The film “The Future of the Mind” raises several questions that place the recipient in a circle of astonishment, confusion, and fascination, especially since communication between brains will undoubtedly become a tangible reality, even if it includes some obstacles that will be overcome by new technical achievements. Scientists believe that in the future we will have very advanced industrial technologies that will enable us to communicate remotely.
This documentary brings together a number of scientific figures concerned with the future of the human mind, perhaps the most prominent of whom is Randall Cowen, former director of scientific affairs at Kernel Los Angeles and president of the Carbon Copies Foundation for Brain Research. He believes that humans wish to have more control over their brains. So that he can choose what he absorbs and learns, and a person hopes to realize the things that he cannot realize now. For example, he would like to see ultraviolet rays, hear ultrasonic sounds, and remember more things than he normally can.
He goes further in his expectations when he believes that we will be able to read and understand what is going on in people's brains, by translating their components into simple and understandable meanings, and we will also be able to introduce concepts into the brains and teach them.
Tan Li, CEO of Emotive San Francisco, believes that the most exciting part of the future is the possibility of achieving intelligence with human characteristics. This idea was talked about by the late Martin Minsky, and it means the ability to create an environment in which we have a relationship. Symbolism with artificial intelligence, so that we see an overlap in our physical, digital and biological worlds, without our parts being separate, but rather integrated into one human being.
Tan Li, CEO of Emotive San Francisco, tests some of the company's technologies
Rafael Yuste, a think tank at the BRAIN Initiative and a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University, says that when we make a decision now, we think that we are the ones making that decision, and that we decide for ourselves. But what if our brains were connected to a network of cloud computers, and Its algorithm involves decision making. So who decides?
Raphael confirms that we are thirsty to know our truth, our thinking, and the reason behind our thoughts, memories, feelings, and imagination. He goes on to say that one theory assumes that the brain creates a virtual reality, or a model of the world that goes on in our heads all the time.
Neuroscience has been around for 100 years, but we do not know how the brain works and we do not have a theory about how it performs its functions
This relates to ideas that have spread in the field of philosophy for several centuries, especially the ideas put forward by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, that the reason why our view of the world agrees in our minds is not because our minds reflect the world, but on the contrary, the world itself is the creation of our minds. That is, what we perceive does not exist outside our minds, but rather inside them.
Rafael Yuste, an ideologue at the BRAIN Initiative and a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University
Raphael is not revealing a secret when he says that neuroscience has been around for 100 years, but we do not know how the brain works, and we have no theory about how it performs its functions. He believes that the first reason for this is that understanding how the brain works is related to our definition of ourselves as rational human beings who are known by our minds, not by our bodies, meaning that we do not understand the organ that creates our minds, and when we understand how the brain works, we can get to know our minds from the inside, and then we will understand ourselves for the first time. .
The second reason is related to clinics and patients. Humans must understand how the brain works, because we urgently need to help those suffering from mental and neurological diseases, and we must understand the brain system so that we can repair it.
The human brain...a network of complex systems in our skulls
Specialists take turns providing accurate scientific information that ultimately creates a picture of the main subject of the film. Adam Ghazali, CEO of Neuroscape in San Francisco, says that understanding this extremely complex organ (i.e. the brain) from which everything that makes us As humans, that is, what we see, feel, hear, and our sense of identity...all of this is in the brain, which contains 100 billion neurons, and hundreds of trillions of synapses, all working in a dynamic network that is constantly changing. It is a very complex system and we have to study it scientifically.
The brain contains 100 billion neurons and hundreds of trillions of synapses, all operating in a dynamic, ever-changing network
When the director needs additional information to enhance his credit, he resorts to the voice-over technique. He says that the human brain contains busy fibers with a total length of 3 million kilometers, and this is equivalent to going to the moon 7 times. The brain is the most complex and mysterious place in the human being, and it is where they arise. Feelings, thoughts and memories, a place that strives to understand itself, an unsolved mystery.
The human being currently does not know and cannot build anything that comes close to matching what we see in the human brain. Scientific facts say that the human brain weighs less than 1,400 grams, consumes 20-30 watts of energy, and performs complex calculations that supercomputers are unable to do.
Catherine Amantsi, Director of Scientific Affairs for the Human Brain Project
Henry Markram - an intellectual theorist, director of the Blue Brain Project, and founder of the Human Brain Project - says that the brain contains about 1,000 trillion synapses the size of bacteria, which are like chemical machines that receive an electrical pulse, then emit chemicals that reach the receptors, which... Very complex machines, and this leads to changing the behavior of neurons, the emergence of genes, and the release of new proteins. He also confirms that the biophysical chemical processes in the brain are very complex.
Catherine Amantsi, director of scientific affairs for the Human Brain Project, highlights the complexity of the brain’s mechanism, saying that if we try to describe the work of a thousand networks of cells, let us imagine calling a thousand people at the same time, and while we do this, everyone around us does. And every person living on planet Earth (about 7 billion), and when she describes all these communications conducted by 7 billion people, imagine that all of this is only equivalent to a tenth of the possible energy, and all of this revolves inside the skull, which weighs more than one and a half kilograms, according to her opinion.
