Super Humanity | Transhumanism

Summary

这段视频脚本探讨了大脑的无限潜能和神经科学领域的未来。它描述了人类对于控制大脑功能以增强学习、记忆和感知能力的愿望，以及与人工智能建立共生关系的可能性。视频中提到了大脑与网络连接可能对我们决策自主性的影响，以及通过神经影像技术如功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）对大脑进行非侵入性研究的进展。此外，还讨论了脑机接口（BCI）技术在治疗瘫痪和其他神经性疾病中的应用，以及这些技术可能对社会结构和人类认知能力的影响。最后，强调了制定伦理指南以保护个人免受神经技术滥用的重要性，并对未来人类与人工智能共存的世界进行了展望。

Takeaways

• 🧠 大脑的潜力：未来可能实现对大脑更深层次的控制，从而增强我们的感知能力，比如看到紫外线或听到超声波。
• 📈 记忆增强：未来技术可能允许我们记住比正常情况下更多的事情，增强记忆力。
• 🤖 人工智能合作：实现人机共生关系，模糊物理、数字和生物世界的界限，形成一体化的人类有机体。
• 🧪 决策与网络：探讨了当大脑连接到网络和计算机云时，决策的自主性问题。
• 🧬 大脑的复杂性：强调了大脑的复杂性，拥有约100亿个神经元和数万亿的连接，是一个动态变化的复杂网络。
• 🌐 虚拟现实假说：大脑可能一直在生成虚拟现实，即我们头脑中的世界模型。
• 🔬 神经科学的进步：通过神经影像技术，我们对大脑的了解在过去15年中超过了整个人类历史。
• 💡 光遗传学：使用光遗传学技术，可以控制神经元的活动，这是当前神经科学研究中的一项重要技术。
• 🚀 脑机接口（BCI）：BCI技术允许大脑与机器直接交流，正在治疗瘫痪和其他神经系统疾病中取得进展。
• 🌟 神经技术公司：新兴的神经技术公司正在开发新的方法来干预心理过程，并可能在未来改变我们的日常生活。
• ⚖️ 伦理和神经权利：强调了制定伦理指导方针以保护个人免受神经技术和人工智能滥用的重要性。

Q & A

为什么我们想要更多地控制大脑的能力？

我们想要更多地控制大脑的能力，因为这样可以让我们有更多的选择权，决定我们学习的内容、学习的方向，以及如何利用学到的知识。此外，我们也希望大脑能体验到目前无法感知的事物，比如感知紫外线或听到超声波，或者提高记忆力。

什么是人本智能？

人本智能是由已故的马文·明斯基提出的一个概念，指的是创造一个与人工智能共生的环境，我们的身体、数字和生物世界将不再作为独立的部分存在，而是成为整合的、一体化的人类有机体的无缝部分。

如果我们的大脑连接到网络，那么决策是由谁做出的？

如果我们的大脑连接到网络，并且有算法参与我们的决策过程，那么决策的主体将变得模糊。这涉及到一个哲学问题，即自由意志与决定论的辩论，以及技术如何影响我们的自主性和个人决策。

为什么理解大脑的工作原理对我们来说很重要？

理解大脑的工作原理对我们来说很重要，首先，它关系到我们作为人类的定义，因为我们是由我们的思想定义的，而不是我们的身体。其次，对于临床患者来说，理解大脑的工作机制是帮助他们解决精神和神经疾病的关键。最后，这对技术和经济也至关重要，因为大脑的计算方式可能比我们现在使用的数字计算机更有效和强大。

大脑的复杂性表现在哪些方面？

大脑的复杂性表现在其拥有大约1000亿个神经元和数万亿的连接，这些神经元在一个不断变化的动态网络中运作。大脑是我们所知的宇宙中最复杂和最神秘的地方，是情感、思想和记忆产生的地方，也是我们不懈寻求自我理解的地方。

神经影像技术如何帮助我们更好地理解大脑？

神经影像技术，如功能性磁共振成像（fMRI），允许我们在非侵入性的方式下观察大脑内部的活动。这些技术使我们能够看到大脑在体验感觉和情感时的内在功能，发现不同大脑区域之间的相互作用，以及在执行特定任务时哪些大脑区域的活动会增加。

脑机接口（BCI）是什么，它如何帮助治疗瘫痪等疾病？

脑机接口（BCI）是指在大脑内部处理过程和机器或其他设备之间建立连接的任何技术。BCI技术可以帮助解码大脑信号，并将其转换为机器可以理解的命令。在治疗瘫痪等疾病方面，BCI技术允许患者通过脑电波控制机器人外骨骼或其他辅助设备，从而恢复运动能力。

神经技术公司正在开发哪些类型的项目，它们将如何影响我们的日常生活？

神经技术公司正在开发的项目主要集中在帮助患有不同类型的脑损伤或神经疾病的患者。然而，未来这些技术的进步很可能会转化为我们的日常生活中，从而根本改变我们彼此互动的方式，甚至我们理解世界的方式。

为什么我们需要对神经技术和人工智能的发展设立伦理指导原则？

由于神经技术和人工智能的强大潜力，它们可能会被滥用，从而侵犯个人的隐私和自由意志。因此，我们需要设立伦理指导原则来保护个人的心理健康、身份认同和自主权，确保这些技术被用于促进人类福祉，而不是被用于伤害或控制人们。

