Visionaries are telling us a direct human/computer interface is right around the corner but with such extraordinary advances come extraordinary risks.

It promises to be science fiction in real life. But AFN's Steve Jordahl reports extraordinary advances always come with extraordinary risk.

Scientists have already connected a paralyzed man's brain to a computer to help him walk, for example, and Facebook says it's working on software that allows you to type just by thinking.

Tech ethicists such as David Ryan Polgar says it's just a short jump to being able to steal or change a person's thoughts – likely without them even knowing.

"Our thoughts are incredibly valuable," he says, "so we want to kind of make sure that there's some sanctity of us being able to control who has access to those thoughts."

In the 2010 film "Inception," a professional thief is given a chance to erase his past if he agrees to implant an idea in another person's subconscious by entering that person's dreams.

Such technology to share dreams doesn't exist but we're getting close to something similar.

Ethicists are proposing four new human rights laws: the right to think whatever you want; the right to keep those thoughts private; the right to keep your thoughts from being misused, like for example someone stealing your ATM code and the right to psychological continuity – don't make me someone I'm not.

Dr. Richard Land of Southern Evangelical Seminary says we shouldn't be afraid of progress.

"One solution that is not a solution is to be a Luddite and say we're just not going to take part in any innovation, any discovery," he cautions. "God gave us minds. He intends for us to use them."

Nonetheless, he says, it's smart to put strong protections in place sooner than later.

"I don't have much faith at all that we would restrain ourselves as a culture," he says. "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."