The future of the mind by Michio Kaku
The scientific quest to understand, enhance and
empower the mind
[The concept of mind-reading research and
programmable matter are quite interesting topics]
Nobel Laureate Eric R Kandel of the Max Planck
Institute in Tubingen, Germany writes,” The most valuable insights into the
human mind to emerge during this period did not come from the disciplines
traditionally concerned with the mind - philosophy, psychology or
psychoanalysis. Instead they came from a merger of these disciplines with the
biology of the brain...”
A map of brain:
The outer layer of the brain divided into four
lobes. It is highly developed in humans. All the lobes of the brain are devoted
to processing signals from our senses, except for one: the frontal lobe,
located behind the forehead. The prefrontal cortex, the foremost part of the
frontal lobe, is where most rational thought is processed. The information you
are reading right now is being processed in your frontal cortex. Damage to this
area can impair your ability to plan or contemplate the future and this is the
region where information from our senses is evaluated and a future course of
action is carried out.
The parietal lobe is located at the top of our
brains. The right hemisphere controls sensory attention and body image; the
left hemisphere controls skilled movements and some aspects of language. Damage
to this area cause many problems, such as difficulty in locating parts of your
own body.
The occipital lobe is located at the very back
of the brain and processes visual information from the eyes. Damage to this
area cause blindness and visual impairment.
The temporal lobe controls language (on the left
side only) as well as the visual recognition of faces and certain emotional
feelings. Damage to this lobe can leave us speechless or without the ability to
recognize familiar faces.
One analogy for the brain that I have found
useful is that of a large corporation. In this analogy, there is a huge
bureaucracy and lines of authority, with vast flows of information channeled
between different offices. But the important information eventually winds up at
the command center with the CEO, There the final decision are made. Using this
analogy, it should be able to explain certain peculiar features of brain:
Most information is ‘subconscious’ - that is the
CEO is blissfully unaware of the vast, complex information that is constantly
flowing inside the bureaucracy and only tiny amount of information finally
reaches the desk of the CEO who can be compared to the prefrontal cortex.
Emotions are rapid decision made independently
at a lower level. Since rational thoughts takes many seconds, this means that
it is often impossible to make a reasoned response to an emergency; hence lower
level brain regions must rapidly assess the situation and make a decision, an
emotion , without permission from the top. As per Rita Carter, author of
mapping mind writes, “ emotions are feelings at all but a set of body-rooted
survival mechanism that have evolved to turn away from danger and propel us
forward to things that may be of benefit”.
There is a constant clamoring for the attention
of the CEO. Various sub centers within the command center are in constant
competition with one another, vying for the attention of the CEO. The concept
of ‘I’ as a single, unified whole making all decision continuously is an
illusion created by our own subconscious minds.
Final decisions are made by the CEO in the command
center. The CEO located in the prefrontal cortex has to make the final
decisions. While most decisions are made by instinct in animals, humans make
higher level decision after sifting through different bodies of information
from our senses.
Information flows are hierarchical.
Parallax: The retinas of our eyes are
two-dimensional, but because we have two eyes separated by a few inches, the
left and right brain merge these two images, giving us the false sense of third
dimension. For distant objects we can judge how far an object is by observing
how they move when we move our head. This parallax explains why children
sometimes complain that moon is following them. Because the brain has
difficulty comprehending the parallax of an object as distant as the moon, it
appears as if the moon is always fixed distance ‘behind’ them, but it is just
an illusion caused by brain taking a shortcut.
Dr. Roger W Sperry won Nobel prize for showing
that the two hemispheres of the brain are not exact carbon copies of each other,
but actually perform different duties.
Consciousness is the process of creating a model
of the world using multiple feedback loops in various parameters (e.g. in
temperature, space,. time and in relation to others), in order to accomplish a
goal (e.g. find mates, food, shelter). Animals create a model of world mainly
in relation to space, and to one another, while humans go beyond and create a
model of the world in relation to time, both forward and backward.
Sr. Daniel Gilbert has written, “The greatest
achievement of the human brain is its ability to imagine objects and episodes
that do not exist in the realm of the real and it is this ability that allows
us to think about the future.
Levels of consciousness for different species:
Level Species
Parameter Brain Structure
0
Plants Temperature, sunshine None
1
Reptiles Space
Brain
stem
2
Mammals Social relations Limbic system
3
Humans Time (esp.
future) Prefrontal cortex
Space-time theory of consciousness: We define
consciousness as the process of creating a model of the world using multiple
feedback loops in various parameters (e.g., in space, time, and in various
parameters (e.g. in space, time and in relation to others), in order to
accomplish a goal. Human consciousness is a particular type that involves
mediating between these feedback loops by simulating the future and evaluating
the past.
I asked DARPA engineers (the Pentagon’s Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, which has spearheaded some of the most
important technologies of the twentieth century, including GPS), why do have to
rely on dogs to sniff our luggage for the presence of high explosives?
Engineers replied that olfactory sensors of dogs, had evolved over millions of
years to be able to detect a handful of molecules, and that kind of sensitivity
is extremely difficult to match, even with our most finely tuned sensors.
