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Debate: Should BCIs have kill switches or not?
I was testing a DIY BCI headset in my kitchen last night when the calibration went haywire and started blasting random signals to my laptop. I yanked the USB cord out, but it got me thinking - do we want a hard kill switch that could cut off life-saving tech, or no kill switch and risk losing control? What side are you on?
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riverhill14d agoMost Upvoted
That story about yanking the USB made me rethink my whole stance on kill switches.
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the_joel14d ago
My buddy works at a tech startup and he told me about their first prototype BCI test with a kill switch. The guy testing it got a bad migraine from the calibration and accidentally hit the kill switch while trying to rub his temple. Shut the whole thing down, had to reboot and reset everything, took them 45 minutes to get back to baseline. But here's the thing - he also said if that switch wasn't there, they might have fried some circuits or worse, sent the wrong signal to a motor prosthetic. So yeah, messy either way.
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