Always On My Mind
Daniel Felstead with Jenn Leung
In January 2024, Elon Musk’s $5 billion Neuralink startup successfully implanted a brain chip into Norland Arbaugh’s brain, a 30 year old quadriplegic. The BCI (Brain-computer Interface) was placed in the region of the brain controlling movement, allowing Norland to move a computer mouse and keyboard using his thoughts. Down the line, Musk asserts that we will be able to communicate with each other using only thoughts via brainchip without resorting to language. “Stupid words” will no longer be needed within the next ten years, as language will be replaced by superior “consensual telepathy.”
In “Always on My Mind” by Daniel Felstead with Jenn Leung, master linguist and lyrical genius Nicki Minaj considers the ethical, cultural and social implications of the devaluing of language implied by this looming “digital telepathy.”
Elon conveniently ignores the fact that complex thoughts are developed through writing and speech––they don’t always emerge fully formed in our brain. The success of Neuralink rests on the illusion that the brain can be understood separately from the rest of our body, a form of retro broey techno-monism.
The classic mind/body problem you read about in Intro to Philosophy is now being played out not in the classroom but in the tech world–– and the tech overlords want control. It looks like Elon would rather we spend our time mindlessly smashing that like and parroting whatever is on our timeline than developing critical thinking thanks to practices of reading, writing and debate. Elon’s not the only one with a vested interest in a brainchip powered future: in 2020, the U.S. government announced that it will play a constructive role in supporting elements of BCI technology that “benefit U.S. national security and surveillance.”