'The dystopian possibilities seem endless': How attempts to merge human brains with machines could go disastrously wrong

A student at Texas Robotics shows a brain-computer interface that enables him to control his hand with his thoughts.

In this adapted excerpt from "The Future of Language: How Technology, Politics and Utopianism are Transforming the Way We Communicate" (Bloomsbury, 2023), author Philip Seargeant examines brain computer interfaces designed to help locked-in patients communicate, and why technology companies like Facebook are using them as the basis for wearable devices that could transform, for good or ill, how everyday users communicate.  

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