Re:Brain implant may lift most severe depression
by blowski on Sunday October 31, 2021 @02:12PM
(#29058985)
> Not if such implants become state-mandated
If the state is willing and able to abuse people, they already have plenty of tools available to do so.
Re:Brain implant may lift most severe depression
by klyrs on Sunday October 31, 2021 @02:15PM
(#29059007)
They're always seeking more.
Re:Brain implant may lift most severe depression
by blowski on Sunday October 31, 2021 @02:19PM
(#29059050)
So what do you suggest? Immediate cessation of all research?
Re:Brain implant may lift most severe depression
by klyrs on Sunday October 31, 2021 @02:37PM
(#29059198)
Not at all. But extreme suspicion is warranted here. Folks who have experienced drugs like Zoloft know that antidepressants can go "too far."
At the very least, I'd want to see a hard off switch to put the implantee into control. I'd much prefer a device like this to be at-will (a button that fires a pulse when the patient wants one, possibly with a rate-limiter) and in conjunction with talk therapy to train the patient to recognize depressive spirals so that they can better help themselves. Early in that therapy, it may be necessary for the therapist to trigger the device, but after a certain point, the functionality for an external trigger should be permanently disabled. Being locked in a mental institution is depressing, and any treatment plan must take that into account.
And the implant doesn't appear to give you a choice. It makes the determination of when to fire off a pulse. Probably through Machine Learning, the same technology that can't tell the difference between a stopped emergency vehicle and a clear lane -- a mistake even toddlers know to be wrong -- applied to a signalling environment that even experts can't readily understand. Parents died in a freak accident? That might end up being the happiest day of your life.