Wireheads

A wirehead is a science fiction concept for an individual who stimulates the pleasure center of the brain with electric current, particularly one addicted to the activity. The concept first appeared in Larry Niven’s Known Space series in the 1970s but was a common theme in cyberpunk fiction. These ideas likely sprang from experiments in the 1950s when James Olds placed electrodes in the mesolimbic dopamine pathways of rats. The rats would ignore food and sleep in lieu of self-administering bursts of instant pleasure until they died of starvation. Olds repeated the same experiments on other animals and humans, with the latter referring to the experience as “orgasmic.”

There are some who believe that the adoption of this technology could help with the elimination of suffering from the human experience without harming others or damaging the environment. This is the dream of the so-called Abolitionist project, which seeks to combine wireheading, designer drugs, and genetic engineering to create the perfect society. However, mere orgasmic happiness would likely lead to global extinction given the track record, so it would have to be modified. A wearable technology known as Thync allows you to alter your mood and state of mind for calm or energy—without the side effects or addiction of pharmaceuticals. The technology is based on transcranial direct-current stimulation, or tDCS, a low-cost way of sending electric current to the brain to improve intelligence, learning, vigilance, and memory. It’s also supposed to help with chronic pain and the symptoms of depression, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia.

However, some futurists have raised fears of another form of mind-altering technology: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. This technology can be used to stimulate psychopathy by temporarily turning off that part of the amygdala which processes fear, giving the confidence of alcohol intoxicationwithout the loss of clarity. The fear is that meddling with the human brain may create a future where humans are not only able to adjust their mood at will, but also able to turn off their capacity for fear and empathy when convenient. While these beings may or may not be genetically identical to modern humans, their emotional and social worlds may very well become utterly alien.