What I write below does not represent or express my opinions on this subject. This is a thought experiment I put forward to help progress the debate.
Abstract: Society could be rendered 100% safe according to the laws of physics and dictates of science. The brain chip could simply be given to all children from birth in the same way circumcision is given today. In one specific version of this future, parents will be able to read the thoughts of their children at all times, as the government will give parents this access. Employers will be able to read the thoughts of their employees at all times. And all government officials will be able to read the thoughts of all people in society.
If no one can get away with thinking about anything wrong then crime can be stopped at the source.
Year 2039: privacy made illegal as a means to end crime once and for all
Keeping secrets is now made into a crime. In a society where no one can have a privacy experience there cannot be crime or criminals. So politicians quickly figured out decades earlier that the path to ending crime is to end privacy. The push began with the successful banning of encryption. The push continued with a requirement for backdoors in every CPU sold to allow government authorities to access. The push of course did not end here, because this allowance of backdoors for government officials encouraged more parties to want more backdoors and more access. The eventual chipping of criminals opened the door to parents chipping their children.
In the 2020s crime was still a problem. Criminals still were able to commit crimes because the mental illness behind criminal activity could not be detected. This all changed when a technological breakthrough occurred allowing for the first brain to computer interface chip to be designed. This chip was first used on convicted criminals as a way to replace prisons.
All convicted criminals were offered a chance to participate in a chip and release program. Criminals who agreed to have their brains chipped were released for prison immediately while prisoners who refused were given natural life sentences. Of course it did not end with criminals and by the early 2030s, every brain in society was chipped. Parents were being encouraged to chip their children just as parents have had the option of circumcision or as parents in the past used pharmaceuticals for ADHD.
Year 2040 and beyond
By 2040 crime is a thing of the past. In fact, privacy no longer exists in society. Parents are able to read the thoughts of their children, as all children are chipped, and all brains are connected to networked computers whether blockchain or other paradigms. Every employee's mind can be read by their employer. Every citizen's mind can be read by government officials. And a random selection of your neighbors are given access to monitor your thoughts at any moment by the network as well. In this future there is no crime because crime is stopped at the source.
Thoughts are policed at the source before they can progress into criminal activity. Plots are thwarted at the source because no one in society has the privacy of thought to plan anything in secret. The last veil of privacy has been removed, as thoughts are no longer private. How was this justified?
Politicians justified removing privacy of thought as far back as the 1990s
The push to remove privacy of thought began in the 1990s. The idea was originally intended to apply to computers, where some bad actors were using encryption in ways which authorities could not break. The authorities pushed for backdoors such as the clipper chip in the 1990s, and when this failed, in the later 2000s the authorities began calling for a complete ban of encryption. This ban of encryption is something people believed in because most people had no secrets to hide.
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