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| Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind |
Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind. Until now, human knowledge about himself, especially reason, is still very limited compared to knowledge about other things.
A fairly rapid development occurred only after the discovery of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the mid-1990s and 2000s, which allows us to see brain activity when someone is thinking in real time.
Furthermore, the synergy of knowledge about how the brain works and computer science is predicted to allow humans in the future to be able to do things that were once only imaginary, such as telepathy, telekinesis, adjust thoughts and memories, increase intelligence, change dreams, control other people's thoughts, artificial mind, and mind as pure energy.
To see how far he is progressing, Michio Kaku interviewed hundreds of scientists and visited their laboratories and set the following conditions for predictions in this book: 1. Predictions must strictly obey the laws of physics, 2. There are already prototypes to be demonstrated on proven and realizable principles.
Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind, You Can Read
This book is divided into 15 chapters which consist of three parts.
First part
In this first part, Michio Kaku describes a brief history of neuroscience, the structure of the brain (which consists of the reptile brain, mammalian brain and human brain or prefrontal cortex), and their respective functions.
Types of equipment for researching brain activity at work (MRI, EEG, PET Scan, TES, MEG, NIRS, Deep Brain Simulation, Optogenetics), as well as final models of how the brain works, which can be analogous to how it works. a company, with the prefrontal cortex as the CEO who makes important decisions consciously.
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| Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind |
And the reptilian and mammalian brain as an organization under it that works automatically under the subconscious, as well as a description of the theory of consciousness, which divides consciousness into four levels, consisting of the levels of plants, reptiles, mammals, and humans.
The second part
In the second part, Michio Kaku explains the relationship between the mind and material objects, namely telepathy, telekinesis, memory and orderliness, as well as increasing intelligence or the ability of the human brain.
1. About Telepathy
The brain is electricity. Each time an electron is accelerated, it produces electromagnetic radiation, as well as electrons moving around the brain, which emit radio waves. These signals cannot be picked up by humans, but computers can pick up on them.
Scientists can tell what a person is thinking through an EEG scan. In the study, subjects wore helmets with EEG sensors and were asked to concentrate on an image, such as a car.
An EEG signal is then recorded for each image to create a basic dictionary of thoughts, with a one-to-one relationship between the person's signal or thoughts and the EEG image.
Later, when someone is shown a picture of another car, the computer will recognize the EEG pattern as a car. However, the strength of electromagnetic waves is significantly reduced as they pass through the skull, so although a computer can recognize that a person is thinking of a car, it cannot produce an image of a car.
Another more advanced research conducted at the University of California is transferring a person's thoughts into a video. For that, the subject is placed on a stretcher which is then inserted into an MRI machine, then shown a film clip for several hours.
While the subject was watching a movie, the MRI machine created a 3-dimensional image of the blood flow in the brain. The image resembles thirty thousand dots or voxels, each voxel represents a precise nerve energy point, and the color of the dots corresponds to signal intensity and blood flow.
After several years of research, the research team was able to develop a mathematical formula that found the relationship between certain image shapes and MRI voxels.
During the research, Michio Kaku was able to see what the subject saw as well as the image the subject was thinking, which was displayed in the form of a video.
However, the video display for objects or images that are only thought of is not as clear as objects seen in movies. Maybe because our minds never remember the shape of an object in detail, only the outline.
Another study using an ECOG scan (electrocorticogram) gave more accurate results, because the device was surgically attached directly to the brain, so signals were recorded directly from the brain and not through the skull, in the form of a 64 electrode 8x8 grid.
When the patient hears words, signals from the brain pass through the electrodes and are recorded, forming a dictionary that matches the words with the signals emitted from the brain. Then, if a word is spoken, one can see the same signal pattern.
This relationship means that when a person thinks of a word, the computer can pick up on the characteristics of the signal and identify it. This means it is possible to have telepathic conversations.
The discovery could also help stroke patients who are completely paralyzed to speak through a voice synthesizer that can recognize brain patterns of individual words using brain-to-computer techniques.
Another study in Minnesota recorded signals from the brain to the computer letter by letter to form a dictionary like never before. With this technique, one can type only with his mind.
Later, when the dictionary formed has reached thousands of words, someone's thoughts can be directly written and printed. Commands to the secretarial robot can also be conveyed through the mind to organize everything, even music can also be printed in the form of musical notation. The MRI machine is also predicted to be as small as a cell phone.
What are the future successes of this research? All of this research was sponsored by DARPA, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
DARPA has a proven track record, including being the creator of the Arpanet which later became the internet, laying the groundwork for GPS, cell phones, weather satellites. In the future, DARPA insists on moving towards a brain-machine interface.
2. About Telekinesis
Telekinesis or moving objects with just the mind has become a reality in 2012. Professor John Donoghue of Brown University created a tiny four-millimeter sensor implanted on the surface of the brain, in which there are ninety-six hairs or electrodes that pick up brain impulses, which then pick up a signal for someone to move their arm.