什么是“神经权利”？

“神经权利”是指保护个人免受神经技术和人工智能滥用的新权利。这包括保护人们的心理隐私，即我们的思想、甚至我们自己都未察觉的潜意识思想，以及当我们通过脑机接口与计算机连接时的自我感和代理感。

为什么说我们正处于神经科学的新时代？

我们正处于神经科学的新时代，因为当前的技术进步使我们能够以前所未有的方式探索和理解大脑。这些技术不仅有望治疗神经疾病，还可能增强人类的认知能力，甚至改变我们体验和感受世界的方式。

Outlines

00:00

🧠 大脑控制与感知扩展

第一段讨论了人类对大脑控制力的渴望，以及我们希望大脑能做到的事情，比如选择性地学习、记忆提升，甚至是感知平常无法感知的事物，如紫外线或超声波。此外，还提到了与人工智能共生的未来愿景，即人机融合，以及未来可能实现的大脑读取和信息转换技术。

05:00

🧐 大脑的虚拟世界与计算能力

第二段提出了大脑可能一直在生成虚拟现实的假设，并探讨了哲学家康德关于世界由我们心智所创造的理论。同时，提到了大脑的惊人计算能力和复杂的神经网络，以及我们对大脑工作机制理解的局限性。

10:01

💡 神经科学的进步与挑战

第三段强调了理解大脑工作机制的重要性，包括对人类自我定义的深入、帮助神经疾病患者以及可能对计算机科学和经济带来的革命性影响。同时，指出了神经科学面临的挑战，包括缺乏研究大脑复杂系统的正确方法。

15:03

🌟 神经成像技术与光遗传学

第四段介绍了神经成像技术，特别是功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）对神经科学的影响，以及光遗传学等先进方法如何帮助我们更深入地了解大脑功能。

20:14

🤖 脑机接口与治疗应用

第五段讨论了脑机接口（BCI）技术的发展，以及它在治疗瘫痪和其他神经性疾病方面的应用。还提到了通过意念控制的设备，如机器人外骨骼，以及如何通过训练和算法来解码大脑信号。

25:18

🎮 脑控游戏与神经治疗

第六段探讨了脑控游戏在治疗抑郁症、多动症等神经性疾病中的潜力。介绍了如何使用闭环视频游戏来个性化挑战玩家，并针对不同的神经网络进行治疗。

30:22

🚀 神经技术的未来与伦理

第七段展望了神经技术的未来，包括帮助中风患者康复的设备和结合人工智能的认知芯片。同时，提出了关于增强人类智能和与人工智能合作的愿景，以及伴随这些技术进步可能出现的社会和伦理问题。

35:24

🌐 脑科学全球项目与人类未来

第八段描述了全球范围内的脑科学研究项目，如美国大脑计划和欧洲的人类大脑项目，以及这些项目如何推动科学发展和改善人类生活。强调了脑机通信的进步和人类智能的增强潜力。

40:25

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 人类与技术的共生未来

第九段讨论了人类与技术共生的未来，包括通过植入物增强认知能力的可能性，以及未来可能出现的直接脑间通信和情感、记忆传输技术。同时，提出了关于这些技术对社会影响的思考。

45:27

🧪 神经科技的伦理与社会影响

第十段强调了神经科技的伦理问题，提出了保护个体免受神经科技和人工智能滥用的“神经权利”。讨论了这些技术对社会的深远影响，以及确保技术用于提升人类福祉的重要性。

50:28

🌟 神经科学的新时代

第十一段总结了神经科学新时代的到来，以及科技进步如何改变世界和人类体验。强调了科学发展方向的重要性，并以乐观的态度期待科技带来的积极变化。

Keywords

💡神经科学

神经科学是一门研究大脑和神经系统的科学，它探索了我们如何思考、感知、记忆和体验情感。视频中提到，通过神经科学的进步，我们有可能增强人类的认知能力，甚至实现与人工智能的共生关系，这与视频主题紧密相关。

💡人工智能

人工智能（AI）是指由人造系统所表现出来的智能。视频讨论了人工智能与人类智能结合的潜力，即“人本智能”，这可能模糊生物学、物理世界和数字世界之间的界限。

💡脑机接口

脑机接口（BCI）是一种直接连接大脑和外部设备的通信路径。视频中提到了BCI在治疗瘫痪和其他神经性疾病中的应用，以及它们如何使人们能够通过思考来控制机器，这展示了BCI在神经科学领域的实际应用。

💡神经可塑性

神经可塑性是指大脑在生命过程中对经验的反应而发生结构和功能的改变。视频提到利用神经可塑性来帮助中风患者恢复，这是通过训练大脑和身体来实现的。

💡认知能力

认知能力包括记忆、注意力、感知和解决问题等心理过程。视频中讨论了通过神经技术提高人类的认知能力，比如通过植入物增强记忆能力。

💡神经影像技术

神经影像技术允许科学家非侵入性地观察大脑结构和活动。视频中提到了功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）等技术，它们使我们能够看到大脑在体验感觉和情感时的内部活动。

