Would you consider implanting a computer chip in your brain?

Apple's Vision Pro. OK, we’re not all going to wear clunky-looking goggles while walking around on the street – but our columnist reckons this could be the first step towards that reality, when we have screens literally in front of our faces 24/7. — Apple

Technology is laying the seeds right now for humankind’s future.

Take this bit of news: For years it’s been speculated that Apple has been working on a virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headset, and on June 5, 2023, the company finally put an end to the speculation: Apple introduced the Vision Pro Augmented Reality headset.

Yes, they look like ski goggles. Yes, they cost a crap ton of money (US$3,500 or RM16,165). And yes, my initial instinct was to dismiss them, much as I have the other VR headsets that have come out.

Up to this point VR headsets have remained firmly in the realm of novelty. The technology is there to immerse us in realistic virtual worlds, and the experience is interesting, but VR headsets haven’t taken off. Perhaps in part because the use case is a little too niche, targeting gamers only.

But watching the Vision Pro demo, it is clear the company isn’t targeting gamers. As it has done previously with every one of its products, Apple is targeting everyone.

The Vision Pro flips between immersing a user in a movie or a game and augmenting reality by being able to place apps around the room and allowing the user to sort through them with hand gestures and even eye movements.

As I watched this demo I realised: this could be our future. Not that I’m an Apple mega fan, I don’t even own any Apple products, but isn’t this where we’re going?

We all walk around with screens in our hands, referring to them almost as much as we breathe. That’s not a condemnation, it’s just an acknowledgment of how we live now. I’m guilty of it too. But with VR/AR glasses, everything we look at on phone screens – and much more – is put right in front of us.

Now I’m aware that we’re not all going to wear clunky-looking goggles while walking around on the street, especially since Apple’s Vision Pro only has a two-hour battery life – but isn’t this the first step towards that reality?

It’s not far fetched to think of a world where this tech is shrunk down into a pair of sunglasses, or even contact lenses. Sounds crazy? Apple engineers put a 4K screen into something the size of a stamp so I’m not going to sit here and lecture people about what can’t happen.

What if the headset’s just implanted in our brains and that gave us ingrained VR/AR in our vision?

Don’t laugh.

Neuralink, run by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, got approval a few weeks back to start human trials. Neuralink is described as the brain implant company. Not sure I’d want Musk tinkering around in my brain, but perhaps I’m biased after reading a few too many of his preening- for-attention Tweets.

To be fair, Neuralink’s implants could theoretically be used to treat paralysis, blindness, and even depression. But Musk has gone on to say he would like to create an implant that is a “general population device”, something that could connect to a computer or artificial intelligence, and that even your thoughts could be backed up and stored.

I’m not sure I want to be in trials for brain implants but I am 4,000% certain I don’t want my thoughts stored. I’m pretty sure most of our thoughts wouldn’t be worth the drives they’re stored on.

But like it or not, this is a future we’re heading towards. Apple engineers have already tweeted about the Vision Pro being able to track our eyes, where they’re looking, to pre-empt the choices we make. That’s already a little mind hacky when you think about it.

But in 10 years, would Apple begin rolling out a series of brain implants – of course, they’d be cute, minimal, and white – to wire into our cerebellums? I wouldn’t bet against it.

I’m also cognisant that while this technology seems intrusive to me and probably most in my generation, newer generations that grow up with it will not find it so foreign – and thus a human society where we’ve finally merged with our beloved technology doesn’t seem that far off.

---

Big Smile, No Teeth columnist Jason Godfrey – a model who once was told to give the camera a ‘big smile, no teeth’ – has worked internationally for two decades in fashion and continues to work in dramas, documentaries, and lifestyle programming. Write to him at [e-mail] and follow him on Instagram @bigsmilenoteeth and facebook.com/bigsmilenoteeth. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.