Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/2624
42 Fall 2009 Intel Inside and out A more radical neuroengineered future is suggested by the increasing use of sensory and motor prostheses — brain implants — to deliver input to and output from the nervous system. Cochlear implants to aid the deaf are a good example. Theodore Berger at the University of Southern California defines another class of prostheses aimed at restoring cognitive function by replacing circuits within the brain damaged by stroke, trauma or disease. Work has begun on a proof-of-concept device — a hippocampal prosthesis that can mimic the function of a region of the hippocampus — a part of the brain responsible for the formation of memories. Such prosthetics may ultimately become the substrate for the mind itself. Bruce Katz comments, "The alternative is to free the mind from limitations of the brain by the addition of prosthetic devices and ultimately uploading it into digital form. While it is unlikely either of these and especially the latter will occur in the next few decades, this remains the ultimate goal of enhancement." In a recent Atlantic Monthly article, James Cascio argues that "the age of the cyborg and the super-genius has already arrived" in the form of netbooks, iPhones and other forms of access to the Internet... "it just involves external information and communication devices instead of implants and genetic modification." The bioethicist James Hughes of Trinity College refers to all of this as exocortical technology, but like Cascio, you can just think of it as "stuff you already own." For many, a smart phone or laptop has become an exobrain with access to much of the information in the world's libraries. Bruce Katz suggests that cognitive enhancement is a kind of evolution, but not in a traditional sense, "because with cognitive enhancement we will be taking the first significant steps towards being a self-modifying system." He points out that ordinary evolution develops at a glacial pace, and it is not at all clear that evolution can take us much beyond where we already are "in the smarts department." He describes how the path from early hominids to Homo sapiens — when walking upright freed our hands for tool construction — encouraged a larger frontal cortex both for the manufacture and use of these tools, "But walking upright also means that there are limits on the size of the birth canal before locomotion is seriously disturbed. This is why human birth is so painful relative to other species — our brains are already too big for our bodies." Hence, he says, "we should not expect to see hypercephalic beings, giants heads perched on slender bodies, walking around in 10,000 years, unless of course we are able to produce them ourselves." Smarts and Consequences There are obviously profound societal consequences in using neurotechnology by healthy humans to improve their performance. Some of us will be enhanced, while others won't. Zach Lynch, however, is optimistic. "Like any new set of tools developed by humans, there are both positive and negative potential uses of these tools. However, if we look broadly at human history we can see that newly developed technologies have extended life spans, improved living standards and made it possible for more of us to live happier lives. We should expect this trend to continue as we move into the Neuro Revolution." "It makes no sense to ban the use of neuroenhancers," says Margaret Talbot. "Too many people are already taking them, and the users tend to be educated and privileged people who proceed with just enough caution to avoid getting into trouble. In a consumer society like ours, if people are properly informed about the risks and benefits of neuroenhancers, they can make their own choices about how to alter their minds, just as they can make their own decisions about shaping their bodies." James Kent takes it a step further, "Right now we are transitioning away from counterculture championing of cognitive enhancement and into these memes being adopted by the mainstream media. Soon the general public will be demanding consumer-level cognitive enhancement. It is only a matter of time, but it will probably take another generation or two to sort it all out." This will likely be only the first — and perhaps the most significant step — in the emerging world of neuroceuticals, nootropics, entrainment and neuroprosthetics to boost human intelligence and creativity. Bruce Katz believes it will lead to a positive feedback loop — enhanced intellectual capacity will lead to greater inventiveness, which will lead to better means of increasing intelligence, which will lead to even more powerful enhancement techniques. At some point in this development, he speculates, "We will bear as little resemblance to plain old vanilla Homo sapiens as a man does to a mouse." ResouRces Modafinil, The New Wonder Drug? Nouse http://www.nouse.co.uk/2009/06/30/ modafinil-the-new-wonder-drug/ Towards responsible use of cognitive- enhancing drugs by the healthy Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/ v456/n7223/full/456702a.html Brain Gain by Margaret Talbot New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/ reporting/2009/04/27/090427fa_fact_ talbot Zack Lynch's Brain Waves blog http://www.corante.com/brainwaves/ Los Angeles Times (Dopamine Report) http://www.latimes.com/features/health/ la-he-love22-2009jun22,0,6897401. column Marin Independent Journal (Dopamine and Parkinson's Disease) http://www.marinij.com/healthandfitness/ ci_12698210 James Kent's Dose Nation http://www.dosenation.com/ Will Block on Nootropics http://www.betterhumans.com/blogs/ nutrition_you_can_feel_by_will_block/ archive/2008/09/25/From-Grain-to-Grin- _2D00_-Nootropics_3A00_-Past_2C00_- Present_2C00_-and-Future.aspx Mind Modulations (Light and Sound Machines) http://www.mindmodulations.com/ resources/Study-abstracts2.html The Atlantic Monthly Jamais Cascio overview http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/ intelligence Psychology Wiki (Effects of Trance music) http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Trance