for all of modern civilization, the experience of mind was a shared experience. this is why the ancients have wisdom that holds true today. the Buddha saw the nature of desire, suffering, aging, ... and we find those truths in ourself today.

perhaps brain tech will be the first time in human history we find a discontinuity in the experience of mind. all these aspects of experience that allowed us to relate to our long-gone ancestors may finally become ... optional (or, more likely, within given time, obsolete)

when we think about technology as a tool for the tyrant, it goes something like:

• language, persuasion, argument
• the stone, the spear, the wheel
• the gun, the tank, the nuclear warhead
• the newspaper and education system, propaganda, censorship
• the Super Intelligent Agent that permeates everything material .. or big brother
• brain tech, which simply gets access to all of reality

i suspect that the near future of brain tech will be overwhelmingly positive. we will cure diseases and end lots of suffering. it feels clear that there is a risk to brain tech, so we need a big reward to justify it. so the sick are the early adopters.

but with time these tools will be used for productivity, then recreationally, then for fun. and ultimately as a form of governance from those who have power

the story of history is the story of technology, the story of leverage, the story of those with the tools and those without. the haves and the have nots.

aggregate capital while you still can. capital may be the only way out. this is as long as private property exists. when the state owns everything, it's cooked. it is us versus the state. maybe the best way out is to become the state.