Data Privacy and GDPR Handbook

13The Future of Data Privacy

Technology is cool, but you’ve got to use it as opposed to letting it use you.

— Prince

13.1 Our Second Brain

Your second brain – a digital device without gray matter – is a constant presence in your pocket. It is designed with a single mission: to make your life convenient by assuming your routine and seemingly mindless chores. Its intelligence is called “artificial,” but it has an enormous capacity to work across numerous aspects of your life. It is not costly and has a benign purpose: to free your biological mind to focus on what is important. The only side effect of this virtual implant is that it will make your gray-matter brain, well, lazy.

Your digital brain learns constantly. Once it has been programmed, it becomes progressively smarter from your choices and actions. It is not wired to your five, or six, senses. It has a strong pattern recognition ability and can beat your biological brain in chess, unless you are a grandmaster. With experience, it comes close to mimicking aspects of your personality, without the underlying emotions – but for a touch of the real, you can program it to emulate a tense or relaxed voice.

Once the “bare” digital brain is acquired, its training begins with uploads of convenience, with apps carrying out simple daily tasks for you. Don’t feel like cooking or talking to a human to order food and provide directions to your house? Tap on Grubhub or Door Dash. You don’t have to memorize any phone number – not even ...