"The key is to translate the neural signals from the chip into meaningful commands that can move objects in the real world, starting with a cursor on a computer screen."
This is done by asking the person to imagine moving the cursor to the right, for example, Within minutes the computer records brain signals for this task. In this way, the computer can recognize that each time that brain signal is detected, it must move the cursor to the right.
So there is a one-to-one map between the particular imaginary action of the person and the actual action itself. Neuroprosthetics allows a person who is paralyzed to move his arm, surf the internet, write email, and control his wheelchair.
Neuroprosthetics can also be linked to glasses, like Stephen Hawking's, so he can connect his mind to a computer so he can connect with the outside world.
A patient will be able to do anything, because this computer can be connected to a toaster, coffee maker, light switch, or TV channel.
In addition to the above, scientists have been able to create electrode chips implanted in monkey brains, which can be in direct contact with paralyzed limbs.
This chip has a brain signal dictionary for every limb movement, so the arm can be moved based on the thoughts from the brain. Later, a person who experiences paralysis due to spinal cord damage can carry out daily activities. This project is also funded and initiated by DARPA.
In the future, this technology will be equipped with a brain-machine-brain-interface (BMBI). Messages will be sent from the brain to a mechanical arm that has sensors, which will then send it back directly to the brain, bypassing the trunk.
The BMBI will activate an immediate feedback mechanism that enables tactile sensation. This will develop into haptic technology, which allows someone to travel in cyberspace but feel sensations like in the real world.
In addition, BMBI will also activate the Internet of the mind or brain-net, where signals can be sent and interpreted between the two brains. In the future this will allow people to exchange thoughts, emotions and ideas via telepathy in real time.
By the middle of this century, people will relate to computers through the mind alone, so keyboards and mouse will eventually disappear.
3. About Memory
Currently scientists are conducting research to record memory performed in mice. Memory is created from various sensory experiences, and then stored in several places in the neocortes and limbic system, but all long-term memory is stored in the hippocampus.
By examining the rat hippocampus, it was found that there are two sets of neurons that communicate with each other when a task is learned. By studying the communication of these two sets of neurons, researchers can determine what electrical input produces the output, and then researchers can record signals between these two sets of neurons as the mice learn a particular task.
Then they injected the mice with a chemical that made the mice forget the task. Then they returned the memory to the mice's brains.
Incredibly, the mouse's memory of the task returned. This means they have created an artificial hippocampus with the ability to duplicate digital memories.
Further research at MIT showed that false memories could also be implanted in the brain. This means that in the future memories of events that have occurred or experienced can also be implanted in the brain.
In the future, this technique could be used to instill new skills in workers, or create new types of entertainment.
Furthermore, if memories could be recorded and downloaded, it could give humans memories of vacations they never had, lovers they never had, or awards they never received, perfect memories of a real life full of flaws.
But as with any technological advance, there is always an unintended social implication, namely that humans may prefer this imaginary life over experiencing real life.
Memories can also be uploaded and shared with millions of people on the internet to feel and experience. In the future, people will record the memories of their lives so that their descendants can experience the same.
The negative side, as currently personal data can be accessed via the internet from social media databases or financial institutions, so that in the future memory will be easily accessible, so there needs to be a law that prevents access to someone's memory without that person's consent.
Other research is about savants, or those with special abilities or extraordinary intelligence.
According to research, fifty percent of undergraduates are autistic, have Asperger's (milder autism), and have problems interacting socially.
Some scientists argue that all intelligent abilities (autism, etc.) arise from damage to a certain part of the left temporal lobe, which functions as a sensor that periodically discards irrelevant memories, or a deficiency in the ability to forget.
Therefore, if scientists can figure out what causes the savant, then this extraordinary ability can be given to many people to increase their intelligence or special abilities, for example in the field of art.
Third part
The third section is about the ability to change and control consciousness, dreams, and thoughts, including transforming thoughts and consciousness from material objects such as the brain into pure immaterial energy.
Today, much hope is given to Artificial Intelligence as well as warnings about the dangers to be faced if AI exceeds human capabilities.
But is it true? According to Michio Kaku, the road to AI or robots that can match humans is still far away. This is caused by two things, namely: pattern recognition and common sense. Computers or robots can perform certain tasks much better than humans if the right programs and adequate data are created, but programming to recognize patterns and common sense is not easy.
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| Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind |
For example, humans can recognize an object as a chair easily regardless of its shape, but a computer cannot recognize it if the shape of the chair is very different from that of an ordinary chair or viewed from a different angle, except for a large number of programs. and data is created.
Both of these things are done easily by the human brain, which works differently from a computer consisting of input, output, and processor.
The brain has no programming, operating system, or central processor. In contrast, neural networks are parallel, with one hundred billion neurons transmitting signals at the same time to achieve one goal: learning.
Based on this, now robots are made to imitate the human brain that works through learning, for example learning to navigate a room by hitting objects in its path.
Based on this, there is still a long way to go for robots to match human capabilities. Easier is to combine the nerves of the brain with a computer.
