Thync is a Silicon Valley startup company based in Los Gatos, California which developed a highly unusual technology which they demonstrated for Brad Stone, a writer on Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
This isn’t outright mind control. However, it is somewhat similar. A prototype device with two electrodes were placed on his head to target his cranial nerves.
The engineers asked him if he wanted to induce a calm or energetic emotion. He chose the calm one. After he adjusted the intensity setting, he said that a: ‘familiar knot of stress in my stomach evaporated’.
Theoretically, mind control technology may be able to invoke a state of happiness, enhanced concentration, enhanced dopamine production to aid Parkinson’s Disease sufferers, and much more.
Remember The Rule: Technology Is A Double-Edged Sword, Especially Mind Control
This stimulation technology could change the world. However, this is no exception to the rule that technology is a double-edged sword, and both side’s of this technology’s sword are extremely sharp.
It has the power to enable people to walk, to concentrate and vastly improve productivity, leading to a better world.
It may even be able to invoke a state of creativity, kick technological advancement into overdrive, and save lives. Now, for the bad side of it:
Think about ‘Big Data’, and how companies value statistics on consumer behaviour so much. It helps them conduct market research. Market research can be used for good or bad.
Market research can be conducted to determine what type of products consumers like most, or it could be conducted to determine what predatory/shifty marketing techniques and gimmicks they are most likely to fall for. Mind control is even worse.
Getting people to spend money on things that they don’t need is a major economic problem, especially considering the fact that there are so many people in the world who don’t even have access to the most basic things they need due to a lack of money.
How does this relate to brain stimulation and mind control?
Theoretically, this technology could be adapted to connect to smartphones and tablets, then ‘motivate’ you to purchase things that you don’t need when you’re looking at them, or even to conveniently boost your mood while playing a given game, or depress it when using another app, or looking at another product that the controlling app (or service) doesn’t want you to use.
In other words, this technology may have the potential to achieve a limited form of mind control if it falls into the wrong hands.
If not mind control, this could be considered excessive persuasion at the very least.
Apart from that, according to BusinessWeek:
‘Thync announced on Oct. 8 that it’s raised $13 million from investors, including well-heeled Khosla Ventures, to mine the intersection of neuroscience and consumer electronics. Sometime next year, the company will begin selling a miniaturized, Bluetooth-enabled neurosignaling device, along with the seductive, controversial proposition that customers can program their state of mind. ‘This is an avenue for people to call up their best stuff on demand,’ says Isy Goldwasser, Thync’s chief executive officer and co-founder. ‘It’s a way for us to overcome our basic limitation as people. It lets us call up our focus, our calm, and creativity when we need it.’
Source: BusinessWeek.