💡神经编码

神经编码是指神经系统中信息的表示和传递方式。视频提出如果我们能够破解神经编码，理解大脑的计算方式，可能会彻底改变计算机科学和技术。

💡虚拟现实

虚拟现实是一种通过计算机模拟创建的可交互三维环境。视频提出了一个假设，即大脑可能一直在生成虚拟现实，这与哲学中的一些古老观点相呼应。

💡神经伦理学

神经伦理学是探讨神经科学技术发展带来的伦理问题的学科。视频中强调了制定伦理指导原则以保护个人免受神经技术滥用的重要性。

💡神经权利

神经权利是指保护个人免受神经技术滥用的新权利，包括保护人的思维和潜意识思想的隐私。视频中提出，随着神经技术的发展，需要新的法律和权利来保护个人的心智隐私。

💡神经经济学

神经经济学是一门结合神经科学和经济学的学科，研究大脑如何影响经济决策。视频中提到，理解大脑的计算方式可能会对经济产生革命性的影响。

Highlights

未来最令人兴奋的部分是实现人文智能的潜力，这是已故的马文·明斯基所谈论的，即创造一个我们与人工智能共生关系的环境。

我们可能会有可能读取大脑内部的信息，将其翻译成我们能理解的东西，甚至可能将其放回大脑中，用于教学。

如果我们的大脑连接到网络或计算机云，并且那里的算法被用于我们的决策制定，那么究竟是谁在做决定？

我们对大脑的了解不足，这是一个巨大的挑战，但也是我非常享受承担的任务。

人类大脑中有大约3百万公里长的纤维连接，足以绕月球几圈。

大脑是宇宙中最复杂和神秘的地方，是情感、思想和记忆产生的地方。

大脑生成虚拟现实的假设，即我们的大脑一直在运行的世界模型。

大脑比超级计算机能进行更复杂的计算，尽管它重量不足3磅，消耗的功率仅有20或30瓦特。

神经突触大约有100万亿个，它们的大小相当于细菌，是接收电脉冲后释放化学物质的化学机器。

尽管经过100年的神经科学研究，我们仍然没有完全理解大脑的工作方式。

理解大脑的工作对于我们作为人类的定义至关重要，因为我们是由我们的思想定义的，而不是我们的身体。

了解大脑的工作对于帮助患有精神和神经系统疾病的患者是紧急且必要的。

如果我们能理解大脑的计算方式，可能会彻底改变计算机科学、计算机技术和经济。

深度理解人类大脑的运作可能会为伟大的哲学问题，如意识是什么，以及自由意志是否存在，带来答案。

我们正在打开一扇门，通过思想直接与计算机通信，分享我们的思想和情感。

神经影像技术的出现，如功能性磁共振成像，使我们能够以非侵入性的方式观察大脑内部的功能。

光遗传学等光学方法使我们能够同时测量整个神经回路的活动，这是神经科学研究的一个突破。

脑机接口（BCI）技术正在帮助瘫痪患者通过思维控制机器外骨骼，恢复行走或移动手臂的能力。

神经科技公司正在开发基于思维控制视频游戏的技术，以学习调节大脑活动，治疗抑郁症或儿童多动症等疾病。

神经技术初创公司的兴起正在彻底改变我们干预心理过程的方式，未来这些技术的进步将转移到我们的日常生活中。

神经技术可能是引发未来经济革命的关键，就像人类基因组项目对生物技术的影响一样。

奥巴马在2013年宣布的大脑计划是一个研究大型项目，旨在揭开大脑的奥秘，类似于人类基因组项目对遗传学的影响。

增强认知能力，如通过植入物提高儿童的数值能力，将通过神经技术实现。

未来，强大的合成心灵感应技术将不仅能读取他人的思想，还能操纵它们。

我们必须确保这些强大的技术不被滥用，并制定伦理框架以保护个人免受神经技术和人工智能滥用的影响。

神经权利将保护人们的思想和潜意识思想的隐私，这是最终的人类权利。

科学可以改变世界，可以改变社会，可以改变历史的进程，而这取决于我们确保它朝着正确的方向发展。

Transcripts

[Music]

there are all kinds of situations where

we would love to have more control over

what the brain can do so that you have

these choices of what exactly you're

taking in what you're learning and and

where you're going with that and there

are also situations where we simply wish

that we could experience more say for

example that you would like to be able

to perceive things that we currently

can't perceive you want to be able to

see in the ultraviolet or you want to be

able to hear ultrasound or what if you

wanted to be able to uh remember more

things than you normally can

remember the most exciting part of the

future to me is the potential to achieve

humanistic intelligence this idea that

uh the late Marvin Minsky talked about

which is being able to create a an

environment where we have a symbiotic

relationship with artificial

intelligence uh and we will see a

blurring of our physical digital and

biolog iCal worlds uh not so much being

separate parts but as being seamless

parts of one integrated uh human

organism it probably will be possible to

read out what's inside a person's brain

to understand what's there by

translating it into something you can

understand and maybe even putting it

back giving it to someone

teaching when we make a decision now we

are under the impression that we are the

ones who making the decision and we make

it because we want to make it but if our

brains are connected to the net to a

computer Cloud um and there algorithms

there that are used in our decision

making well who's

deciding

[Music]

we are curious to understand who we are

and why we think the way we think and

what is what is uh the the reason of our

thoughts our memories our imagination

our

[Music]

