[ExI] China plans brain-computer interfaces for cognitive enhancement

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China Has a Controversial Plan for Brain-Computer Interfaces
China's brain-computer interface technology is catching up to the US.
But it envisions a very different use case: cognitive enhancement.
Emily Mullin Apr 30, 2024

<https://www.wired.com/story/china-brain-computer-interfaces-neuralink-neucyber-neurotech/>
Quotes:
At a tech forum in Beijing last week, a Chinese company unveiled a
“homegrown” brain-computer interface that allowed a monkey to
seemingly control a robotic arm just by thinking about it.
More concerning, though, is China’s interest in noninvasive BCIs for
the general population.
Hannas coauthored a report released in March that examines Chinese
research on BCIs for nonmedical purposes.
“China is not the least bit shy about this,” he says, referring to
ethical guidelines released by the Communist Party in February 2024
that include cognitive enhancement of healthy people as a goal of
Chinese BCI research.
Margaret Kosal, associate professor of international affairs at
Georgia Institute of Technology, says there’s a key difference between
how the US and China approach BCI research. “The US has not explicitly
linked our civilian science with our military research,” she says.
“China’s strategy fundamentally links the military and the commercial,
and that is why there is concern.”
She says earlier adoption of BCIs could have implications for US
national security if these technologies are able to provide cognitive
enhancement in warfighters and merging of human and machine
intelligence. “If that is something that a state can weaponize, that
would change the nature of warfare,” she says.
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As the Chinese people generally are already pretty intelligent,
enhancing their IQ could be impressive.

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