With a budget of $3 billion, DARPA has now set
its sights on the brain machine interface. Some of the potential uses are
soldiers could communicate by thought alone.
When hearing of mind-reading machines for the
first time, the average person might be concerned about privacy. Faraday cage
invented by Michael Faraday is a sample mechanism to block mind reading
attempt. Basically electricity will rapidly disperse around a metal cage, such
that the electric field inside a cage is zero. This why airplanes can be hit by
lightning bolts and not suffer damage and why cable wires are covered with
metallic threads.
Avatars and surrogates:
These are science fiction today, but one day
they may become an essential tool for science. The human body is frail, perhaps
too delicate for the rigors of many dangerous missions, including space travel.
Solar flares from the sun can bathe a spacecraft
in lethal radiation. A simple transatlantic flight from the United States to
Europe exposes you to a millirem of radiation per hour, or roughly the same as
dental X-ray. But in outer space, the radiation could be many times more intense,
esp.,. in the presence of cosmic rays and solar bursts. During intense solar
storms, NASA has actually warned astronauts in the space station to move to
sections where there is more shielding against radiations.
In addition, there are many other dangers
awaiting us in outer space, such as micrometeorites, the effects of prolonged
weightlessness and the problem of adjusting to different gravity fields. After
just a few months in weightlessness, the body loses a large fraction of its
calcium and minerals, leaving the astronauts incredibly weak, even if the
exercise every day. After a year in outer space, Russian astronauts had to
crawl out of their space capsules like worms, and it is believed that some of
the effects of muscle and bone loss are permanent, so that astronauts will feel
the consequence of prolonged weightlessness for the rest of their lives.
The lack of industrial robots caused an acute
problem and esp. when we consider a Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine. Workers
sent directly to the accident site to put out the flames died horrible deaths
due to lethal exposure to radiation. Eventually Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the
air force to ‘sandbag’ the reactor, dropping five thousand tons of borate sand
cement by helicopter. Radiation levels were so high that 250,000 workers were
recruited to finally contain the accident. Each worker could spend only a few
minutes inside the reactor building doing repairs. This massive project was the
largest civil engineering feat ever undertaken.
In the future, even with an external power
source to magnify our thoughts, it is unlikely that people with telekinetic
powers will be able to move basic objects like a pencil or a mug of coffee on
command. The technology called ‘programmable matter’ has become a subject of
intense research for the Intel Corp. The idea behind programmable matter is to
create objects made of tiny ‘catoms’ which are microscopic computer chips. Each
catom can be controlled wirelessly; it can be programmed to change the
electrical charge on its surface so it can bind with other catoms in different
ways. By programming the electric charge one way, the catoms bind together to
form say a cell phone. Push a button to change their programming, and the atoms
rearrange themselves, to reform into another object, like a laptop.
Memory (short term and long term):
Scientists researching on NR2B gene and other
such genes and these experiments may eventually explain many mysteries of our
long term memory, such as why cramming for an exam is not the best way to
study, and why we remember events if they are emotionally charged. Scientists
have found that there are two important genes, the CREB activator (which
stimulates the formation of new connection between neurons) and the CREB
repressor (which suppresses the formation of new memories).
Scientists theorize that we have a fixed amount
of CREB activator in the brain that can limit the amount we can learn at any
specific time. If we try to cram before a test, it means that we quickly
exhaust the amount of CREB activators, and hence we cannot learn any more - at
least until we take a break to replenish the CREB activators. Hence the best
way to prepare for a final exam is to mentally review the material periodically
during the day, until the material becomes part of your long-term memory.
This may also explain why emotionally charged
memories are so vivid and can last for decades. The CREB repressor gene is like
a filter, cleaning out useless information. But if memory is associated with a
strong emotion, it can either remove the CREB repressor gene or increase levels
of CREB activator gene.
Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius
hits a target no one else can see - Arthur Schopenhauer.
All of us are born with certain abilities that
are programmed into our genes and the structure of our brains. That is the luck
of the draw. But how we arrange our thoughts and experiences and simulate the
future is something that is totally within our control. Charles Darwin himself
wrote, “I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much
in intellect, only in zeal and hard work:”
Success in life and delayed gratification:
Dr. Walter Mischel did a series of tests with
children and the results of these and other studies were eye-opening. The
children who exhibited delayed gratification scored higher on almost every
measure of success in life: higher-paying jobs, lower rates of drug addiction,
higher test scores, higher educational attainment, better social integration,
etc.
Dr. Michael Sweeny, author of Brain: The
Complete Mind, notes, “Tests doesn’t measure motivation, persistence, social
skills and a host of other attributes of a life that’s well lived”.
Dr. Nilli Lavie says, “Our study confirms our
hypothesis that people with autism have higher perceptual capacity compared to
the typical population... People with autism are able to perceive significantly
more information than the typical adult”.
Genetics of intelligence
Only 15 million base pairs or letter that makes
up our genome (out of three billion base pairs) separates us from the chimps,
our closest genetic neighbor. Isolating genes could have enormous implications
for our future. Once we know the genes that gave rise to Home Sapiens, it
becomes possible to determine how humans evolved. The secret of intelligence
might lie in these genes. It might eve3n be possible to accelerate the path
taken by evolution and even enhance our intelligence.