feelings understanding this incredibly

complex organ that gives rise to

everything that makes us human

everything we see feel hear our sense of

identity and so given the vast

complexity of the brain you know 100

billion neurons you know hundreds of

trillions of connections um operating in

a dynamic Network that's constantly

changing it's just really uh uh very

very complicated system for for us to

study with science so it's a it's a big

challenge but one that's I really enjoy

undertaking in the human brain you have

about 3 million kilomet is a fibers is

connecting it so it's enough to go

around the Moon a couple of times just

in one

brain the place in the universe that is

likely the most complex and

mysterious the place where emotions

thoughts and memories

arise that place in the universe that

tries tireless ly to understand itself

an unsolved

Enigma we don't know and we cannot build

today anything that is even as closely

connected to as what we see in the in

the human

[Music]

brain there's one hypothesis that

suggests

that what brains are doing or what our

brain is doing is generating a virtual

reality a model of the world that is

running in our heads all the time this

has to do with ideas that have been

floating around in Philosophy for a few

centuries in particular with a

suggestion by Emmanuel Kant the German

philosopher that the reason why the

world and our minds our views of the

world

agree is not because our minds reflect

the world this is no no it's the

opposite is that the world is created by

our minds in other words that what we

perceive is not out there it's in

here it weighs less than 3 lb it

consumes scarcely 20 or 30 WTS of power

and nevertheless it's able to make

calculations more complex than a

supercomputer there are 100 to a,

trillion

synapses they about the size of a

bacteria they basically are chemical

machines they receive an electric pulse

and then they release chemicals they hit

receptors very complex Machinery is

triggered this uh results in a change in

the behavior of the neurons it causes

genes to express new proteins to come in

the Cascade of biochemical and

biophysical processes is enormously

complex if you would try to describe how

the networks of cells is working uh I

would say um that imagine that you are

having phone calls with 10,000 people at

one and the same time and the same what

you are doing everybody is doing who is

living on our planet planet on the earth

about 7 billion people and when you then

try to describe all this communication

that is going on of all the 7 billion

people and then you imagine that this is

only one1 perhaps um of the capacity and

everything is only within your skull is

restricted to 1 and a half kilogram and

this is complexity in my

view

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in spite of a 100 Years of uh

Neuroscience we still don't understand

how the brain works we still don't have

a general theory of the function of the

[Music]

brain the first reason why I would argue

is critical to to understand how the

brain works has to do with our own

definition as human beings we are a

mental species we are defined by our

minds not by our bodies so we are a very

special type of animal we don't

understand the organ that generates our

minds so when we understand how the

brain works we will be able to

understand how our mind is from the

inside and we'll understand ourselves

for the first

[Music]

