A recent study by Kaspersky, a cybersecurity company, found that the general public is in favor of human augmentation techniques in order to "improve human intelligence."
But what does human augmentation mean?
This concept refers to the "physical improvement of the human body through the use of technology." For example, by inserting a chip into your brain to make it work faster and to instantly access a wide range of information on the Internet.
Kaspersky's research on perceptions of this innovative trend was conducted on 14,500 adults in 16 countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Republic. Czech Republic, Romania and Switzerland. The fieldwork was carried out by Opinium Research between July 9-27, 2020.
Some of the conclusions drawn are that one in five people (22%) would choose to improve their intelligence or intellectual ability with the help of technology, if they could.
On the other hand, 52% of people find it "completely" or "quite" acceptable to use human augmentation techniques to improve children's learning ability in school.
The study also found that interest in increasing brain power is highest among young people aged 18 to 34 (27%).
This percentage decreases to 22% among the population between 35 and 54 years and decreases to 17% for people over 55 years of age.
It was also found that women (23%) are less likely to improve their brain potential and intelligence than men (22%).
On the other hand, the survey found that more than half of people (63%) would consider using technology to "grow their body" and improve it, either permanently or temporarily.
Four out of 10 people would connect their bodies to a smartphone
Some respondents even expressed a desire to connect smartphones to their bodies, and almost half of those surveyed (49%) found it "completely" or "largely" acceptable to take advantage of human augmentation techniques to it makes people smarter in general.
Most respondents would like human augmentation for the good of humanity and more than half (53%) say it should be used to improve the quality of life.
What impact would this type of technology have?
This concept - human augmentation - "has wide repercussions in society, especially in education and work". According to Kaspersky, "some high-tech analysts suggest that chips implanted in the brain could help solve mental health problems and increase performance."
However, many questions have been raised in this regard: Increasing brain intelligence and capacity could raise various ethical and practical questions.
For example: is it safe in terms of health? Is it ethical? That is, should parents allow their children's brain to improve in order to give them an advantage at school? Will this give people an unfair advantage in the workplace and thus create an even bigger digital divide?
In a statement, Kaspersky's director of research and analysis for Europe, Marco Preuss, said: "Security will be a key concern as human growth develops. There is a risk that this technology will advance beyond the control of governments or other regulators, which is potentially dangerous to humanity. "
He added: “We need to pay close attention to this process as it unfolds. For example, at Kaspersky, we previously investigated how chips implanted in the brain could be used by malicious actors to hack and then exploit an individual's memory. Brainstorming opens up a truly amazing array of potential cyber threats. ”
Source: Sipse.com (download via Rador)