Dark side of the future

Get outta my head [1]! 

Scientists can now look into the brains of people making a purchase decision and predict whether or not they will buy. 

When people see something they want to purchase, a portion of the brain called the nucleus accumbens "lights up" on a brain scan. If the price is too high, another region of the brain called the insula is activated and the mesial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is deactivated, Dr. Brian Knutson of Stanford University in California and colleagues report. 

Based on the activation and deactivation of these regions, Knutson and his team were able to predict whether or not people would purchase something before they were conscience of making a decision. 

I’m not only a huge sci-fi nerd, I’m also a huge fan of technology itslef.  I am not, however, always such a fan of humanity.  The possibilities these [2] kinds of breakthroughs open are mind-boggling (pun intended), but not all of them are benign.  The trajectory of neo-liberal economics shows little sign of slowing and, at last count, corporations now account for 51 of the top 100 economies [3].  Barring an unforeseeable event, corporations will continue to dominate states as global power loci.  In fact, the top 200 corporations’ combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of every country in the world minus the top 10 [4] (likely, the only ones who will retain any semblance of sovereignty). 

All this is to say that when I hear about these kind of studies, I’m imagining profound medical applications, mind-linked transportation, and ra-heeely cool video games.  But it’s infinitely more likely that we’ll find such innovations at The Gap.

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