time the second reason has to do with a

clinic with patients humankind should

understand how the brain works because

we need uh it's urgent that we help

these patient that have mental and

neurological diseases and we have to

understand the the the system in order

to fix

it

we estimate that possibly one person out

of two to one person out of three in

Europe have some kind of uh disorder

that is related to the brain altogether

it's maybe up to more than 200 million

person in Europe who have one of those

disorder and it's also associated with a

huge cost for the society the cost of

all disease affecting the brain more

than the cost of all cancer plus all

cardiovascular disease plus

diabetes and then the third reason has

to do with technology and the economy

and it is very likely that brains not

just of humans but brains of all animals

have discovered through hundreds of

millions of years of

evolution ways to compute that could be

much more efficient I and powerful than

what we're doing currently with our

digital computers so if this is the case

if we understood if we were able to

break this neural code and understand

how the brain computes what are the

algorithms that are present in our

nervous systems we will likely

revolutionize uh computer science

computer technology and I would say the

economy at the same

time

the holy grof of this will be to create

a much more symbiotic relationship with

artificial intelligence as we can see

today artificial intelligence is moving

forward in Leaps and Bounds offering us

a a myriad of new ways of being more

productive and more efficient in how we

conduct our businesses and how we manage

our daily lives with the introduction of

more and more devices that actually

understand the human and help humans

optimize their own performance we will

have a way to create a much more a

different type of intelligence what I

would call humanistic intelligence the

distinction between the biological world

the physical world and the digital

worlds will just blur and we will

intergate seamlessly across all of these

dimensions a deep understanding of the

functioning of the human brain could

bring answers to Great philosophical

questions such as what Consciousness is

and how it is built or if there is Free

Will Concepts such as the inner self

guilt or even reality could change

forever we are opening the door to a

world where we will communicate directly

with a computer through thought a world

where we will be able to share our

thoughts and our emotions through the

internet we can Envision a future in

which we are able to read the thoughts

of others and even to to manipulate

them we're building technology to read

the activity of all the neurons in these

brains and to write activity to control

and manipulate the activity of these

Nears in the brain and these

Technologies are necessary to be able to

cure human

patients but the same technology

technology is neutral it could be used

for good or for bad the same

Technologies to read and write activity

into brains can be used to

decipher what people are thinking or to

influence the uh activity of the minds

of of people so you say well this is

science fiction well not

really in the middle of the '90s the

last decade of the 20 20th century and

the second Millennium a whole revolution

in the world of Neuroscience occurred

the neuroimaging techniques

appeared so neuroimaging techniques are

important for this um revolution in how

to learn and explore the brain because

it's a nice noninvasive way to get

inside the brain one of the Imaging

techniques that had the greatest impact

was magnetic resonance imaging

for the first time ever we could see the

inner functioning of the brain while it

experiences Sensations and

emotions in fact functional magnetic

resonance imaging able to detect the

presence of oxygen in the blood in the

brain has allowed us to discover

something unimaginable years ago how

different areas in the brain interact

while the patient talks season image

listens to a sound or simply

thinks but if you ask him to focus on

one task like listening to a sound only

the region from this specific task the

auditory cortex for example will have

more conception of oxygen and this

region will pop out in the contrast if

you analyze the data you're listening to

sound against non listening to

sound the reason why we don't understand

how the brain works is not because of

its complexity but because we've been

lacking methods to stud it at the right

level now if you think about it trying

to understand a system as complex as the

brain that has a 100 billion neurons by

recording from one neuron it's a little

bit like trying to watch a movie in a TV

screen that has a million pixels by

looking at a single Pixel so no matter

for how long you study a single Pixel or

just study single neon you will be

missing the figures in the screen and

the shapes of the images because they

are an emerging property of the

correlations in space and time between

the individual

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pixels that we think that Neuroscience

should embark on this period of new

technology to develop the method so that

neuroscientists and clinicians will be

able to see for the first time in the

future the activity of complete neural

circuits and be able to decipher the

functional meaning of this

pattern how can one measure the activity

of each and every one of the neurons in

a brain at the same time the methods

that we and many other people are using

are Optical methods we use light because

light can penetrate the tissue in a

non-invasive fashion in particular the

method that I Pioneer is called calcium

Imaging that we used it for the first

time to measure the activity of neural

circuits every time a neuron fires every

time it's activated calcium comes into

the neuron so that means if you have

these little calcium indicators these

fluorescent molecules in all the neurons

you can directly see who is firing who's

being activated in the entire group at

once because you see this as changes in

fluorescent that are happening in

different earons at different

times thanks to neuroimaging techniques

we have learned more about the brain in

the last 15 years than in the whole

history of hum

kind the advances already made allow us

to think that in the near future we will

be able to solve neurological damage

diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's

depression or schizophrenia yeah I think

that the revolution we're experiencing

now is first the the birth and the

success of human Neuroscience we now

have Fields like cognitive Neuroscience

where we use functional brain Imaging

and non-invasive brain stimulation to

study the functioning human brain and

that was I think the first

step

[Music]

