this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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[–] moseschrute@lemmy.world 123 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Suddenly this makes way more sense

[–] FourWaveforms@lemm.ee 51 points 6 days ago

I can hear this picture

[–] muhyb@programming.dev 174 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Will we also get a control valve back on our heads?

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[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 29 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The only condition under which I wouid ever consider getting a neural implant, is if the implant and its software is open source.

Any closed source thing you stick in your brain will ultimately doom you.

Besides that, there'd also actually have to be a purpose. As it stands now, cybernetics isn't advanced enough to turn me into a full cyborg, so probably never in my lifetime.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I don't think it's expected that the average person will be jumping at the opportunity to tinker with their neurons. The first line of people to get such implants will almost certainly be people with physical disabilities.

Regarding closed source ultimately being a net negative to your well being, I think you're absolutely right. Unfortunately with as niche as a product like this will be for some time, I worry any corporation willing to put forward the funding isn't going to be willing to open it up to such a degree.

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[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

All these brain chips will primarily, initially, be for crippled people. Maybe a controller chip to control prosthetic arms, or something to let a paraplegic person control a computer.

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[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 37 points 5 days ago (1 children)

HL3 is going to be launched with Valve's brain chip.

They don't even have to make the game. The chip will convince you that you have already played the game and it's the best game ever.

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[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

So, to all the people freaking out and saying this is as bad as Musk and Neuralink:

https://starfishneuroscience.com/blog/ultra-low-power-miniature-electrophysiological-electronics/?header-bg=card-bg0

There is here zero mention of things like 'being able to take a phone call' or 'bluetooth your brain directly into a keyboard or mouse or other people's brains' as Musk was saying.

This seems very much intended to be aimed at legitimate medical conditions.

They didn't steal the PhD work of an actual pioneer in the development of medical brain implants via poaching a number of grad students who worked with him (which is what happened with Neuralink, btw), they are instead partnering with basically a nonprofit cooperative of the world's foremost experts on nanoelectronics development, who have an established track record of developing various medical devices.

...

If news comes out about GabeN electrocuting monkeys and pigs to either death, or insanity/brain damage so extreme it causes them to kill themselves to escape the pain (again, this literally happened at Neuralink), then I will absolutely do a 180 heel pivot and condemn the fuck out of that.

Just to be clear here, a BCI is probably the very last thing I would ever be an early adopter of as some kind of commercial, general use product. Seems absolutely insane given the rampant cybersecurity problems just basically everywhere all the time, not to mention I just don't like the idea of an actual chip in my actual brain, permanent holes in my skull.

Valve and GabeN are not some paragons of virtue, they basically invented (and still widely use and encourage) half of the monetization and dark pattern bullshit that is now everywhere in the entire games industry.

... But to me at least, this seems nowhere near as openly, comically, real world supervillain levels of evil as Elon and Neuralink.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 124 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I know the internet lives the guy but no. Just no.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 44 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)

Some people are starting to wake up to the fact that the guy is just another libertarian billionaire, he just happens to be in charge of a company that made a product people love enough to give them monopolistic powers.

Edit: these people aren't in this thread

Edit 2: first edit was from when the votes on that comment were at -8, happy to see that for once one of my comments on this subject ends up in the positives

[–] errer@lemmy.world 31 points 6 days ago (5 children)

You’re not wrong, the downvoters are just sad because you are right. Just takes one personality shift from Gabe to turn him from beloved figurehead to shitty billionaire and being reminded of that sucks.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 66 points 6 days ago (2 children)

"one personality shift"

That's everyone dude. "Bernie Sanders is one personality shift away from being a Maga tech bro."

[–] errer@lemmy.world 26 points 6 days ago

Entirely correct. That’s why we shouldn’t put anyone on a pedestal.

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[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 25 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

If you just pay attention more than the average person you quickly realize that he's already a shitty billionaire.

Steam underage gambling profits him directly.

He owns a yacht collection while his clients can't afford to own the place they live in. How's that for an environmental impact?

His reaction to George Floyd's murder wasn't that Valve should release a statement as he considered that problematic (source), instead he gave each employee 10k to spend however they felt like. Where I used to work we used to call that a "shut the fuck up". Employees are complaining about something? Here's 10k each for them to shut the fuck up. Hell, they could spend that money to finance far right groups if they wanted, Newell didn't care!

Women employees with managerial positions at Valve? What women employees?

Valve takes a 30% cut but Newell is a billionaire, which means they could afford to take a much smaller cut, he could have hundreds of millions instead and the devs could have more money in their pockets.

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[–] isaaclyman@lemmy.world 54 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (10 children)

I think we all know where this is going.

  1. The Brainchip is trendy in Silicon Valley but doesn’t do much yet. The company says cyber-superintelligence will be available in a year, tops. Investors are pouring billions into it. Everyone says you need to hop on the trend now or you’ll be obsolete in six months.
  2. It’s been two years. The Brainchip still struggles to control a mouse or search Google. Everyone’s lost interest in building apps for it. Many users are reporting severe migraines, but the company says there’s nothing to worry about.
  3. The Brainchip pipes three unskippable ads directly to your optic nerve every time you go to the bathroom. Notifications ping your brain all day long. You can get it removed if you’ve got $80k to burn, but there’s a high risk of postoperative stroke.

