Cognitive Liberty

Cognitive Liberty

Nathanial ignored the aggravating beep of his smarthat’s alarm. He hated his newfangled brain-spying cap. Swearing under his breath, he parked his forklift and removed his cap, wiping the sweat from his brow. He hated the nightshift, and the cap kept signaling him that he was on the verge of falling asleep. Of course, he was tired. He had worked all night long, but no matter what his manager said, the useless cap had no idea how he felt. Like his dad used to say, he always did have a mind of his own, and one thing was for sure, he hated being forced to wear the darn thing. It just made him sweat even more.

“Hey, Nate,” Carlos called, walking his way. “You ready to go vote?”

Nathanial huffed. All he wanted to do was sleep.

“We need to vote for the smarthats. Since we started wearing them, there hasn’t been a single accident.” Carlos scratched the back of his head, just under his cap. “It’s like my smartwatch.” He tapped the face of his watch. “Ever since I’ve been sleeping with it, I’m less stressed. In the morning, when I’m just about to wake up, it turns on my meditation music.”

“I don’t want to hear about your meditation mumbo jumbo. If I were a few years younger, I’d be out the door, but they have me in a pickle. I’m still paying off the second mortgage that I had to take out to put number three through college. No, I sure don’t like the mind-sucking leech of a cap they’re mandating that we wear.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Am not. My father and my grandfather both drove forklifts, and they didn’t need a red baseball cap with a chip in it to tell them when they were sleepy. They were grown men. Nothing like a good cup of Joe or three to make it through the nightshift.”

“We need to hurry. We’re supposed to listen to the boss’ spill before voting, and attendance is mandatory.”

Nathanial snorted. “Thought-invasive thugs.”



***



The new computer geek stood up front, wearing a skirt suit with low heals. Nathanial slipped down into his seat and batted his eyes, struggling to keep them open.

“Let’s show a little company pride.” She smiled and put a smarthat with the company’s logo on top of her head. “Come on, guys, everybody put your caps on.”

Eyes closed, Nathanial ignored her.

“Everybody, now.”

Carlos elbowed him. “She’s pointing at us. Put your cap on.”

Nathanial grunted and put his sweaty cap on his head. As soon as she started walking back and forth again, he closed his eyes and slipped down a little further, hoping he wouldn’t snore. The alarm in his cap beeped. He wrinkled his nose and yawned, his eyelids drooping.

She droned on and on, and every once in a while, isolated phrases wormed their way into his semiconscious slumber: using brainwave neural monitoring to identify best focus moments, decrease stress, improve concentration.

The gentle sound of a fish tugging on the red and white bobber while nibbling on a worm relaxed him. He could almost smell the cool of the early morning. Emma would be cooking fried trout for dinner tonight.

Loud clapping and the beeping of his darned cap woke him from his dream. He blinked and glanced around.

“Let’s go,” Carlos said.

“Where?”

“It’s time to vote.”

Still half asleep, Nathanial followed Carlos, blocking out his incessant chatting, into the meeting room where the four makeshift voting booths were aligned. When his turn came along, Nathanial closed the curtain behind him and read the ballot.



Check the appropriate box. Yes, to approve the new rule requiring workers to wear their smarthats, and No, to leave the use of the smarthat optional.



At first, he locked his jaw and thought about the right to privacy, the right to keep his thoughts to himself and that no one had the right to monitor his brain activity, but he thought about the bobber making a small splash in the lake, and just when he was about to mark No, his hand slid over and crossed the box in front of the Yes option. He yawned and pulled the curtain aside. It was a good morning, no stress.







I just listened to a podcast on YouTube entitled: “The Battle for Your Brain, with Nita A. Farahany.” The subject was about mind-reading devices, which ones exist today, and why we need to regulate them and the data that they collect. While listening, I discovered that Facebook is interested in brain-activity tracking devices; there is an Australian company called SmartCap, which, simply puts, monitors brainwaves; and another company, MindWave. I’m sure there are numerous investors in this technology, and the idea of someone reading my mind, especially without my consent, let’s say, bothers me.