from my perspective I've been doing neur

Neuroscience research for 30 years and

this is the the revolution now but now

is the time that Neuroscience is

starting to reach into people's lives

directly and to me that's what we need

uh to have a revolution we need to

advance from the lab into the real

world

this is a software application to be

able to control the puzzle box orbit

I'll first connect it to the emotive

Insight EEG

headset and that's now connected what we

have to do is train two patterns um the

first is a resting state so that we

understand when you want to control the

the orbit versus not and then the second

pattern is to control what you want to

apply for flying the

orbit

this leap from the lab to the real world

can already be seen in the form of the

perfecting of what belonged to the realm

of Science Fiction just a few years ago

brain computer

Association the so-called brain machine

interfaces have solidified this

revolution in the world of the

Neuroscience well BCI really just means

brain computer interface so anything

that makes a connection between

processing going on inside your brain

and a machine uh some other

device brain computer interfaces can be

grouped as a group of technologies that

can help both from a hardware and

software perspective able to both decode

process and

activate the interf interactions between

humans and machines decoding the brain

of course typical definition would be a

platform that can help us interact from

the brain to the world

the brain machine interfaces are

bringing great advances in various

therapeutical

applications up to now one of the main

practical applications is the treatment

of different pathologies associated with

paralysis

at the federal Polytechnic School of

loan Switzerland Dr Jose Milan has been

working for years on an ambitious

Project based on the development of a

brain machine interface that allows

paralytics to control a robotic

exoskeleton with their minds thanks to

which they can walk again or move a

hand the patients wear an electrode

helmet that detects their cerebral

electrical

activity what we ask ask people to do at

the very beginning because they need to

go through a training in order to

acquire the capability to modulate

voluntarily their brain signals is to

imagine the movements that they want to

accomplish and this requires some

sometimes because it is not easy to do

that our algorithms are capable to

discover which are the areas the

specific areas that they are activating

and deactivating at which frequencies

this is happening and this is the input

to our machine learning algorithms that

will build the model of the decoder that

will differentiate a opening a closing

of the hand a right step a left step and

so on and so forth so during this

training people at the very beginning

need to imagine the movement of their

own body and in many cases people after

some training and because the fact that

as they imagine a movement of their body

this is executed via the exoskeleton

they don't need to think any longer

about their own body they think in terms

of the exoskeleton because the

exoskeleton has been integrated somehow

in people's uh body es schema that we

have in our

brain the possibilities that this

technique offers to these patients have

allowed to a quadriplegic p patient to

be able to drive a Formula 1 car just

with his

mind in

2017 Rodrigo hubner Mendes became the

first person to reach such a milestone

this opportunity to work with Rodrigo

was incredible globo um TV in Brazil

created a vehicle a Formula 1 vehicle

that was completely controlled just

using the power of thought so what they

used was our 14 channel epoch plus

headset uh measuring electrical

fluctuations from Rodrigo's brain he

spent a few months mapping and training

the algorithms to understand how he

Associated specific thoughts whether it

be drive forward right turn right left

or stop and then he was able to use

those commands to drive this car

completely just using his mind so no

steering wheel no pedals just him in

inside the

vehicle this was a very fatuous moment

when Lewis Hamilton who is obviously the

world's reigning F1 Champion was in the

same place as Rodrigo in the UAE Rodrigo

posed a very exciting challenge for

Lewis which is would you like to race me

surprisingly Lewis accepted the

challenge so I I'm not sure when we're

going to start seeing the two of them

start practicing but I know that Rodrigo

is very excited about the ability and

the the opportunity to race with the

reigning world champion just using his

mind around the world a wide variety of

projects based on brain machine

interfaces are currently being

developed in Boston the company

neuroelectrics has developed a

Technology based on the use of Mind

controlled video games to learn to

regulate brain

activity okay so uh today we are going

to measure your brain waves with this

device uh this device basically uses dry

electrodes to measure your brain waves

like this mhm and today we are going to

measure your specifically your Alpha

brain waves and you're going to be able

to control an object in this screen

going up and down so I'm going to put

put you the

cup

then we are first going to measure your

Baseline which is the Baseline of your

brain waves the level in which your

brain is right

now so the way we have developed our

brain computer interface is we are

collecting brain signals for example

alpha or beta or gamma which are

different frequencies right we are

coupling your brain or power Spectrum

your brain bands to Something in the

screen which is in this case a little

Avatar that goes up and down according

to if your brain waves are up or

down so this summering here this is

going up and down according to your

brain waves and you are controlling it

so you need to focus on it and keep

relaxed and try to control it moving it

up and

down

the mind-controlled video games are

proving to be an efficient treatment for

diseases like depression or

hyperactivity disorder in

children at neuroscape a

neurotechnological company based in San

Francisco they are using these video

games controlled by the mind for

therapeutic

uses all of our research right now

relies on using the Clos Loop video

games that we've created uh so far just

using the performance not the cognitive

brain computer interface that's still

very much a research in the research

phase and then we apply these uh these

closed loop video game treatments to see

if they can improve attention abilities

in many different clinical populations

including ADHD which is attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder but also

post-traumatic stress disorder traumatic

brain injury depression and autism we

developed these closed loop video games

that record your performance and use

that data to challenge you in a very

personalized manner so if it's too hard

uh the game could back off if it's too

easy it could make it more challenging

just puts it right at that sweet spot

and then the game mechanics Target

different neural networks that we're

trying to improve so it could be a

prescribable treatment just like we

currently use stimulants to help improve

attention abilities in children that are

suffering

ADHD

[Music]

in the last few years there has been a

progressive blossoming of neurotech

startups that are revolutionizing the

way to intervene in our mental

processes nowadays most of them are

focused on helping patients with

different types of damage or

neurological disorders however in the

not so distant future these companies

will end up transferring all these

advances to our daily lives radically

modifying the way we interact with each

other and even understand the

world investing in novel neurot

technology today could be the best way

to generate an economic revolution in

the future by the development of this

new

technology which instead of

biotechnology in the case of the Human

Genome Project now it would be neurot

technology and this is something that's

starting to happen happen uh last year

uh Elon Musk created a NE Technology

Company New Link Brian Johnson another

billionaire has created a similar uh

company called kernel so we starting to

have some uh new companies that are

based on the promise that these new

neurot technologies are going to be

cause an economic

Revolution a is a neuroinformatics

company so what we do is we're a

platform that allows us to interface

directly with the brain today it's using

non-invasive methods so we start from

the sensor input so measuring the brain

activity itself through to the

translation of the electrical signals

from the brain and then we map those to

control and influence the environment

around us look at your brain

Kim so you're wearing a 14 channel EEG

and this is just picking up electrical

fluctuations that result from neurons

firing inside your brain the brain is

made up of billions of neurons and when

they interact the chemical reaction just

emits an electrical impulse that we can

pick up you can see that different parts

of your brain is lighting up depending

on what you might be thinking or whether

you're paying attention to what I'm

saying so what we're doing here is we're

mapping those electrical fluctuations

into a 3D uh model of what your brain is

doing and each of the colors represent a

different frequency band which indicates

how fast the information is traveling

one from one part of the brain to

[Music]

another located in Lon Switzerland in

the center of Europe is the head

quarters of Mind ma one of the largest

neurotechnological companies in the

world and our big goals are really to

disrupt um industries from Healthcare so

really improving quality of life after a

neurological injury all the way to being

able to help uh healthy individuals you

know enable the ability of their brain

to learn to play to and interact

entertain one of those Technologies

designed to help the rehabilitation of P

patients who have suffered stroke is

mind motion

Pro it's the first device a stroke or a

brain brain injury patient sees after

the injury you know the first two days

when they come out and they need to

recover it's one of the first devices

that's able to start training of both

the brain and the body way so it's about

neuroplasticity tricking the

brain so we're going to put markers on

you so that the

camera can see your arms while we do

some

activity so it's pretty intuitive you'll

just need to move your hand to the start

button and similarly if you move it in

the direction that isn't indicated

you'll see how to correct it so let's

say someone who has a stroke cannot move

the left hand and he can move the right

hand the camera in the mind motion Pro

Tracks the right right hand and puts it

on an avatar on the left side and then

the brain suddenly says oh something's

happening there so I should try more it

starts activating the pathways that used

to control that hand and slowly it

accelerates

recovery the latest and most ambitious

proposal of Mind Bas the cogn chip goes

one step further and merges

neurotechnology with artificial

intelligence

some entrepreneurs are looking into

augmenting our brains so that we can

develop super intelligence that allows

us to collaborate with artificial

intelligence it would be a way to reduce

the risk for human beings to become

irrelevant due to the rise of artificial

intelligence

it is the next Frontier neuroscience and

neurotechnology brain technology is

definitely the next Frontier now we

truly are at the frontier where we can

do some impactful things with the brain

so yeah neurotechnology is now really

going to kick

off ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 1

zero all engine

running one of the greatest

technological and scientific milestones

in history was the arrival of man on the

[Music]

