“Brain Farming: The Case for a Global Ban” by Novel Minds Project
Background In my previous post, I discussed Cortical Labs, an Australian biocomputing startup. After achieving early success combining human neurons with silicon chips, Cortical Labs launched a commercial product strategy: selling biocomputers that contain living human neurons and offering “Wetware-as-a-Service” cloud access to their computing infrastructure. The company envisions broad commercialization of their products, across applications in AI systems, robotics, and military technology.[1] Their CEO has stated: “Ultimately, the goal for Cortical Labs is to be like Nvidia, which is to enable the creativity of other users to build on this technology.”[2] In my post, I defined “brain farming” as the commercialization of novel forms of consciousness for computational purposes. I argued that while current biocomputing systems likely lack moral value, there is a strong case for taking preemptive action now to prevent the creation of a brain farming industry. Proposal I'm highly confident that action should be [...] ---Outline:(00:11) Background(01:13) Proposal(01:44) Scope of the Ban(02:07) Argument(03:37) Objections(06:39) Conclusion--- First published: September 27th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/FPsFBhCM3EGQ5rCCn/brain-farming-the-case-for-a-global-ban --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.