A growing number of scientists believe that a device that can be implanted into your brain and automatically make you feel good could become a reality in the near future.
The controversial tech is already on its way here according to some research. Neural stimulation done for recreational purposes will be a hit with the public, according to multiple experts, including some of the scientists conducting those studies. As these technologies become possible, a big question remains: should they?
University of Michigan biomedical engineer Tim Bruns told Futurism that there are people using electrical stimulation. People are doing stuff off-label to themselves now.
He asked if we would see commercials on TV or products on the shelf. I think so.
Bruns conducted several landmark studies that used electrical stimulation on specific nerves in order to treat and improve bladder function. He realized that the stimulations near the bladder and on the ankle were similar to those that make it difficult for women to experience arousal.
It is difficult to get funding for female sexual function research unless a spinal cord injury is involved, so Bruns gets to pursue clinical studies and improve the safety and efficacy of such a device.
Douglas Weber, a Carnegie Mellon University mechanical engineer and neuroscientist, told Futurism that it was already happening.
There are many neurostimulation devices on Amazon. Weber, who was Bruns' former adviser, said that some will make you stronger, relieve your pain, help you lose weight, and even make you smarter. I don't own any of these devices. I think that in the next two decades, we will see the development of neurostim devices that will offer real and valuable benefits to consumers.
The mind wanders to sex. Pleasure derived from electrical stimulation can be a variety of things, from the stimulation of your muscles to the dopamine boost from using technology that could make you faster, stronger, and smarter, or from an electrical probe deep in your brain that makes you happy.
A patient with severe depression was recently treated by scientists with a neural implant that zaps her brain 300 times per day, allowing her to laugh and feel joy for the first time in years. As brain interface tech becomes more advanced and widely available, there is no reason that a device like this wouldn't become a consumer device as well.
Experts told Futurism that the tech could hit the market in a few years. When we can experience genuine pleasure from the push of a button, we will be able to psychologically as individuals and as a society. When applied to the messy world of sex, all those questions become even more complex.
The Kinsey Institute's research fellow on sex and psychology told Futurism that there is a big question about whether sextech will be a complement to our sex lives or a substitute.
There are some concerns about how this kind of sextech could benefit people with disabilities or sexual difficulties. Would you approach sex differently if you had access to a device that could give you instantaneous orgasms? What will this do to intimacy?
According to the experts who spoke to Futurism, this sort of technology is likely to become popular, even if it is not a good idea. These are important conversations to have now, before the improvements in electrode size, battery strength, and implant safety that will be necessary for creating a consumer device fall into place.
For better or for worse, people will always use medically-derived technology in ways that their creators did not intend.
Bruns told Futurism that everyone has wants and needs. Some people may go further for something.
He compared the idea of a feel-good button to people taking Viagra off the label. Bruns doesn't think it will be a disaster, but he thinks it will happen soon. He thinks that it will be easy for companies to build consumer gadgets as better medical devices emerge.
When you think about things like contraceptive implants, pacemakers, and insulin implants, the more people get comfortable with this kind of thing, the more likely it is that they will be.
Human connection is very important. People may be at a greater risk of turning inward, if technology like a feel-good button becomes feasible, safe, and popular.
It could be disastrous for public health and raise ominous questions about who is responsible for well-being: the individual, the company implanting recreational neural technology into their bodies, or the regulatory agencies that will be stepping in to regulate brain tech like they do with drugs today.
Maybe there won't be a problem at all. Rats prefer social connection to heroin, so maybe new frontiers of pleasure-seeking tech won't be a problem if we build a society in which people can do things safely.
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