moon the Kennedy era was one of the

periods of the greatest scientific

Splendor the world has ever known as a

consequence an important economy grew

around it which led in a very short time

to unprecedented technological

development

ideas are what power our economy we do

Innovation better than anybody

else and that makes our economy stronger

we had had many interactions with um the

White House Office of Science and

Technology policy and they had explained

to us that they were interested in Grand

challenges for the US government to

pursue any different areas of science

that they thought could really be of the

same ilk as for instance the Apollo moon

landings a big project that really would

allow the entire us Community to get

behind something that would make a huge

impact in

science they found that great science

project in the brain initiative a

research Mega project that Obama

announced in 2013 with the goal of

unveiling the mysteries of the

brain it's a very exciting moment uh

there are many groups around the world

developing new methods and this is now

leading to a re-energizing of

Neuroscience and to the perception that

we can really do it that this is doable

that we can actually end up being able

to record the activity of every in a

brain and decipher it and this could

really revolutionize Neuroscience just

like the Human Genome Project

revolutionized

genetics very soon after the launching

of the brain and initiative the European

Union announced its own Mega project the

human brain

project it turns out that similar

initiatives have been created in

different countries so there is a a

brain initiative in Japan in Canada in

China in Australia South Korea and

Israel the development of all these

projects could change the scenario of

brain research and Lead Humanity to

unprecedented advances so this is very

exciting this is just happening and I

hope that this will provide the ability

to generate uh knowledge and send this

knowledge throughout the world into

different countries uh in a way in which

no one is Left Behind and we're all part

of the same exciting moment in in

history

we've started the path to a new world in

which a deeper knowledge of the brain

will radically transform our Human

[Music]

Condition

brain machine communication will grow

progressively more efficient and precise

and will open up a vast range of

possibilities for human beings to

benefit from the potential offered to us

by artificial

[Music]

intelligence with the um introduction of

more and more devices that actually

understand the human and help humans

optimize their own performance we will

have a way to create a much more a

different type of intelligence what I

would call humanistic intelligence the

idea is that you can create a a a myriad

of devices and sensors around us that

interface and interplay with artificial

intelligence in a way that makes humans

um much more symbiotic with their

environment so you know the distinction

between the biological world the

physical world and the digital worlds

will just blur and we will integrate

seamlessly across all of these

Dimensions so you know when you feel

confused your AI will recognize that and

will prompt you with commands if it

recognize that you're fatigued it'll

send a command to brew the coffee pot or

a message to your phone reminding you to

go out and take a short walk and stretch

your legs so you will become integrated

with your environment and your

environment becomes an extension of your

brain and I think that type of

humanistic intelligence is really where

we're going to see the future

go the cognitive capacities of human

beings will be

enhanced there are experiments by

colleagues um such as Roy Ken kados that

have shown that you can improve

numerical abilities uh in children um

that have U this culia people uh who

have difficulty in in um in doing

arithmetic and so on I think enhancement

via uh implants um and things like this

is definitely going to be possible

Technologies are going to enable humans

to augment ourselves mentally just like

holding an iPhone we can have access to

enormous amount of information if that

comes directly piped into our brains

we're going to be able to operate at the

cognitive level above what we operate

that normally so they're going to be

augmented humans so this uh uh could

cause

major difference in the society can

accentuate the difference between

different social groups of different

countries and we have to ensure that

there's equal access to all of that that

there's a principle of furnace that runs

across the application of these new

neurot technologies and artificial

intelligent

algorithms it gets more interesting when

you can think about neuroprosthesis in

the cognitive parts of the brain so

let's take for instance this hipocampal

prosthesis the patients who are going to

be the first ones to use these devices

are going to be the first people with

some kind of superhuman memory ability

the very first type of memory ability is

going to be that they can choose when

they do remember something and when they

don't because they can say okay the

stuff that I the experiences that were

coming through at 3:00 yesterday

I want those to be

[Music]