Yeah, no, I’m not putting anything in my brain that isn’t open-source from end to end. And even then probably nah.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 18 points 5 days ago (2 children)

the only way, and I mean the ONLY way I'll put hardware in my brain is if I have resurrection level support like in Altered Carbon.

the fear of losing my outward identity over the ability to live forever is worth losing.

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[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 23 points 5 days ago (13 children)

The fact that most people would obviously never want to get a brain chip implant, combined with the fact that multiple billionaires are developing brain chip implants, indicates that there are plans in some circles to incentivize or coerce people into getting a brain chip implant at some point in the future.

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[–] doodledup@lemmy.world 86 points 6 days ago (5 children)

TIL Valve is into brain chips.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 48 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The Valve Deckard was a little more ambitious than had been originally anticipated.

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[–] shaquilleoatmeal@lemm.ee 49 points 6 days ago (2 children)

He’ll only be able to make the first prototype, and then a second. He will never make it to 3.

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[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 66 points 6 days ago

"Alright, the implantation surgery was a success, now all we have to do is fire up the remote activation. Throwing the switch in three... two...

[–] LostXOR@fedia.io 74 points 6 days ago (17 children)

Might be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I don't really see a problem with brain implants. I wouldn't put anything in my brain in a thousand years, but if someone's willing to accept the risks, why not? They have the potential to significantly improve quality of life for many people.

[–] ProvableGecko@lemmy.world 86 points 6 days ago (7 children)

It's exactly like AI. Could the technology be useful were it to be used in service of goals that would serve humanity? Absolutely. Will it be used by billionaires in a way that will be harmful to most people in order to further entrench their power? Most definitely.

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[–] TheGreenWizard@lemmy.zip 29 points 6 days ago (3 children)

It could become the standard in time, like smartphones. I can easily see it becoming the norm, making it more expensive and difficult to use a normal smartphone instead of some brain implant, much like how "dumbphones" are coming back as overpriced and gimmicky. Maybe they pullsomething similar to the "green bubble" like apple did, alienating people without implants.

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[–] kazerniel@lemmy.world 26 points 6 days ago (6 children)

If I lived in, say, Iain Banks's post-scarcity anarcho-communist utopia The Culture, I'd get a neural lace in a heartbeat. But living in this capitalist dystopia that most of us does, I don't trust corporations to not use this sort of technology for domination over the populace.

For perspectives on how it might go (general vibes, not the same technology) I recommend HYPER-REALITY (6 mins short film) or David Brin's Existence novel.

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[–] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Headlines you didn't expect to read. Rather a Gabe chip than at Musk chip for sure

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 23 points 5 days ago (4 children)

how about both of them fuck off and stop shoving their proprietary tech in our heads, just a thought

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[–] tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 6 days ago (18 children)

Not advocating for our against but 2 thoughts here:

1: Gabe isn't Musk. Yes money etc but don't immediately jump there without other malfeasance please. Caution absolutely but don't ascribe one rich assholes shit to another.

2: He probably has hard data on accessibility... Possibly more than nearly anyone else. There's a HUGE portion of the population that can't use "traditional" controllers or other input devices. And that's not even going into the medical realm.

Could game Gabe be starting his villain phase? Sure! But until more negative details come out I'm just hoping this is investments he'd use toward a new steam controller.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 20 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Yeah, if we were putting billionaires against the wall, GabeN would probably be near the end of the line.

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[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago

"Now, if you're part of Control Group Kepler-Seven, we implanted a tiny microchip about the size of a postcard into your skull. Most likely you've forgotten it's even there, but if it starts vibrating and beeping during this next test, let us know, because that means it's about to hit five hundred degrees, so we're gonna need to go ahead and get that out of you pretty fast." - Cave Johnson

[–] illi@lemm.ee 63 points 6 days ago (3 children)

How the hell is this not the Onion?

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[–] pipe01@programming.dev 47 points 6 days ago

They should make a big facility to test the implants

[–] Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Last time I checked, the "brain implants" from Valve looked like this:

Zombie from Half Life with a headcrab slipped over its head

[–] Wazowski@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago (3 children)

had pass on all this bullshit.

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[–] monke@lemmy.cafe 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The picture in the post is unhinged

[–] sulgoth@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's fairly on brand for Valve, one of their banners was a guy with pipe valve stuck to his head.

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[–] AntelopeRoom@lemm.ee 49 points 6 days ago

Finally the logo makes sense

[–] rocky1138@sh.itjust.works 38 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Billionaires should not exist

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[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 18 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Karen Sandler did a great talk on closed source software medical devices many years ago.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qW1h1s_ojpM

This even more the case if it's your brain! It probably won't work for decades, but we should get house in order long before it does.

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[–] FreakinSteve@lemmy.world 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)
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[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 9 points 5 days ago

A culture that obsoletes electronics every couple of years and enshittifies services every couple of other years cannot be seriously talking about MMIs/BCIs.

[–] lmuel@sopuli.xyz 43 points 6 days ago

Yeah no thanks

[–] SnarkoPolo@lemm.ee 28 points 6 days ago (3 children)

"As part of your onboarding process, we're just going to implant your Company ID. That way, for your safety, we'll always know where you are. If you hear a buzzing sound, that means return to the office immediately. Reduced work speed will produce a mild reminder shock.

"Welcome to the Corporation."

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[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 35 points 6 days ago (8 children)

If it solves my tinnitus, I'm all for it.

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[–] Naevermix@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Finally, Half-Life 3

[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

I didn't know they were doing brainchips. I trust Gabe with it way more than fElon, for sure.

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