Dr. Pollard knew that most of our genome is made
of ‘junk DNA that does not contain any genes and was largely unaffected by
evolution. This junk DNA slowly mutates at a known rate (roughly 1% of its
changes over four million years). Since we differ from the chimps in our DNA by
1.5 percent, this means that we probably separated from the chimp about six
million years ago. Hence there is a ‘molecular clock’ in each of our cells. And
since evolution accelerates this mutation rate, analyzing where this
acceleration took place allows you to tell which genes are driving evolutions.
In the research Dr. Pollard identified a stretch
of 118 bases that together became known as human accelerated region 1 (HAR1).
Primates separated from chicken about three hundred million years ago,
yet only two base pairs differ between chimps and chickens. So HARI was
virtually unchanged for several hundred million years, with only two changes,
in the letters G & C. Yet in just six million years, HARI mutated eighteen
times, representing a huge acceleration in our evolution.
Dreams can determine destiny:
Perhaps the most famous dream in antiquity took
place in the year AD312, when Roman emperor Constantine engaged in one of the
greatest battles of his life. Faced with a rival army twice the size of his
own, he realized that he probably would die in battle the next day. But in a
dream,, he had that night, an angel appeared before him, bearing the image of
cross, uttering the fateful words, “ By this symbol you shall conquer”.
Immediately he ordered the shield of his troops adorned with the symbol of the
cross and the rest is history.
The future belongs to those who believe in the
beauty of their dreams - Eleanor Roosevelt.
Dr. Allan Hobson cataloged dreams into five
basic characteristics
- Intense emotions - this is due to the activation of the amygdale, causing emotions such as fear
- Illogical content - dreams can rapidly shift from one scene to another, in defiance of logic
- Apparent sensory impressions - dreams give us false sensations that are internally generated
- Uncritical acceptance of dream events -we uncritically accept the illogical nature of the dream
- Difficulty in being remembered - dreams are soon forgotten, within minutes of waking up
If it is possible to alter the course of
someone's dream, is it possible to control not only that person's dream but
that person’s mind as well? During the Cold War, this become a serious issue as
both the Soviet Union and the United States played a deadly game, trying to use
psychological techniques to control other people’s wills.
How drug alters mind
High of drug addiction is due to the drug’s
hijacking of the brain’s own pleasure / reward system located in the limbic
system. This pleasure/reward circuit is very primitive, dating back millions of
years in evolutionary history, but it is still extremely important for human
survival because it rewards the beneficial behavior and punishes harmful acts.
Once this circuit is taken over by the drugs, however, the result can be
widespread havoc. These drugs first penetrate the blood-brain barrier and then
cause the overproduction of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which then floods
the nucleus accumbens, a tiny pleasure center located deep in the brains near
the amygdale. The dopamine, in turn, produced by certain brain cells in the
ventral tegmental area called VTA cells.
Heroin and other opiates work by neutralizing
the cells in the VTA that can reduce the production of dopamine, thus causing
the VTA to overproduce dopamine. Drugs like LSD operate by stimulating the
production of serotonin, inducing a feeling of well-being, purpose, and
affection.
Optogenetics is one of the fastest developing
fields in science today. The basic goal is to identify precisely which neural
pathway corresponds to which mode of behavior. Optogenetics starts with a gene
called opsin, which is quite unusual because it is sensitive to light. When an
opsin gene is inserted into a neuron and exposed to light, the neuron will fire
on command. BY flipping a switch, one can instantly recognize the neural
pathway for certain behaviors because the proteins manufactures by opsin
conduct electricity and will fire.
Artificial Intelligence:
There are least basic problems with confronting
AI: pattern recognition and common sense. Honda Corporation manufactures 30% of
all industrial robots.
Moore’s law cannot last forever. In fact, we can
already see it slowing down. It might flatten out by the end of this or next
decade and the consequence could be dire, esp. for Silicon Valley. Physicists
are experimenting with a wide variety of alternatives after the age of Silicon
draws to a close such as quantum computers, molecular computers, nanocomputers,
DNA computers, optical computers, etc. None of these technologies, however, is
ready for prime time.
Why Japan is leading in industrial robots where
Honda has a 30 % market share? Culturally, the Japanese approach to robots is
different from the West’s. While kids in the West might feel terror watching
rampaging Terminator-type robots, kids in Japan are steeped in the Shinto
religion, which believes spirits live in all things, even mechanical robots.
Instead of being uncomfortable at the sight of robots, Japanese children squeal
with delight upon encountering them
Reverse engineering the brain:
Because the brain is so complex, there are at
least three distinct ways in which it can be taken apart, neuron by neuron. The
first is to simulate the brain electronically with supercomputers, which is the
approach being taken by the Europeans. The second is to map out the neural
pathways of living brains, as in BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative
Newurotechnolisies). And the third, one can decipher the genes that control the
development of the brain, which is in approach pioneered by billionaire Paul
Allen of Microsoft.
The book concluded with exploring the existence of aliens in the universe.
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