Modern theories tend to open the doors to discuss computational neuroscience in our world. neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, engineers, psychologists, physicists, and computer scientists are working hard to develop the mechanism of brain-machine communication, that it’s been ages they are making research about the possibility of making it happen in real life.
A good example about an initiative in computational neuroscience was announced by Elon Musk when he founded the startup Neuralink, and while most people still doubting brain-machine communication, Elon started working on it inside of Neuralink, “This, I think, has a very good purpose, which is to cure important diseases and ultimately to help secure humanity’s future.” (Musk, 2019), the goal of developing such technology is offering some new healing solutions, as long as most diseases or problems unit in one thing which is our minds.
Lights are being put on Elon Musk and his company Neuralink, the company revealed about some technologies they’ve developed to the public for the first time, one of the technologies was made to offer control over phones or computers just by reading brain threads; On the other hand, the company also revealed about a custom chip that is able to read and clean brain signals, but until now it can only transmit data using a wired connection, while the main goal is to make it a wireless system (The verge, 2019).
Another source that covers human-machine communication revealed that neurotechnology is getting developed to help humans compete with robots, as Musk said that he’s going to work on a kind of tiny electrodes that can be implemented in the brain (DiCamillo, 2017) so that humans will be able to upload memories or maybe courses! Well, here comes the question about the future of education, why would anyone go to school if they can just implement some kind of electrodes inside their brain, then they can have as much information as they want. On the other hand, it looks like a great idea, because it will give everyone the ability to have a piece of knowledge about anything, so even people who struggled with a certain course, they will be able to have it inside of their brains without making an effort.
“Neuroscience raises questions about technology, art, entertainment, warfare, religion and what it means to be human” (DiCamillo, 2017)
As expressed by Lynch; a lot of questions get opened just by having the idea of full control on the brain through an electrode; I mean, won’t the human become such a robot if we could insert and delete stuff from the brain? we will be like machines, so what guarantees that the technology won’t be used in a bad manner? A bunch of unlimited questions without any answer, since the whole world is putting the eyes on the possibility of having such technology.
Outside of the united states with Elon Musk, only a few countries decided to contribute in this field, and as we all know about Japan when it comes to developing technology, some Japanese researchers disclosed about Riken K computer, which is considered as one of the fastest computers in the world to simulate the complex neural structure of the brain (fanatical futurist, 2016).
I think that computational neuroscience will be a world changer, just think for a bit about the difference that it will bring to our lives; Nowadays, there are many people who need such technology, for example, someone who lost his leg; He would be able to control an artificial leg only with his brain signals; Another example is about the workers who suffer to do the hard stuff like carrying weights, these people may have a robot which can be controlled with the brain as well, and it will make them comfortable.
As in otherwise, such a technology can be helpful to all the departments, it can be used in medicine to make operations, in education to help students to better understand their courses or maybe employees to help them to take control of their work when they are physically tired.
While we can consider neurotechnology as a cure that can heal many people with mental illnesses or disabilities, or even a power for humanity that can be used to make some awesome achievements, we must also take a look at its circumstances. Otherwise, it may give birth to a human catastrophe, instead of being a tool to move humanity towards a more sophisticated and intelligent future, so even though computational neuroscience can be very helpful to humanity, it can be also very dangerous, especially that human beings are struggling with mental health, for example: how would the brain cooperate under a panic attack or stress? As well as, there are some people who would use it for bad manners, such as killing other people without leaving a shred of single evidence.
References:
- VIDEO: Elon Musk’s Next Quest Is A Mind-Machine Meld. Let’s Consider The Implications. (2019, December 3). Morning Edition, NA. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A608005787/SCIC?u=lirn17237&sid=SCIC&xid=e362bb29
- DiCamillo, N. (2017, September 1). In the Future, Humans Will Use Brain to Brain Communication and Download Their Memories If Elon Musk Has His Way; Elon Musk hopes to top his self-driving cars with brain implants that will store your dreams. Newsweek, 169(7). Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500921804/PPDS?u=lirn17237&sid=PPDS&xid=1c4124bd
- The verge. (2019). Elon Musk unveils Neuralink’s plans for brain-reading ‘threads’ and a robot to insert them. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/16/20697123/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-reading-thread-robot
- fanatical futurist. (2016). Japanese researchers have built a computer brain. Retrieved from https://www.fanaticalfuturist.com/2016/11/japanese-researchers-build-a-computer-brain/
