Facebook is paying top dollar to gain further infiltration into our inner-workings. As they struggle to gain access to our wallets with the controversial digital currency Libra, the social media giant is shifting their attention to our minds.
Today we’re thrilled to share that Facebook has agreed to acquire CTRL-labs. Our team is excited to join @boztank and his group Facebook Reality Labs to empower people with non-invasive neural interfaces at scale. https://t.co/b5w8ks62Sj
— CTRL-labs (@CTRLlabsCo) September 23, 2019
First Step to Mind-Control: Buy a Brain Company
Facebook announced on Monday that they’re acquiring the New York-based startup CTRL-labs. According to CNBC, the deal is worth around $1 billion. CTRL-labs specializes in brain-to-computer interfaces. Their vision is to create a wristband that allows people to control their devices.
10/ @CTRLlabsCo is creating neural interfaces using your muscles. Electromyography (EMG) can detect the firing of a single motor neuron + the neuroplasticity of our motor system mapping creates a powerful input device for XR, robotics, & assistive tech.https://t.co/tqDEo8ommy pic.twitter.com/mCEAy9jWC3
— Kent Bye VoicesOfVR (@kentbye) September 12, 2019
According to Facebook Vice President of AR/VR Andrew Bosworth, the wristband will decode the electrical signals sent through your spinal cord. It will then translate them digitally so your device will understand, thus “empowering you with control over your digital life.” Basically, the wristband will translate our thoughts and impulses into digital form, where it can used by devices.
Facebook is Trustworthy?
While it may “empower” us to push fewer buttons, it will empower Facebook to much more. They will literally start to understand how we think from the inside out. They’ve already dispersed our data to third party members that swayed voters in monumental ways. Who’s to say this would be any different? How much money could Facebook make if third-parties could peer into our thought processes? As addicted as we are to social media now, it could get far worse if these companies gain a deeper understanding of our impulses.
Another day, another Facebook privacy scandal. Tens of thousands of apps had improper access to data ala Cambridge Analytica. FB has previously claimed only hundreds did. If you still us FB or IG, ask yourself, is any scandal enough to make you quit? https://t.co/YCnhL8p76P
— DHH (@dhh) September 20, 2019
Or this could be a harmless, convenient step forward in technology. Surely the company currently under an antitrust investigation by the FTC has our best interests in mind. It’s likely the corporation who was fined $5 billion for data misuse is just trying to improve our lives.
The Brain Team
Either way, Facebook is clearly trying to expand its reach. The company has been trying to develop brain-computing technology since 2016 within their Building 8 division. Now they’ll have some extra help.
CTRL-labs was founded by Thomas Reardon and Patrick Kaifosh in 2015. Both men received their PhDs in neuroscience from Columbia University. Reardon worked for Microsoft for nine years as the technology chief at Openwave Systems.