So the TV show 'Intelligence' postulates that we can embed a microchip in the human brain and that brain will be able to process all the communication data available on the internet. What would have to happen in the brain for this to actually be possible?

Being able to turn it off at night…. some people are attached to their smartphones, what would be the effect of being plugged in 24/7.

I have not seen the show, but this sort of thing has been part of cyberpunk for—at least—a quarter of a century, so it’s far from news to me.

The skills really aren’t much different from using the current internet, aside from using a different OS on the computer; I doubt those implants run Windows.

@talljasperman In most cyberpunk, the neural implants required are pricey enough that most people don’t have them and rely on terminals (home computers), commlinks (basically, a smartphone), or other external device to access the Matrix.

Whatever would have to happen to a brain to allow these “improvements”, I for one, would have grave reservations about interacting with those so blessed.

You need to worry about the Blue Screen of Death.

The show also says that he has a genetic mutation that is necessary for the chip to be implanted.

Eech! The Dreaded Windows 8 Mutation! I’ve heard of that.

@marinelife If he’s a mutant, so is anyone with a pacemaker or advanced prosthetic limb. The real trick is to place the electronic connections precisely, and for that, nanotech is required; current surgical techniques are too crude for the finesse required to integrate electronics with gray matter with the precision that a DVI cable, keyboard, and mouse have for input/output.

@jerv It’s fiction!

@marinelife I know, but I have a problem with suspension of disbelief when something is close to reality yet so blatantly ignorant. I find the X-men more plausible as they obviously live in a world with far different physical laws, yet a world that adds to what is possible rather than make the inevitable impossible.

@marinelife, you says it’s fiction but Italian scientists have developed a prosthetic hand with sensors in the fingers that has been tested by a Danish guy who lost a hand 10 years ago. Just recently reported on NPR this past Wednesday. So we are moving into the realm of possible, just not probable in my lifetime. I was amazed that one of the interviewees suggested that persons with prosthetic hands wouldn’t be interested in undergoing the surgeries necessary for attaching such an advanced prosthetic, yet the Danish guy was like “how soon can I have my own forever?!!!”

For now @jerv is right, they aren’t integrating with gray matter, just some nerve endings at the arm.

Our in-home debate was about how would the mind handle all that data, given that most people only use 10% of their brain. Did the subject actually have to learn bridge and router protocols to open up these communications to access the data? Or what?

Cyberware is non-fiction. Cochlear implants are one example of them actually poking the brain; Dobelle implants are another.

@DaphneT That 10% myth is still around?

@jerv, of course it is, it’s an easy to remember number and there’s not a lot of popular press about the concept. What is the current stat?

@DaphneT We actually use the whole thing, just that we use a bit for redundancy. That’s how you get people who lose half their brain to an accident or stroke still remembering basic motor skills, language, etcetera.