Stream of Consciousness
A theoretical physicist probes the frontiers of brain research, from implantable memory chips to ethics.
The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind
By Michio Kaku
Doubleday 2014, 377 pages
We hear almost daily about advances in brain research, from promising developments in the treatment of autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurological disorders to exoskeleton body frames that can empower the paralyzed and disabled. As the pace of discovery accelerates, researchers also are learning a tremendous amount about how we memorize, dream, and process thoughts.
In the not-too-distant future, humans may be able to upload their brains to computers, allowing our minds to continue after bodies wear out. Memories and knowledge one day may be implanted into our brains, enabling instant understanding of a foreign language, history, or geographical surroundings. Such seemingly far-fetched possibilities form one part of the myriad lines of research being explored in university laboratories from the University of California, Irvine, to Stanford, Brown, Colorado State, and Washington University in St. Louis. “Using implantables to enhance competency is down the road,” asserts Joel Davis of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. “It’s only a matter of time.”
Such prospects excite Michio Kaku, a theoretical physics professor at the City University of New York. A self-proclaimed “popularizer” of science who frequently appears on BBC TV, the Discovery/Science channel, and other media outlets, Kaku has authored several books on the future of science and physics. This latest work focuses on what he calls one of the two greatest mysteries of nature.
The Future of the Mind provides an exuberant journey through brain research past, present, and future. Kaku opens by establishing just how little we know about this crucial yet perplexing organ and how long it has taken to reach this point. The challenges of understanding the brain’s regions and functions can seem overwhelming. Weighing in at a mere three pounds, its 100 billion neurons form “an exponential amount of neural connections” that consume 20 percent of our energy. Some 80 percent of our genes are coded for the brain.
The development of MRI, EEG, PET, and other increasingly sophisticated scanning devices has opened up a window on the complex series of interactions that constitutes thinking, learning, and consciousness. The “newest and most exciting” field, optogenetics, allows neuroscientists not only to trace but also to direct neural activity using light sensors. Fascinating examples of current and future research are presented in the second and third sections, such as today’s tracking and control of thoughts and dreams as well as the alarming proposition that humans could one day shed their physical bodies to achieve a more perfect existence – and immortality.
It is in Chapter Two that Kaku first defines consciousness, moving beyond brain mechanics to how body and mind join to create human existence. Indeed, throughout the book he takes pains to entertain thorny questions: Can scientists go too far in tampering with the brain? What are the ethics involved? While Kaku clearly is more intrigued than horrified by such ideas as merging humans and robots, he addresses the many ethical debates. He also includes an appendix to air his thoughts on free will, the quantum brain, multiple universes, and other topics.
The engineering community may be disappointed with the scant attention devoted to the optogenetic lasers, supercomputers, and intricate software programs that support neuroscience’s advances. As Henry Markram, a professor at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and head of Europe’s billion-dollar Human Brain Project, notes in the book, unlocking the brain is “no longer a science project but an engineering endeavor.” But stay tuned: With research “on the threshold of new scientific discoveries that will likely leave us breathless,” more books and articles will follow from Kaku and others. For the 2 billion people afflicted by neurological disorders, the results can’t come fast enough.
By Robin Tatu
Robin Tatu is Prism’s senior editorial consultant.
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