Neuroengineering the Future

by Katz, Bruce F.

• ISBN13: 9781934015186
• ISBN10: 1934015180
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-16
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Summary

We are on the cusp of a broad revolution, one with startling implications for perception, cognition, emotion, and indeed, personal identity. Still in its relative infancy, this rapidly progressing field is poised to move from perceptual aids such as cochlear implants to devices that will enhance and speed up thought to the ultimate goal of researchers, that of downloading the mind from its bound state in the body to a platform-independent existence. This controversial book describes the science that will make these transformations possible. It begins by describing how the brain works, including an overview of the architecture of the brain. It then examines the current state-of-art neural technologies, including devices that read from the brain, and devices that can write information into the brain. The book also describes how insights from the nascent field of consciousness studies show how the full transfer of the "soul" could be realized. Finally, it considers what it would be like to be a mind unbound, and the possibilities beyond those found in ordinary corporeal life.

Author Biography

Bruce F. Katz holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the Univ. of Illinois and is currently an adjunct professor at Drexel University

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Foundational Material
Introduction	p. 3
The Brain as Designed by Evolution: Functional Neuroanatomy	p. 15
The Brain: An Evolutionary Overview	p. 16
The reptilian brain	p. 18
The limbic brain	p. 20
The neocortex	p. 23
The Neuron and the Neuron Doctrine	p. 25
Some Important Systems	p. 31
Vision	p. 31
The motor system	p. 38
The arousal system	p. 41
Anatomical Limitations of the Brain	p. 44
Volume and weight	p. 44
Surface area	p. 46
White matter and conduction time	p. 48
Barriers to the evolution of the brain	p. 49
The Brain as Designed by Evolution: Low- and High-Level Cognition	p. 53
Neural Networks	p. 53
Pattern recognition and computation	p. 55
Representation	p. 59
Learning	p. 61
High-level cognition	p. 63
The tale of the monkfish	p. 64
Symbolic cognition	p. 67
Implications for neuroengineering	p. 71
Computational Limitations of Homo Sapiens	p. 73
A Framework for Consciousness and Its Role in Neuroengineering	p. 79
Introductory Concepts	p. 80
Qualia as the data of consciousness	p. 81
Supervenience	p. 84
Experimental Data	p. 88
Blindsight	p. 89
Binocular rivalry	p. 93
Backward masking	p. 94
Context-driven perception	p. 95
Sleep and unconsciousness	p. 98
Supervenient Theories: A Survey	p. 99
Eliminative materialism	p. 101
Noneliminative materialism	p. 103
Quantum theories of consciousness	p. 105
Functionalism	p. 109
Can this Theory be Saved?	p. 117
The reciprocal corollary	p. 120
Theoretical comparisons	p. 123
Consistency with results	p. 126
Statism?	p. 134
Reduced Functionalism and Neuroengineering	p. 136
Personal Identity	p. 141
Philosophical Foundations	p. 147
The simple view	p. 147
Psychological continuity	p. 149
Organic continuity	p. 152
Deflationary accounts	p. 153
Insights from Buddhism and Eastern Religions	p. 156
Psychology and Identity	p. 157
Pathologies of identity	p. 158
The plasticity of self	p. 160
Autobiographical memory	p. 161
The neurobiology of self	p. 164
A Synthesis of Views: The Self as Genuine Illusion	p. 166
The Fluidity of Identity	p. 178
Neural Engineering: The State of the Art
Brain Machine Interfaces: Principles, Issues, and Examples	p. 185
Principles of BMI	p. 187
Bandwidth and degrees of freedom	p. 187
Open and closed loop systems	p. 190
Adaptation and plasticity	p. 191
Course coding and cell ensembles	p. 194
Transparency of action	p. 197
Reading from the brain	p. 200
Noninvasive methods	p. 200
Invasive methods	p. 209
Semi-invasive methods	p. 211
Signal Interpretation	p. 211
Linear methods	p. 213
Nonlinear methods	p. 214
Mind reading vs. brain reading	p. 215
Representative Examples	p. 217
Animal, invasive	p. 218
Human, noninvasive	p. 220
Human, semi-invasive and invasive	p. 223
Stimulating the Brain	p. 231
Sensory Prostheses	p. 232
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)	p. 237
Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS)	p. 243
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)	p. 244
Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES)	p. 248
Near-term Trends	p. 253
Closed Loop Brain Stimulation (CLBS)	p. 253
The Expanded Sensorium	p. 256
Implantable Chips, Extensible Bodies	p. 258
Mind Reading	p. 261
Neuroart	p. 263
A New "New Age"?	p. 265
The Future of Neuroengineering
From Thinking Caps to Eureka Caps	p. 273
The Amplification of Intelligence	p. 273
The nature of intelligence	p. 274
Augmented cognition	p. 280
Toward a thinking cap	p. 281
The Induction of Creativity	p. 287
Anecdotal and psychological evidence	p. 288
Neurophysiology and creativity	p. 292
Toward a eureka-inducing device	p. 294
The Manufactured Genius?	p. 298
Happy on Demand	p. 303
Pleasure and the Brain	p. 305
Self-stimulation and reward	p. 305
Imaging studies of meditation	p. 308
Orgasm and euphoria	p. 311
Theories of Happiness	p. 314
Determinants of Happiness	p. 318
Clear Perception, Clear Action: An Integrated View of Happiness and Pleasure	p. 321
The Kernel Pleasure Principle (KPP)	p. 325
Happiness Machines: Orbs and Orgasmatrons	p. 329
Uploading the Soul: Prospects and Mechanisms	p. 339
Review and Clarification of the Necessary Conditions for Identity Uploading	p. 343
Uploading Procedures	p. 345
Thought and behavior replication	p. 345
Synaptic copying	p. 349
Gradual offloading	p. 353
Who Gets to be Virtualized?	p. 354
Look, Ma. No Body!	p. 356
The Mind, Unbound	p. 363
Temporary Immortality	p. 364
Neuroholidays	p. 367
Soul Amalgams	p. 375
The Fundamental Luminosity of Mind	p. 379
Index	p. 383
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