Neuro Tech: At What Cost?

As the new of age of smart phones, touchscreens, and virtual reality continues to progress, the topic of neurotechnology has become an interesting debate at the forefront of ethical dialogue. Technology is a huge part of everyday life. Some reports suggest that the average person spends up to 11 hours per day on some sort of screen, whether it is their personal mobile device, social media usage, or work-related material. So, how much is too much? Dr. Lawrence Paul Behmer Jr. mentioned the subreddit titled, Shut Up and Take My Money in his presentation, "Cognition at our Fingertips: Insights into Cognitive Processes During Skilled Motor Performance". This subreddit contains various technologically advanced products that claim to improve peoples' everyday lives. These products include headbands that can read brain signals used to help people relax or even headsets that allow one to control a toy car with their mind. These seemingly outlandish products are popular among Internet users and emphasize the inevitable progression of our generation. As previously mentioned, Dr. Behmer is interested in how neurotechnology can can track and improve simple cognitive processes through serial tracking. The article, "Do We Need Brain Implants to Keep Up with Robots" written by John Horgan of Scientific American, reviews neuroscientist Christof Koch's view on this topic and discusses how futuristic neurotechnology may eventually become more prevalent.

Dr. Behmer's presentation was enlightening and informative on the cognitive processes involved in basic motor functioning. His goal was to better understand the process of action regulation, particularly, our motor skills. As discussed in his presentation, Dr. Behmer used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to observe excitation levels in subjects' right fingers while they type. In this study he used the serial chaining model that orders actions in an N-1 feedback, meaning, every action relies on the previous one. He would also alter the serial position of the letters in the word TRUCK in order to see active differences within participants. Dr. Behmer explained, T to R is highly active while UCK is inactive. He also studied this phenomenon by having participants type a paragraph containing green cues. 50% of the time, the next letter turned green indicating what the subject should type resulting in a predictable excitation level. The other 50% of the time, the green cue would shift one to three locations before or after what was expected, resulting in slower and more unpredictable reaction times. Dr. Behmer discovered that sequencing plays a significant role in regulating future motor actions.

The debate over the advancement in technology has been ongoing and will most likely continue to become more complex as everyday tech improves. Concerns surrounding tech becoming more involved in our lives is one focus of John Horgan's article. John Horgan examines Christof Koch's view of neurotechnology. Koch believes that in order to keep up with the advancement of technology, we will need more advanced "brains" including richer and more complex cognitive processes. Koch also discusses the use of brain implants to improve mental health disorders and technology that allows those suffering from paralysis to control robots and computers. While these advancements sound exciting, there are many complications involved, such as implant hackers and the lack of knowledge about cognition and neuronal pathways. According to Horgan, neuroscientists have been exploring neurotechnology for mental disorders for awhile without much success. While these goals are ambitious, scientists need  to understand neural coding before being able to implement tech code. Horgan explains, "Reliably integrating neural tissue and digital technologies would require cracking the neural code, the brain's software, which transforms processes in the brain into perceptions, memories, emotions, decisions (Horgan, 2017). This neural code is not universal, rather, it is specific to the kind of species and even specific sensory modalities. Koch is concerned about advances in neurotechnology considering the current political climate and approaches the advancement of artificial intelligence with caution. Horgan's article concludes with the prospective sentiment of futuristic neurotechnology but regrettably informs readers of the dire consequences that may be associated with its advancement. 

Dr. Behmer's research and John Horgan's article seem to share a few key points. Both of them focus on the advancement of technology in order to improve the lives of others. For example, Dr. Behmer's research could provide the fundamental knowledge necessary to advance helpful robotic connections for those who suffer from paralysis. By focusing on Dr. Behmer's sequencing technique, neural coding could possibly become better understood. However, both Dr. Behmer and John Horgan expressed their concern that neuroscience as a field still has a long way to go. Before we can even consider implementing more neurotechnology into our everyday lives, we must discover a deeper understanding of basic cognitive processes and neural coding. Dr. Behmer's presentation demonstrated how fascinating neurotechnology is while also acknowledging its modern limitations. Horgan and Koch, however, both express their concerns about the current political climate and how neurotechnology could possibly be manipulated to function as a weapon rather than a helpful tool. Both Dr. Behmer's presentation and John Horgan's article, examine the complex reality of neurotechnological advancement.

Overall, Dr. Behmer and John Horgan accurately summarize the impact of neurotechnology on our everyday lives. Dr. Behmer's research focuses on sequencing in the regulation processes of motor functioning, particularly, in regards to typing. This discovery on sequencing could have a large impact in the advancement and eventual implementation of neurotechnology. John Horgan examined Christof Koch's view on this topic and the realistic concerns it could have on society. Behmer and Horgan both provide interesting details on this topic, and I would look to continue to explore it further.

Works Cited 
Horgan, John. “Do We Need Brain Implants to Keep Up with Robots?” Scientific American Blog Network, 1 Nov. 2017, blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/do-we-need-brain-implants-to-keep-up-with-robots/.