Telepathy, the New Browser

Hi all,

Here is another bunch of topics that will still be relevant in 10 years. Perhaps more so than today. They come in the form of extended bullet points. Enjoy the read and the rabbit holes, wherever they take you!

I. A trend that will change the human race: Telepathy.

Forget wearables. The real change will cut through the skin. Some of it will even happen without technology. In the long term, we’re expected to evolve larger brains, and lose a bone here and there.

But that’s way too slow for us humans, right? And far beyond the horizon of this newsletter. Meanwhile, in 10 years, active alteration of the human body will be in full swing. There will be smart tattoos and DIY gene editing, but for many, the holy grail of biohacking is telepathy.

The existing generation of brain-sensing apps can already reduce stress and recognize what song you are listening to. But that’s just the first step.

The 20th century was the century of physics. We split the atom, went to the Moon, and peered at the edges and origins of the universe. The 21st century will be the century of the brain, the mind, and of general intelligence.

The most prominent telepathy tool in the making is Elon Musk’s Neuralink. In its current form, it is a chip implanted by a high-precision surgical robot by drilling a hole through the skull. Yes – that sci-fi-slash-postapo stuff. 

What will it do? Musk is promising super-vision (as in super vision, but who knows, perhaps even supervision), streaming music into the brain (as if we urgently need to bypass the ears), and most importantly, supposedly a direct amalgamation of our consciousness and artificial intelligence.

Imagine plugging in hyperspectral sensors — used today in astronomy, medicine, and more — to perceive new dimensions of depth. Imagine if our vision actually was active, such as with an added laser, enabling the extraction of far more information based on the fluorescence of objects struck by the laser.

As is the case with all grand human adventures, it sounds both magnificent and very, very troubling. (If you only click on one link, make it this one. It does a good job of explaining why there will be a race for this frontier and who the likely bad actors will be).

Yes, with a Neuralink implant, anybody would be able to summon their Tesla telepathically, just by thinking about it. - Elon Musk

Neuralink will enable government agencies and hackers to spy on citizens and individuals with a whole new level of efficiency and ease. - Vishnu A.

If you think this is far out, think again. Facebook bought CTRL-labs in 2019. Expect mind-controlled VR in Oculus in 5 years. See a demo (two years old) here.

But especially, let’s not forget that Neuralink is run by Musk. It helps to see him as a sci-fi writer rather than an entrepreneur. Great sci-fi starts with a simple premise: what if electricity replaced oil? What if space rockets were reusable? What if humans landed on Mars? And then it builds a whole new world from that point onwards. That’s what Musk does with his companies. Well then… what if we had telepathy?

II. A duality to consider: Expiring vs. Permanent Skills.
Certain blogposts can be used as a motto of the week. Rather than just reading them once, it’s useful to print them out and re-read them each morning. The ideas will stay near the surface of one’s attention. Unexpected situations will appear to relate to them, and spark deeper insights. A fun game to play.

Morgan Housel’s post on expiring and permanent skills is just perfect for that.

Expiring skills tend to get more attention. They’re more likely to be the cool new thing, and a key driver of an industry’s short-term performance. They’re what employers value and employees flaunt.

III. An artist I follow: Mario Klingemann.
If you like an occasional shock in your Insta-feed, check out Mario. He uses AI to generate haunting images and videos that blend the beautiful with the creepy.

IV. Series to watch: Raised by Wolves.
10/10 for atmosphere and storytelling. I’ve seen the first two episodes so far, and the most fun part is having no clue what will happen in the next minute – and often enough, having no clue what is happening already. Perhaps the best thing on TV since The OA.


And that’s it, folks. Which point caught your mind’s eye? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please reply to this email or send a tweet to @fdousek.

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