“Good afternoon, everyone! I am Scott Lynn, and I am a Professor of Technology Ethics,” pausing for the applause to settle down. “Free will! What does that even mean, and how do you know if your thoughts are truly your own?” he asked, walking across the stage of the packed lecture hall, strobed by camera flashes. “I want everyone here to consider this question. How do you know a thought is truly your own when we are constantly being manipulated from outside sources? Our very mind itself, a new area of exploit.”
“When we make a decision that coincides with our own values of right and wrong,” a man from the audience confidently shouted.
“Where do those values come from?” asked the professor.
“What we learn from our parents and community!” he further explained.
Pointing the remote at the projector, pictures of children and adults flashed on the screen, their only unifying characteristic being the intense focus on their phones. “Parents and community?” the professor rhetorically asked. “It would appear the definition of parents and community should change.”
Walking back to the podium, “This was a problem before, but now it’s an existential threat when information is literally being implanted directly into our brain.” Clicking the remote, the projector displayed an image of the new cerebral interface chip. With another click, the screen flashed with images of people already implanted with chips, and the trademarked glowing blue light emitting from behind their ear.
“The links have helped people,” retorted the now standing woman to the applause of scattered individuals.
“I’m not denying they have a use. Just the need for caution with a device directly relaying messages and information into our brains.”
“My cousin has an implant from a TBI in the Army!” angrily shouted the still standing woman. “It has completely changed his life!” she now was accompanied by the roar of claps as people stood in solidarity.
Professor Lynn, trying to regain control, held up his hands. “First, I’d like to thank your cousin for his service,” trying to deescalate the tension and not make it seem like a personal attack on this woman’s family. “I am not saying there isn’t a use—Just that precautions need to be put into place to safeguard organic human thoughts and actions from that of artificial intelligence or… whomever controls it!” speaking over the audience. “The prevalence of their use, even without these safeguards, is staggering,” walking away from the podium and towards the wall. “If everyone will remain seated and just glance around the auditorium. We are going to see a brief experiment,” flipping the lights off.
With darkness filling the room, the ominous blue glow from the various implanted individuals became starkly clear. After a series of gasps and chatter emanated from the crowd, Professor Lynn flipped the lights back on. “How do you feel now, knowing that the people around you may or may not be in control of their own thoughts and, by proxy… their actions?”
Approaching the stage was a man Professor Lynn recognized from class, his ear ablaze with light. “We have our own thoughts,” he said in a monotone voice.
“Is that so?” the professor asked.
“Yes—Neutralize the threat,” reaching into his jacket.
J.L. Gang 
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