The risk, explains Yuste, is that the same tools which – in medicine – can help improve people’s lives, can also end up violating the information stored in the brain. “Although the roadmap is beneficial, these technologies are neutral and can be used for better or worse,” he notes. This isn’t only about securing personal data, such as shopping habits, a home address, or which political party one supports – it also involves things as intimate as memories and thoughts. And, in the not so distant future, even the subconscious.
The thing that comes up at the bottom has two buttons: Accept and customize. If you click customize you can choose what to accept and what to reject, and it defaults to rejecting everything.