WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR NEUROTECH
SEPTEMBER 2020
Elementary observation: Machines replace humans to make jobs more efficient
1940-50s: After the industrial revolution, machines took over routine, manual jobs - replacing factory workers
1970-80s: Shortly after, we began developing automatic payroll systems, encroaching on routine, abstract jobs - replacing office clerks
Next steps: replacing non-routine, manual jobs (eg: hairdresser), and non-routine, abstract jobs (eg: manager)
This doesn’t mean machines are ‘taking over’ jobs - they’re simply changing the nature of human tasks, shifting the burden from physical to cognitive
Rather than physically driving a car, a cab-driver may have to learn how to remotely operate a fleet of self-driving cars.
Insight: This mean the cognitive demands and expectations of humans will see a sharp increase over the next few years
BUT: Isn’t IQ steadily increasing for humans over time anyway?
Yes: Flynn Effect refers to the increase in crystallised and fluid intelligence over time, possibly because of increased improvements in health, nutrition, education, and standard of living
But arguably, innovation is happening at a faster rate than the observed increase in intelligence across generations
Problem: Machine intelligence is increasing at a faster rate than human intelligence.
Opportunity: increase the rate at which human intelligence increases
Solution: create a neural technology to give humans a bundled software and hardware upgrade, increasing cognitive efficiency, perceptual capacity, and physiological functioning
Total Addressable Market: the human population
[Add on: timeline (7-15 years, momentum we’re seeing: neuralink, kernel), new companies that will emerge, the effect: commoditising human intelligence and health]