Human minds: efficiency and power that have evolved throughout history
Philip Rivlin, director of the medical informatics platform at the Human Brain Project, says that their estimates indicate that one in two or three people in Europe suffers from a brain-related disorder, which means that the number of people with these disorders in Europe reaches 200 million. This imposes a heavy price on society, as the cost of brain diseases is greater than the cost of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes combined.
The communications that 7 billion people make together is equivalent to only a tenth of the operating energy of the brain
The other reason is related to technology and economics. It is likely that the minds of humans and animals have also discovered, over millions of years of evolution, methods of calculation that may be more efficient and powerful than what our digital computers offer us today. If we can decode these neural codes and understand how calculations are performed in the brain and what algorithms exist in our nervous systems, we will revolutionize computer science, computer technology, and economics at the same time.
Catherine Amantsi, the director of scientific affairs for the Human Brain Project, believes that the ultimate goal of their project is to enhance symbiosis with artificial intelligence, as it is advancing at a tremendous speed and provides them with multiple means to be more productive and effective in conducting their work and managing their daily lives. With the launch of more devices capable of understanding humans, they could eventually create a different kind of artificial intelligence with a human bent, and the distinctions between the biological world and the digital world will become blurred.
Philip Rivlin, Director of the Medical Informatics Platform at the Human Brain Project
The voiceover reinforces this opinion, and says that a deep understanding of the brain's mechanism would provide answers to major philosophical questions such as: What is consciousness? How is it built? Is there free will that can change forever and deal with concepts such as the inner self, guilt, or even truth? They communicate directly with the computer through thoughts, share their feelings and thoughts via the Internet, and perhaps in the future they will be able to read other people's thoughts and manipulate them as well.
Neuroimaging techniques...a non-surgical way to enter the brain
The film involves a major turning point, dating back to the mid-nineties, the last decades of the twentieth century and the second millennium. A major revolution occurred in neuroscience when neuroimaging technology appeared and provided revelations that had never occurred to anyone.
Adam Ghazali, CEO of Neuroscape in San Francisco
Sandra Dacosta, director of the Magnetic Imaging Department at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Lausanne, Switzerland, stated that neuroimaging techniques are important for this revolution, and are useful in studying the brain, as they are a non-surgical means of entering the brain. Through MRI, they were able to see the brain working from the inside as it experienced different emotions. This mechanism also allowed them to monitor the oxygen in the blood inside the brain, and to study what they could not have imagined a few years ago about the interaction between the different parts of the brain, while the patient talks, sees an image, listens to a sound, or thinks about a topic.
Rafael Yuste claims that scientists are not ignorant of how the brain works because it is very complex, but rather because they do not have the necessary equipment to study it at the required level. When they study a complex system - such as the brain - that includes 100 billion neurons, and try to record the activity of a single neuron, they are like trying to watch a movie. On a screen containing a million pixels, they look at only one pixel, and they will miss the rest of the shapes on the screen and other images, because they result from the connections in time and space between each pixel and another.
Magnetic brain imaging at the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Lausanne, Switzerland
Thanks to neuroimaging techniques, scientists have been able to learn about the brain in 15 years what they have not known since the emergence of humanity until now. This progress has made us optimistic that in the near future we will be able to restore damaged nerves and treat diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, depression, and schizophrenia.
Success in human neuroscience prompted them to delve into other fields such as cognitive neuroscience, which uses functional imaging and non-invasive simulation to study the functions of the human brain, which contains countless secrets. After this great revolution, it is time for this science to reach daily life, or in other words for them to move from the laboratory to the real world.
A paralyzed person challenges the world racing champion... mental leadership
Brain-computer interface technology offers great benefits in a number of therapeutic applications, including treating symptoms associated with paralysis. Dr. Jose Millan has been working for years at the Federal Polytechnic Institute on an ambitious project based on developing a brain-computer interface that allows paralyzed people the opportunity to control their minds with a robotic skeleton. Thus, they can walk or move their hands again.
These technologies have provided tremendous capabilities to these patients. A quadriplegic patient was able to drive a Formula One racing car with his mind in 2017, and Rodrigo Huener Mendez was the first person to achieve this.
Rodrigo Mendez is the first person with quadriplegia to drive a Formula One car mentally in 2017.
“Tan Lee” expands on Rodrigo’s experience, saying that he was equipped with a headgear that contains 14 channels that measure electrical oscillations in his brain, after he spent months planning and training algorithms to understand and interpret ideas by driving forward, turning right or left, or stopping. . Rodrigo did not use any steering wheel or pedals, and there was no one in the vehicle except him. Rather, he challenged Lewis Hamilton, the world champion in Formula One racing, who happened to be in the UAE, so Hamilton accepted the challenge.
The matter was not limited to this point, as there are many projects based on brain-computer interfaces. Euro Electric has developed a technology based on using mind-controlled video games to learn to regulate brain activity.
