Some experts have been concerned lately about robots leaving humans behind, taking our jobs and possibly a lot more, as in sci-fi films. Christ of Koch, a famous neuroscientist（神经学家) , has suggested a novel method. To keep up with the machines, we should increase our brainpower with brain implants（植入物).
Koch notes that brain implants are already helping the paralyzed or people unable to move control computers and robots, and they are being explored for the treatment of mental disorders. Future implants could help us download huge amounts of information instantly, he says, so we can learn "novel skills and facts without even trying". "Another exciting aspect," Koch says, "is combining two or more brains into a single conscious mind by direct neuron-to-neuron links." Koch calls for a "crash program" in brain technologies to make us smarter.
But Koch ignores the obvious facts that bad persons can hack （侵入）into our smartphones and laptops. What if hackers could attack our brains? They may be able to spy on, change or control the memories of people implanted with brain devices. What's more, we are nowhere close to being able to strengthen the brain in the manner that Koch imagines. Scientists have been experimenting with neuro-technologies for mental illness for more than half a century, and they have little to show for it.
Koch genuinely feared that science, far from addressing our problems, might exacerbate them. The use of robots in the workshop, for example, could cause mass unemployment. Do we just count the immediate job losses—without measuring any other potential positive effect on the economy? Despite losing some jobs to robots in the short term, the increase in productivity will help our overall economy grow faster, which, in turn, will create more, higher quality jobs than we had before.
The future is not as scary as we think. Perhaps we've got serious problems on our hands, and we have a lot of work to do to settle them. Brain implants are not the answer.
