Can the Human Brain sustain today’s technological advances ?
In 1998, Andy Clark and David Chalmers proposed that a computer operates together with our brains as an “extended mind,” potentially offering additional processing capabilities as we work out problems.
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Is this the new world order ? Are we the world’s next supercomputer ? Well, science says that the human mind is “the most powerful computer” in existence. Does this mean that, we as a supreme species on this Earth hold the power to be better than the technology we invent ? One could argue and state that only time would tell. That time though, is now.
A professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, Theodore Berger, is working to bring to market human memory enhancement in the form of an implant inside the human brain. This could be our next advancement and could even prove to be our final contribution to science as just “human beings with an excetional memory”, since once this hits the streets so to speak, every human being will be capable of a powerful memory.
Once this is achieved, memory will be a thing of the past just like Commodore 64, which is now part of a bygone era that the world once thought was as good as it can get. Will the human brain now be a part of that era ? Will we now just use our imagination to connect data and not store it ? Is memory a volatile stock market commodity now ? If this is the invention of the century, then the answer to all these questions is “yes”. This invention has the power to make sure the human mind will be a thing of mythical legends and mystical proportions.
The prosthetic, which Berger has been working on for ten years, can function as an artificial hippocampus, the area in the brain associated with memory and spatial navigation. The plan is for the device to convert short-term memory into long-term memory[1].
To achieve this feat, it must entail that the brain has an index for everything we see and remember. Is that a possibility? Berger certainly believes so.
Starting out with this invention, Berger initially wanted to reveal this to the world as a brain prosthetic for memory problems where this device would be implanted into the human being’s brain and would then stimulate neurons that would essentially be responsible for changing short-term thoughts into long-term memories[1].
As history has always shown us to be true, something that is intended for good can always be used for atleast two other reasons: Using it for the better or for worse. Let’s hope that the former applies here, only because one wouldn’t and couldn’t even imagine what enhanced memory storage applications could do if put to use in the “world domination” aspect.
In all fairness though, this invention has the potential to change the world as we see it. No more I.Q. tests, no more memory retention exercises, no more competitiveness among people to see who knows the most of what needs to be known. Only the idea of using everything stored in a hard drive and just applying it into reality by just “thinking” — something that we are still yet to perfect(ironically).
Berger warns, “Our information will be biased based on the neurons we’re able to record from,” and he looks forward to tools that can capture broader swaths of data going forward.
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To be blunt and to the point, this is the future, this is happening now, infact it has already begun. SKYNET might not be active yet, but we can agree that this could be just as bad-ass.
The OS Fund that invests in entrepreneurs is working towards discoveries that have the power to rewrite the operating systems of our life or in one simple word, change the way our mind works essentially making the brain a machine. This company sees Berger’s work as one such discovery, is in total support of it with Berger newly appointed as the company’s Chief Science Officer[1].
When this invention does hit the market with this intention or not, the possibilities are endless. The aspect of connecting every human mind and collecting large volumes of data from them to better life and urban living seems to be something pulled right out of a superhero comic (for once, we get to be the superheroes), with one drawback though — the ones controlling the flow of data in order to better living for one and all, are they with us or are they the super-villains to our stories.
Some food for thought, to leave you thinking before it becomes obsolete to do so:
Imagine.
