The topic of my bachelor's thesis was:
The brain computer interface as a central element in a futuristic, speculative scenario influenced by the cyberpunk genre.
Abstract
Brain Computer Interface (BCI for short) describes an interface between the brain and a machine that enables contactless connection and use. Nowadays mainly explored in the context of medicine for physically impaired people, BCI may bring increasing relevance to the broader society in the future. Private companies such as Elon Musk's Neuralink and also Facebook from 2017 to 2021 impressively show that large sums are being invested in research into this technology in other areas of application besides medicine in order to enable its use in the private sector in the future. In addition to ethical and technological aspects, this raises the questions of what exactly such a scenario might look like and what interactions would be possible. Looking at current advances, using and navigating computers and smartphones in particular would be a realistic possibility, but the rapid improvement of technology is leaving more and more room for new application scenarios.
Even before it was possible to invasively test the first BCI on humans, there has been a dystopian science fiction movement since the 1980s that has dealt with exactly such questions and scenarios. Representatives of so-called cyberpunk have described in their works worlds in which humans are becoming more and more one with technology and the Internet, in the form of modern prostheses, implants, augmented and virtual reality, and also BCIs. Psychic integration into the data world plays a central role. Due to the dystopian nature of this genre, most stories take place in cramped, overpopulated, and urban cities of the future. With the possibility to enter a parallel existing data world, very similar to the internet, in which physical boundaries are not given, on the one hand an escape but also an extension, if not improvement of being human is described.
In this paper I will explain the development and functioning of BCI technology as well as formulate a definition of the cyberpunk genre. In the conclusion of the theoretical part, the intertwining of these two topics will be presented. For the practical part, a future scenario will be elaborated by means of design fiction, which both ties in with the current state of technology and incorporates the broad, fictional aspect of cyberpunk. From this scenario I will create an interface related application, which in the context of the scenario can be a software, mobile application or website.