Mind-controlled video games have been proven to be useful in treating depression or hyperactivity disorder in children. Adam Ghazali, CEO of Neuroscape in San Francisco, says that these games improve the ability to pay attention in a number of medical conditions, including attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, autism, etc. .
Developing super intelligence in our brains...the next revolution of the future
The past few years have witnessed a scientific revolution that has led to intervention in mental processes that help patients suffering from neurological damage or neurological disorders, and these companies will begin to transfer these developments to our daily lives, thus changing the way we deal with each other and understand the world.
Many scientists anticipate an economic revolution in the future, by developing new technologies instead of biotechnology, as in the human genome project. Last year, Elon Musk founded a neurotechnology company called Neuralink. Billionaire Brian Johnson also founded a similar company called Terence, which gives us hope that neurotechnology will create an inevitable economic revolution.
Mind-controlled video games help treat depression or hyperactivity disorder in children
Accordingly, the cognitive chip can be defined as the latest and most ambitious innovation of Mind Mills, because it combines neurotechnology and artificial intelligence, and some entrepreneurs seek to enhance our brains, so that we develop super-intelligence that prepares us to work with artificial intelligence, and this would ease the feelings of humans. That they are becoming less important to the rise of artificial intelligence.
Improving capabilities... fading the boundaries between the biological and digital world
Developed countries do not stop launching scientific projects, perhaps the most recent of which is the Human Brain Project launched by the European Union. Several countries have also adopted similar initiatives to study the brain, including Japan, Canada, China, Australia, and South Korea. These projects could change the course of brain research and lead humanity to unprecedented developments. Communication between the brain and the machine will develop to become more efficient and accurate, and will open the door to countless possibilities for humans to benefit from the capabilities offered by artificial intelligence.
“Humanized intelligence” is based on interacting with artificial intelligence to make humans more in tune with their environment
The development of devices will lead to the emergence of a different type of intelligence, which some have called (intelligence with human characteristics), and is based on creating a wide range of devices and sensors that interact with artificial intelligence in a way that makes humans more in harmony with their environment.
An electronic chip capable of recording the activity of one million neurons in the brain of a sick person and stimulating 100,000 neurons
Thus, the boundaries between the biological world, the physical world, and the digital world will become blurred, and we will deal smoothly with all these dimensions. If you feel confused, your artificial intelligence will realize this and guide you to what to do, and if you feel exhausted, it will send you a command to make coffee or send a message to your mobile phone. It invites you to walk a little and move your legs, and your environment will become an extension of your brain, and this kind of intelligence with human characteristics is what we will see in the future.
Other experiments have also proven the possibility of improving the numerical abilities of children with dyscalculia, who find it difficult to perform mathematical operations, and there is a possibility of improving their performance by implanting devices in the brain.
The Advanced Research Agency is supporting a project to manufacture an electronic chip that records the activity of a million neurons in the brain of a sick person, and stimulates 100,000 neurons at the same time. This is not science fiction, but rather a tangible reality. These chips benefit patients, and may reach clinics within four years only.
“Science can change the world, society and the course of history.”
The film suggests to us that we are approaching the limits of future science fiction in this project, and there is a term in science fiction called mind uploading, which indicates that the mind that represents our being will not continue to depend on the brain as it does now, and we will continue to need the brain, of course, and it cannot The brain is managed by a device, but we will have a number of devices, suitable for space travel, living on another planet, underwater, or something like that.
Brain simulation technology is a modern scientific concept in which the brain simulates a machine remotely
The film suggests that in the relatively distant future we will find brain simulation technology, which is a scientific concept that indicates that what you are doing here is trying to simulate what happens in electrical circuits, and when that happens we will think about the personal and social consequences.
This is what mind uploading means, which is a purely philosophical term that raises important questions, including: What would happen if you could take my identity and my mind and turn me into something else? There are many possibilities that will remain open, and perhaps you can create backup copies of your mind, and you can restore your mind so that the consequences are not dire.
Is it possible to steal or read subconscious thoughts and ideas from someone while they are asleep?
The film maker emphasizes that the knowledge we have gained about the brain over the past years has provided us with what was considered a kind of science fiction. We are progressing at a tremendous speed and we do not know where our knowledge of the brain will lead us, but we will still be able to direct it to the right path.
The director proposes adding new rights to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to protect individuals from the misuse of neural technologies and artificial intelligence. This is what they call neurological rights and mental rights, such as thoughts and even subconscious thoughts that we know nothing about and are not aware of. We must also protect the sense of identity, ego, and self, and convince world leaders and community leaders of their extreme importance.
We should trust in the ability of these technologies to bring benefit, not only to patients but to healthy people as well, as we will be able to understand ourselves. We should not use these technologies against us, be careful and put this ethical framework into practice.
The director concludes his main idea by saying: Science can change the world, society, and the course of history for the better or for the worse, and we are the ones who decide that, so let us move in the right direction.