this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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How about cultivating a world that is less depressing before jamming wires into people's skulls to "fix" a problem that might not originate there?
Oh no, that won't do, the people who have low tolerance for depressing reality have to be turned into drones for the corporate machine just like everyone else. If we can turn off the emotions that derive from a sense of self-preservation, they'll be more willing workers for the constant grind.
In before employers require that their applicants must have one of these implants. People without will not be hired.
By the 24th century we won't be Star Trek's Federation, we'll be an unholy hybrid of the Ferengi and the Borg.
Imagine witholding a medicine from a sick person, telling them it's the world that's broken. That's some Mother Teresa level evil.
I'm one of those people with a low tolerance for depressing reality. I'm on medication for depression and anxiety, for what good they do me. Wires and chips in the brain is a step too far.
The reason I'm in the state I'm in is that I suffered a work-stress related breakdown, but the cracks have always been there. As you might imagine I am not ready to be forced back into work which I will find unbearable. Combine that with body horror and you might be able to understand my reaction and stance to this.
Wanting full control over the sick is also some Mother Teresa evil shit. It’s bad enough that life-saving medication is gate-kept by patents and pharmaceutical companies thriving on suffering (oh look, there she is again) but now people that suffer should give up access to what makes them them, their entire personhood, to some tech-bro ingrate? Is that truly the best option?
I’d rather die.
Tell me you don’t understand what depression is without telling me you don’t understand what depression is. You can be depressed while living for free on a beach with no responsibilities. To suggest you can fix everyone’s depression with external changes is the height of “just go outside and you’ll feel better.”
As someone who is literally living where others go on holidays while depressed let me tell you my depression is very much a response to the world being a rotting shithole. I am not sad because my life sucks but because so many others are suffering and I feel powerless to change it. The narrative of 'chemical imbalance' is a very reductive and misleading one.
The feeling of powerlessness and disconnect also points to the cure I find for myself. Instead of implanting experimental BS inventions into my brain I try to be a force of connection, community and hope for others. There is very few things I can do as a single tiny person, but in these very small things lies the power of change for the better.
To be clear, I’m not claiming all depression can’t be influenced from external factors. And any BCI claiming to solve all depression should be treated like the plague. But there are types of depression that are solely a chemical imbalance that cannot be corrected through external means. And yeah, the “all depression is just a chemical imbalance” narrative is horribly flawed. But to claim none of them are a chemical imbalance is just as bad.
Our current treatment for such types of depression are essentially still in the stone ages. Throw something at it, see what happens, adjust as needed. If a BCI can work around such a situation and offer a direct and targeted approach to the issue, and it goes through extensive testing, I don’t see why this wouldn’t be a good potential solution.
I know, and I guess watching a loved one being slowly destroyed by the trial and error that is 'modern' medication made me want to never consider it no matter how bad i felt - so this AI thing seems to be an even more dangerous trial and error method, because it seems even more invasive and less tested than the medication that's available now. On the other hand I've found self medication with plant medicine (yes, it's weed, weed, and more weed, but also quite a few other herbs I collect myself) quite efficient and safe. I've managed to keep myself going for a few bad years and have now reached the point where I went off it cold turkey - something my loved one never managed to do once he was hooked onto the meds. All done on my own terms, no doctor pretending they know better than me, giving myself the time I needed. So that's for a true stone age method, and given the fact our bodies are still working the same way as they did in the stone age I feel it might be safer than any novelty they have come up with in the last decades. Probably that's a controversial take on this, and I don't expect this to work for everybody (you need to have lots of time to be able to afford to rest and relax and have access to unlimited amounts of plant medicine).
I'm one of those people with a low tolerance for depressing reality. I'm on medication for depression and anxiety, for what good they do me. Wires and chips in the brain is a step too far.
The reason I'm in the state I'm in is that I suffered a work-stress related breakdown, but the cracks have always been there. As you might imagine I am not ready to be forced back into work which I will find unbearable. Combine that with body horror and you might be able to understand my reaction and stance to this.