Universal Mind Control

The age of the Ubernet

Although the notion of “augmented humans” is not new (people were already wearing glasses in ancient times), the idea of a fusion between human beings and machines only takes off for real at the beginning of the 21st century. After a transitional period during which connectivity between people existed exclusively through mobile devices, which were becoming smaller and smaller, the creation of neural implants and the advent of nanotechnology made it possible to integrate these interfaces directly into our brain. This has replaced the 'wearables' and augmented reality of yesteryear with a permanent, internalised state of connection, transforming the human being into a real, connected hub.

This convergence between the digital and physical worlds, coupled with a considerable expansion of the Internet, has led to the creation of what is now called the Ubernet. This vast network, which will lead to the complete digitisation of our relationships, collects and processes the personal data of billions of people every second, and through dedicated algorithms, designs real-time applications to improve their life experience.

A global interconnection and an endless stream of information, analysed and processed by dedicated software embedded directly in our synapses, have gradually enabled us to perceive the physical world with greater acuity. We no longer need a device to connect to the rest of the world; yesterday's Internet is now part of us, and gives us instant access, without any external artifice, to an almost unlimited source of information. The human is no more. Welcome, connected super-human.

Now, in the mid-21^st century, we consume music, movies, TV series, or sports events via nanometric devices that interface directly with our optical and auditory nerves; we can easily access our memories, delete those we consider superfluous or painful, share pleasant anecdotes with our loved ones, all in the form of raw moments that we can revisit in an emotional way, and no longer only through verbal communication.

A large part of our professional and human interactions now goes through the Ubernet, passing from brain to brain, intuitively, without any regard to the distance that separates them. This new promiscuity has, of course, led to a fundamental change in the way we now conceive of our relationships with others. Once generally doomed to failure, mainly because of the lack of physical proximity, long-distance relationships are now thriving like never before. But this is not the only example – all the relational aspects that underpin our civilisation have been transformed.

Supreme intelligence

Permanent and intrinsic hyperconnectivity in this new social context will also lead to a gradual transformation of the way our society works. This "collective intelligence", which now allows instant and transparent information sharing, will lead to a better understanding of others’ situations, of the world around us, and of the behaviours that drive us. And overall, to a better understanding of other cultures, and a more positive and empathetic relationship between peoples.

Political awareness will increase ten-fold, and this new paradigm will facilitate the emergence of new global communities around common interests. In some cases, these communities may reach the status of virtual states, no longer based on geographical limits, but on shared affinities, whatever their nature.

This does not mean that our civilisation has achieved total harmony. At least, not yet. Accessing these technologies – and the Ubernet in general – have not yet overcome the usual economic disparities. There is still a significant number of people in the world who can’t access the Ubernet and are forced to evolve in a kind of disconnected underclass. The gap between the poor and the rich still exists, and the most pessimistic will probably tell you that it’s unfortunately not going to disappear any time soon.

Moreover, despite the incredible technical progress made in recent years, human nature has not changed completely yet. We are currently seeing an increase in abusive behaviour (cyberbullying, blackmail), which we can undoubtedly attribute to the youth of this new technology. In addition, the compromises made about privacy to benefit from this new collective intelligence are still a stumbling block between those who are in favour of more transparency and sharing, and those who are still reluctant.

However, the promises of neural implants, combined with artificial intelligence and data collection, are tempting. We can dream of a day when – thanks to an advanced knowledge of quantum mechanisms – we will be able to control things by thought. Scientists at the beginning of the 21st century already envisaged this in theoretical form, but reality could quickly catch up with these old fantasies.

We are also not far from being able to digitise our consciousnesses, a giant step that would allow humans to exist outside the physical limits of the human body. Access to some form of immortality, through the digital transfer of the mind into a new android vehicle, will undoubtedly be the biggest revolution our species will experience. An ultimate form of transhumanism that would allow us, for example, to travel at the speed of light and conquer new exoplanets by downloading our consciousnesses into new bodies at the end of the journey. The Ubernet to conquer the Universe!

This complete dematerialisation of the human being may still be science fiction today, but it would be dangerous not to take it seriously. The increasingly important role played by modern communication networks in our daily lives (social networks and others) has already led to deep changes in our society, with an impact many people don’t fully understand.

If this revolution of a collective consciousness happens, it is likely to be far more disruptive than anything we’ve experienced before, and it would be dangerous not to properly prepare for it. With the miniaturisation of connected devices accelerating exponentially, the popularisation of nanotechnology and neural implants is just around the corner. And with them, the promise of radical changes in the way our society works.

If we don’t pay attention, there is a risk that a fringe of the population (if not almost all of it) will not be able to adapt quickly enough and in a relevant manner to the challenges that these new global and intricate networks will raise in the future. The best guarantee not to miss this civilisational shift, and to anticipate these drastic changes accurately, is to pave the way for this new paradigm of absolute connectivity as of today. If we wait for these new tools to be democratised before tackling the inevitable questions they’ll raise, it’ll probably already be too late.