Human efforts to understand how the brain works are currently being carried out by three parties, namely the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative initiated by the US government, Human Brain Projects (HBP) by the European Commission, and Paul Allen from Microsoft.
BRAIN uses the neural network mapping method of the brain's life over a 15 year period, monitoring the activity of tens of thousands of neurons in the first five years, hundreds of thousands of neurons in ten years, and millions of neurons after fifteen years.
Meanwhile, for ten years, HBP will perform computer simulations on the brains of several types of animals, ranging from mice, rabbits, and cats. HBP will use transistors so there will be a computer module that can act like part of the brain.
While the third way is done by deciphering the genes that control brain development. The three billion dollar project method each has its drawbacks.
For example in the HBP method, computer simulation does not involve the external environment and only the interaction between the thalamus and neocortex, so it is difficult to know how the cat's brain learns to catch prey, besides the amount of computers and energy required is also very large.
While the BRAIN method starts with fruit flies, by slicing their brains (150 thousand neurons) per neuron, each iris is one-fiftieth billionth of a meter in size, taking pictures of them, then storing them in a computer with a certain program. would then rearrange neuron by neuron, requiring storage space. huge data and time consuming if done without automation.
To reach the human brain, the project is estimated to take a hundred years. Parallel to this is the Human Connectome Project, which reconstructs the pathways connecting all parts of the brain.
But mapping and reverse engineering alone is not enough, because scientists must know how these neurons actually work.
The goal of all these efforts is to find cures for mental illnesses from depression to schizophrenia.
By knowing the group of neurons that made the mistake; helps the development of artificial intelligence, and knows how long-term memory is stored, while the implicit goal is to find the key to consciousness and achieve immortality.
If we knew how the brain, mind, or consciousness worked and could duplicate or store it in a computer, wouldn't we be able to retain our consciousness forever?
Next topic
The next topic to be investigated is, can consciousness or mind be separated from matter?
To explain this, the author begins by describing research on out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences.
A near-death experience that many describe as being able to float and see one's own body, goes through a long dark passage and ends with seeing a bright light. This experience is also experienced by many who experience fainting.
According to research conducted by brain neuroscientists, stimulation of the right temporal lobe area can cause a feeling of leaving the body, while decreased blood flow to the brain, which is common in those who are unconscious or near death, causes an out-of-body experience.
Similarly, when blood flow to the eye is greatly reduced, the peripheral parts of the vision dim or darken, thus forming a narrow aisle view ahead.
However, the famous inventor Dr. Ray Kurzweil and other artificial intelligence practitioners predict that the singularity will eventually be achieved. When this happens, then the mind or consciousness can be stored in a supercomputer, so that it is independent of the material object (the brain).
But considering that thoughts come from humans who have been accustomed to interacting with their surroundings for a long time, then in order to continue to function properly – someone who is completely isolated from the environment after a while his brain function will be disturbed – this mind must be connected to the surrounding environment as well.
Therefore, these thoughts will later be downloaded to a robot or exoskeleton, even clones. The dead can be brought back to life.
Possibility of cloning
The chances of cloning a dead person are quite high, considering that the San Diego zoo sent a dead bull cell twenty-five years ago to Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology.
Which then extracts the usable cells and sends them to a farm to be implanted in a female cow, which then gives birth to a bull. If a bull could be cloned, it is likely that the same could be done in humans.
Consciousness or thoughts can be downloaded from the supercomputer or if the supercomputer was not present at the time of the person's death, this is done by entering digital data, memory or other available data corresponding to the time the person was alive.
If technology were more advanced, pure thoughts or consciousness could be sent anywhere, including into outer space, regardless of matter. At this stage, consciousness becomes eternal.
About immortality
Regarding death, research is currently being conducted on the aging process. Aging is caused by the accumulation of errors at the genetic and cellular levels.
However, the cell has an error-correcting mechanism, although this mechanism is decreased, so the goal is to strengthen the cell's repair mechanism, which can be done through gene therapy and the creation of new enzymes. In the future this will be done in another way, namely through the nanobot assembler.
Nanobots are atomic machines that monitor blood flow, fight cancer cells, repair damage caused by the aging process, and maintain our youth and health. However, there is still debate whether Nanobots can be realized given their atomic size.
Closing
That's what I wrote about Book Reviews and Summary: The Future of the Mind. This book provides a wealth of valuable information about the research on the mind, brain or consciousness that scientists are currently doing.
Michio Kaku explains it in detail but is easy to follow, so readers can understand why certain technologies are predicted to become a reality in the future.
If Yuval in Homo Deus wrote that the future goal of mankind is towards perfection and immortality, in this book. Michio Kaku explains what discoveries and research are being carried out to achieve this.
The research results of several scientists will determine the future of our civilization, as in the past they have discovered the internet, GPS, smartphones, and so on.
From this book readers can learn that belief in scientific ability, perseverance, and years of hard work in conducting basic research are the keys to technological progress.
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