Sunday’s Big Idea
Today's Big Idea: Brain Power
The human relationship with technology is complicated: we create it and shape it, and in turn it shapes us, informing how we perceive the world and what we imagine to be possible. In a recent interview, neuroscientist David Eagleman told Big Think that we’re entering a very interesting stage of human history in which we can start importing technology to enhance our natural senses or perception of the world. Some of the projects he's working on in his lab include a vest that would allow sensory information to be sent to the brain through the skin rather than more traditional channels like the eyes or ears.
Brain enhancements will deepen and expand what we experience as reality, says Eagleman. Dr. Michio Kaku believes that we may even one day be able to transport our consciousness into robots, meaning that "the atoms that make up our body, that give us consciousness, that give rise to our personality and our fears and desires—that may die, but yet the essence of the neural circuits may survive."
