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KDamage t1_ix3da1j wrote

Reply to comment by NihiliSloth in Workplace brain scanning to make employees happier and more productive by BotJunkie

We are really slowly turning into a transhumanist society. We're still at the infant step where tech is not yet merged with flesh, but smartphones and computers still make a huge part of our daily routines and decisions all day. On some extent, I've been imagining such a scenario for a long time where the tech-flesh barrier would break, like a lot of anticipation romancers wrote in the past.

And while my own conclusion would be to stay on the "non-augmented" side, I have a hard time imagining a world where a majority of people would not go transhumanism.

A simple example : a job position is open for a prestigious, very well paid job, requiring a neural implant for extended knowledge and efficiency. Something where the non-augmented could clearly not compete. Would there be absolutely zero candidates ? I think not. Then the tech become more and more mainstream, with more and more people adopting it as they see it only gives them an advantage over others and better wages.

I'm pretty confident there will be a point in time, and not that far in the future, where the well-known scenario from anticipation writers depicting a societal conflict between augmented and non-augmented will be a reality.

A brain scan to monitor and adjust a person for better mood, better efficiency, is not that very different from the above. From the article the narrative sounds horrifying because it's an employer decision, but what about the moment where it's a candidate decision.

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NihiliSloth t1_ix3efol wrote

I’m just not interested in any of it.

I’m fine with medical advances. Im fine with new medications. I’m fine with vaccines. Im fine with new diagnostic devices. I’m fine with surgeries that improve quality of life. But that sort of advancement is for the betterment of humanity, not boost productivity in a work environment.

I’m not okay with technology that only furthers the advancement of the machine. We are not robots. We should not expected to perform like them. Giving our bodies ignorantly to people just for the sake of better wages will surely backfire. People will be exploited even further than they are now. And that tech that’s used now may make people content, but I doubt it’ll have the same lasting affects later on down the road. All I see is exploitation and chaos building up.

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KDamage t1_ix3euni wrote

I indeed completely agree. Everything is already written in novels, some of them being not romanticized but simple societal evolving calculations and predictions, and I've yet to see one that did not depict exactly what you mentionned. Some people will be aware of the dangers you mentionned, but I'm pretty sure a lot will not, or will prefer to ignore it because "better pay". Just like some in the present times prefer to ignore burnout syndrome.

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