“In 2016, Elon Musk Space X and Tesla CEO founded the neural tech company called “Neuralink”. In 2019, Musk showed off what he called “the link,” as a fifty cent piece sized disk which compresses information flowing from the brain and wirelessly transmits the signals. A chip connected to the human brain, capable of both recording and stimulating the brain activity. Musk has said that Neuralink will broadcast a live demo of a “working device”. in the future, Neuralink allows us to record and download human memories on computer. The technology could also be used for people with neural conditions and illnesses.
While the Neuralink technology potentially offers everything from human memory recording to thought control of external devices, there are serious of ethical and legal consequences for the Neuralink technology. Once this technology reaches maturity, our way of life would undergo a revolution in areas such as:
1/Learners can “go to school” by allowing the interface to direct experiences and thoughts into consciousness – instead physical feeds.
2/ a new profession would arise when mind-workers can “lease” their “mind hour” to institutions with low-cost training.
3/ once programs and systems develop to interface with large number of mind-workers, this would become a new way of recruitment.
4/ Human resources would demand a premium. Instead of technology replacing human labour. 5/ Mind-based communication would become possible, and it would open doors to new type of communications that reduce conflict and struggle in workplace.
6/ Feelings and thoughts would become commodities for exchange and purchase, leading to new media and entertainment industries (instead of social media).
7/Increase work-life balance, the standard of living and overall happiness. Because of artificial intelligence people will have more time to enjoy being human beings”.
According to the above discussion, the entrepreneur has frequently been vocal about Musk’s worries that Neuralink technology could one day dominate the human race.
Q1. Apply basic assumptions of the business ethics theories of “Utilitarianism”, “Deontology”, and “Social Justice” to judge the ethicality of Neuralink technology. (30 marks)
Q2. Discuss the ethicality of the Neuralink technology through applying the ethical decision steps. (40 marks)
Q3. Apply the Corporate Social Responsibility model to suggest ways in which Neuralink Company can meet its social responsibilities. (30 marks)