alt Hacker NewsAn anecdote, but some reason to think that overworking part of your brain is a bad idea:
I had an Aunt who had dementia. This is obviously a terrible outlook. But her and my Uncle seemed to be doing okay. My Uncle was an ultra-competent guy, highly stable, the person you could rely on; and had been his whole adult life. So it was shocking when he had a mental breakdown and became manic. There was probably something physical going on, but what was also going on was that he had wanted my aunt to be able to live normally for as long as possible, so had been covering everything - for a year or more he'd had to be alert 7 days a week in case my aunt tried to cook on the gas stove or something like that, at which she was no longer safe. So the risk-alert part of his brain had been constantly overworked.
I appreciate that this is scientific research, but there are definitely companies out there that will try to row-hammer everyone's brain if this sort of thing is not heavily controlled.
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A completely off-topic anecdote, then a completely unfounded fear based on a clear misunderstanding of this research. If companies ever start making us live in a MRI machine so they can reliably activate brain areas with certain stimuli, I think there is a bigger problem we are having.
Here is how I see it. This type of research helps us understand the brain, helps us do things like model potential surgery sites better (e.g. for seizure activity interventions). What it does not do is become the basis for mind reading.
Just so that you know that I am not totally unsympathetic to your apparent worldview, let me tell you how I think your concern might actually play out:
AI continues to get more powerful, and computer brain interfaces begin to move beyond EEG scalp electrodes, but begins to take the form or brain augmentation via integrating networked AI compute into implanted chips with electrode neural interfaces, where our brain's neurons and the neural interfaces learn to speak each other's language (i.e. integrate). I can actually see this happening within 20 years. At first, it would be our brain using this augmentation for greater intelligence, etc. However, remote manipulation of the interface could reverse control of brain activity, leading exactly to your fear.
But this research? This is light years from that,,,so much so that it is not even relevant to bring up unless you are just against all technology.
> I appreciate that this is scientific research, but there are definitely companies out there that will try to row-hammer everyone's brain if this sort of thing is not heavily controlled.
What's to gain in doing so?
I bet it wasn't overwork, it was the fight or flight response being constantly activated for your uncle when he's caring for your aunt who could do anything unpredictably.
I'm not sure it's about overworking as much as stress - stress is a known potential trigger for manic episodes. Typically in people who already have some biological potential for experiencing it. And the stress of having your partner come down with dementia and suddenly becoming their full-time caregiver must be absolutely massive.
But re the underlying physical thing: You might look back and be able to spot some episodes of hypomania in your uncle's life. Perhaps just reduced sleep, or twinges of paranoia, or periods of on-again/off-again hyperproductivity, etc.
Hope that if this story is recent he's doing well. The recent generations of medications to prevent and treat mania are a huge improvement on the ones available in the past, so fingers crossed.