According to the Institute of Penitentiary PolicyThe United States has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 population than any other NATO country and is even higher than the next five member states combined (United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, France and Belgium).
So what is the solution? Hashem Al-Ghaili, a molecular biologist and science communicator from Yemen, claims he has it in an interview with technology/cognify-prison-of-future/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:Wired;cpos:2;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>With cable: Instead, build a virtual prison. It doesn't involve stapling a bunch of Meta Quest 3 into prisoners' heads for years, but it's not far from that concept either.
Al-Ghaili proposes a new neurological prison system he calls Cognify. He posted a video of the virtual justice system proposal on his instagram.com/p/C8mp8RfP3-4/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:instagram;cpos:3;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>instagram and Youtube channel and it looks downright horrible.
Here's how Cognify works in theory: Instead of locking prisoners up for long periods of time, they would be subjected to artificial memories in a virtual environment. The system creates personalized ai-generated content that is converted into visual information and sent to the prisoner's brain, as well as the parts of their DNA and RNA linked to memory formation to establish a long-term memory pattern.
Currently, such technology does not exist and Cognify is just a proposal. However, Al-Ghaili says experiments on animals show that this process could work in humans at some point in the future. For example, a study published in March in the scientific journal Nature in March using mice as test subjects discovered that memories are possibly formed from broken and repaired strands of DNA.
Of course, if such a system were to become a reality, its ethical implications and effects would have to be addressed. Al-Ghaili says Cognify could become a reality within a decade, but only “if we could overcome the ethical constraints that limit testing of this technology.”
If that doesn't make your hair stand on end, then check to see if you have a pulse in your wrist. Horror anthology fans like me will remember an episode from the '90s remake of The outer limits on Showtime titled “The Sentence” in which a scientist played by David Hyde Pierce invents a very similar virtual prison system that simulates a full life sentence in a matter of minutes. He, of course, submits to his own invention that makes him believe he committed murder and served his entire life in prison. He wakes up only to start denouncing the very system he defended just minutes before.
You can see all on youtube free. Someone should send it to this guy.
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