Ever since I watched Elon Musk’s Neuralink demo I’ve been fascinated by the idea of brain implants and what they could mean for the future of humanity. Can we use them to cure neurological disorders? Control our dreams? Communicate telepathically? Give ourselves unlimited memory and enhanced cognitive abilities? The possibilities are truly endless.
But what about the collateral damage? Would brain implants actually be beneficial to mankind or harmful? Guest writer Trishna Patnaik, a Mumbai based Fine Artist, Art Therapist and Healer, examines this idea by examining the pros and cons of a brain implant that makes us perfect:
“Let’s face it, in a certain way we all desire or crave to be perfect. A motivation that propels us forward in life as a benchmark of sorts. But why is that? Why is being “perfect” so essential to our emotional well-being? Are we driven by an intrinsic desire or more so motivated by fear?
Either way, we are not content. But what if there was a better way? A way that we could achieve perfection, quickly and easily? A way that we could enhance every aspect of our lives? Well, such a way may exist in the near future. Imagine if you will a brain implant which actually makes you perfect! Allowing you to live life without any flaws! But what exactly would that look like?! What capabilities could we have?!
Well, for starters let us consider the possibility that the cells in the brain can be programmed in ways that do not allow us to make mistakes. So, when we decide to do something we don’t have to leave the outcome to chance. Instead the implant would have already engaged in a risk analysis in our brain and then decided to go ahead with it or not if the outcome was desirable or favorable to us.
Also, the core fear to fail or to succeed will in turn disappear. We will be fully aware that whatever we get into is because we have clarity on the specific issue. Self-doubt will be removed completely. We will no longer procrastinate. Instead we will be hell bent on achieving our goals both personally and professionally!
How will such a brain implant affect our body overall? Well, we won’t get agitated, irritated, worked up, confused, or driven by emotions. Instead we’ll be steady with logic plus vital thoughts. So basically, a person who is not governed by emotions at all!
It means the ultimate balance will be restored and the catapult of thoughts challenging behaviour will not show up. We will be in a supposed state of happiness as we would never ever have to encounter sadness or disappointment or pain or distress or anguish. The reason being is that we would have already evaluated the risks, done a thorough analysis on the desired outcome and only then decided to get into a project or assignment or relationship based on the analysis. It sounds super pragmatic and reliable and who knows maybe it will be!
We could also eliminate the need to learn and grow from life experiences. The only thing we would be concentrating on is hardcore implementation to get instant results. This would enable each and every one of us to reach our fullest potential and it will in turn bring out the best in us as nothing would be left to experiential feelings. This means our bodies will be in an autopilot mode like that of a robot with a heart and will function in a single fragmented form which will transport us into tasks which need to be undertaken without any hindrance and confusion as they will be directive driven. However, can you consider a life which is full of logic, practicality, reasoning and no emotions at all?! That is the ultimate capability one can posses! Or is it?!
Would you want to live in a mental state like that? It does sound like an ideal place but does it ensure satisfaction? Imagine every interaction you have, every move you make, every step that is taken, every action which is brought about is making you drive towards your goal. There is no room left over for passion, perseverance and patience. As all of these factors are covered by the brain implant.
Will we miss clicking with resonance and driving organically or will we be enhanced with perpetual perfection just like that of a fevered machine? Will we miss our surprises and our faults or will we be improved and corroborated with calculated moves?!
Well, most likely when we have such a brain implant, we will understand that perfection is a myth. It is like happiness: a State of Mind. So, this does leave us with a thought…if perfection is a myth…if it can never be achieved…is it something which we should consider obsessing about?! OR should we ‘just be’ and embrace the glorious mess that we are??
As Salvador Dali once said, “Have not fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”
And I couldn’t agree more.
I was born to make mistakes, not to fake perfection.”
About Trishna:
After she had a professional stint in various reputable corporations, Trishna Patnaik realized that she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life. She eventually found her true calling with art, in particular, painting. Trishna is now a full-time professional painter and has been pursuing her passion to create and explore to the fullest for over 14 years.
She says, “It’s a road less travelled but a journey that I look forward to everyday.”
Trishna also conducts painting workshops across Mumbai and other metropolitan cities of India and is an art therapist and healer. In addition, Trishna fancies the art of creative writing and is dabbling her hands in that too, to soak in the experience and have an engagement with readers, wanderers and thinkers.
If there’s a world-changing idea that you want to write about let me know and you can be featured just like Trishna!
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