[Music]

enhanced brain computer communication

Will Make Way for brain computer brain

interfaces you take what this person has

learned you run it through the

translator and you give it to someone

else's brain or you just want to be able

to communicate through something like

telepathy you can read out what a person

is trying to say or what they're Imaging

what they're imagining and you can try

to give those imaginings or those sounds

to someone

else

you could try to detect what a person is

feeling and you can translate that in a

way and then give it to someone else so

you can imagine this as a as a

communication pathway that wouldn't just

work for words but it would work for

images it would work for feelings it

would work for anything that we share in

in a sense where we can say because

we're all humans we all have feelings of

happiness and of sadness and of pain and

we have smell and we have Vision so you

can you can transfer smells you can

transfer Vision you can transfer

auditory you can eventually with enough

translation even translate knowledge and

memory connecting brains is going to be

is going to be done um there are

definitely hurdles and it's going to

take very important technological

breakthroughs I think the in in the

future we will definitely have uh very

powerful synthetic telepathy

Technologies

it will be possible not only to read

others thoughts but also to manipulate

them let's think about it a little bit

more about the the impact and

repercussions of this new knowledge to

society to humanity

now we can uh using mice we cannot read

the activity of every near in the brain

of house but if you look at the visual

cortex you can actually read the

activity a few thousand neurons there

and we can uh deher some of the patterns

of activity as they relate to what the

animal is is seeing what the animal is

looking at and then we can go in with

Optical methods with optogenetics and

selectively change the patterns of

activity and fool the animal into

thinking that he's seeing one thing or

the other thing by essentially playing

the piano with this neural circuits in

the visual cortex of the of the brain

this is something we can do

today people could do this with uh with

humans not today we don't have the

methods to control to read the activity

of of uh of many neurons in the brain of

humans and to change that but this me

these methods are going to be developed

because we need them for the patients in

fact uh there's a project

supported by DARPA by the foundation of

of military research to build a

electronic chip to record the activity

of 1 million

neurons in a human in a human patient

and to stimulate a 100,000 neurons at

the same time and this is not science

fiction this is something that's been

built as we

speak in fact we're helping to build

them because they need to use this for

for patients and this could be in the

clinic in four

years A Whole New World of opportunities

is opening up before our eyes a world

where we will have the ability to

coevolve with artificial

intelligence there is even a hypothesis

that in the distant future we won't need

our biological structures if all we are

are our thoughts our memories our

emotions our whole self self can be

transferred into a computer our

biological bodies will no longer be

necessary so now we're getting into the

more far future science fiction aspect

of this whole Endeavor there is a

science fiction term called Mind

uploading what it means is that mind or

who we are is then no longer dependent

on the biological brain as such you

still need a brain of course there's no

such such thing as as no device running

your mind but it could be all sorts of

devices it could be a device that is

better suited for say for example living

in space or living on another planet or

living underwater or something like

that so when you get to a far future

where the technology of whole brain

emulation which is really the the more

scientific concept what is it you're

actually doing here you're trying to

emulate what's going on in the circus

when you have that then you can start

thinking about the personal and social

um consequences of doing that which is

really what mind uploading means it's a

it's a very philosophical term in a

sense it's like what happens if you can

take who I am my mind and move me to

something else so many things are then

potentially possible you could make

backups of your mind so that if

something happens you can restore and

it's not a you know it's not as

devastating

[Music]

the knowledge we have acquired in recent

years about the brain has given us

possibilities until recently considered

science fiction we're advancing at very

high speed we can't know where a deeper

knowledge of the brain will lead us but

it's in our hands to steer it in the

right

direction it's critical

to have uh guidelines ethical guidelines

for the development of these

Technologies we propose to add to the

human Universal Declaration of Human

Rights new uh rights to protect

individuals from the abuse of neurot

Technologies and artificial intelligence

so this is what we call the neural

rights and they have to do with

protecting uh the mental privacy of

people so this is our first one not just

the data privacy of our phon no no the

mental privacy our thoughts and even

worse our subconscious thoughts things

that we don't even know we're not aware

of of knowing them those should be

protected it should be a and this is the

ultimate human right the our mental

privacy we should also have protection

as we connect ourselves to uh computers

through brain computer interfaces look

at the effect that connecting us to the

net through our iPhones has had in our

culture well imagine if that connection

could be direct through some uh brain

computer interface that could be maybe

uh Wireless and uh and um non-invasive

that could happen in the future so uh so

this is going to affect our sense of

identity of who we are we need to to

protect the sense of of identity the ey

the self this is something that humans

never have to worry about in the past no

one ever had that problem

[Music]

before related to this is also our sense

of agency our free will it could be

someone who wants to actually change the

way you're you're operating so that's

another

fundamental right that has to be

protected so these are the the neurites

now we have to convince uh um the

leaders of the world and the leaders of

the society that this is a very

important issue we're discussing the

future of our society the future of

human humankind and that we have to make

sure that these Technologies which are

so powerful and they could uh cause so

much uh good uh not just imp patience

but in among ourselves we'll be able to

finally understand who we are it's like

a new Renaissance that these

Technologies are not used against us um

we have to be uh Vigilant and we just

have to put this ethical framework in

place so that this doesn't

happen this understanding is just going

to give us the tools to develop in many

different directions to explore in many

directions and also to be versatile and

adaptable so that maybe the human

species has a really long-term future

not the kind of future where you know it

works for a while and then we're not

adapted well enough and that's it but a

really long-term future that's what I'm

hoping that this could ultimately lead

to I hope it could provide us with the

tools to have basically what you might

call another Cambrian explosion where

the new species develop in all kinds of

directions except it's us it's uh the

human species deciding that we want to

try out this direction try out that

direction and so

forth

[Music]

science can change the world it can

change society it can change the course

of history and it can do that for good

or for bad it's up to us to make sure

that it it goes uh in the right

direction we've entered a new age the

age of Neuroscience in age in which the

way we experience and feel the world

will radically

change welcome

to the World of

[Music]

Tomorrow

[Music]

[Music]