a self-sustaining program which has achieved singularity is not different from human DNA as a “self-sustaining program.” The Puppet Master specifically references reproduction/offspring, not copying, as a distinguishing feature of living things as opposed to nonliving things. Additionally, it developed emotional connection with Major which led it to select her as a candidate for merging. It references how it can die but live on through the merging and, after Major’s death, in the internet.
- Kinolab
- 1995
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 1995
Self-Sustaining Programs
In this world, a human consciousness (“ghost”) can inhabit an artificial body (“shell”), thus at once becoming edited humans in a somewhat robotic body. The Puppet Master, a notorious villain in this world, is revealed not to be a human hacker, but a computer program which has gained sentience and gone on to hack the captured shell. It challenges the law enforcement officials of Section 6 and Section 9 saying that it is a life-form and not an AI. It argues that its existence as a self-sustaining program which has achieved singularity is not different from human DNA as a “self-sustaining program.” The Puppet Master specifically references reproduction/offspring, not copying, as a distinguishing feature of living things as opposed to nonliving things. Additionally, it developed emotional connection with Major which led it to select her as a candidate for merging. It references how it can die but live on through the merging and, after Major’s death, in the internet.
Do you agree with the puppet master’s arguments that self-sustaining programs are conceptually the same as human DNA? Why or why not? Has the externalisation of memory made it far more possible for robots to achieve singularity and exist as human-like figures in the world? Is memory the sole feature that helps humans build their identities? List all the comparisons made in this narrative between self-sustaining programs and human genetics and existence.
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 1973
Simulacron is a virtual reality full of 10,000 simulated humans who believe themselves to be sentient, but are actually nothing more than programs. The identity units in Simulacron do not know or understand that they are artificial beings, and they behave under the idea that they are real humans. “Real” humans can enter this virtual reality through a brain-computer interface, and control the virtual identity units. Christopher Nobody, a suspect whom Fred is trying to track down, had the revelation that he was an identity unit, and that realization led to a mental breakdown. In following this case, Fred meets Einstein, a virtual unit who desires to join the real world. As Einstein enacts the final stages of this plan, Fred discovers a shocking secret about his own identity. For a similar concept, see the narrative “Online Dating Algorithms” on the Hang the DJ episode of Black Mirror.
- Kinolab
- 1973
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 1973
Simulated Humans and Virtual Realities
Simulacron is a virtual reality full of 10,000 simulated humans who believe themselves to be sentient, but are actually nothing more than programs. The identity units in Simulacron do not know or understand that they are artificial beings, and they behave under the idea that they are real humans. “Real” humans can enter this virtual reality through a brain-computer interface, and control the virtual identity units. Christopher Nobody, a suspect whom Fred is trying to track down, had the revelation that he was an identity unit, and that realization led to a mental breakdown. In following this case, Fred meets Einstein, a virtual unit who desires to join the real world. As Einstein enacts the final stages of this plan, Fred discovers a shocking secret about his own identity. For a similar concept, see the narrative “Online Dating Algorithms” on the Hang the DJ episode of Black Mirror.
What purposes can virtual reality “laboratories” full of simulated humans serve in terms of research in fields such as sociology? Is it justifiable to make programs which believe themselves to be sentient humans, yet deny them access to the “real world”? How can AI mental health be reassured, especially when it comes to existential crises like the one Fred has?
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- 20 min
- MIT Press
- 2018
Lilith, a contract laborer, ends up in a dangerous situation when the self-driving ship she rides malfunctions. Kyleen, a human who has undergone a human-editing networking process called “meshing,” is able to control a proxy robot via a brain-computer interface to help Lilith get to her destination safely.
- MIT Press
- 2018
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- 20 min
- MIT Press
- 2018
Robotic Proxies and Telepresence: “Different Seas” by Alastair Reynolds
Lilith, a contract laborer, ends up in a dangerous situation when the self-driving ship she rides malfunctions. Kyleen, a human who has undergone a human-editing networking process called “meshing,” is able to control a proxy robot via a brain-computer interface to help Lilith get to her destination safely.
How can robotic proxies be helpful to people in danger? Who should be allowed or certified to operate these, in theory? How might these be implicated in inequitable class structures, as outlined in the story? Should humans be networked with machines, and would this really be to the ultimate benefit of humanity?