Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain PDF Author: Theodore W. Berger
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262025775
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
The latest advances in research on intracranial implantation of hardware models of neural circuitry.

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain

Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain PDF Author: Theodore W. Berger
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262025775
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
The latest advances in research on intracranial implantation of hardware models of neural circuitry.

The Idea of the Brain

The Idea of the Brain PDF Author: Matthew Cobb
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 154164686X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
An "elegant", "engrossing" (Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal) examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery. "I cannot recommend this book strongly enough."--Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains.

The Spontaneous Brain

The Spontaneous Brain PDF Author: Georg Northoff
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262552825
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 533

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Book Description
An argument for a Copernican revolution in our consideration of mental features—a shift in which the world-brain problem supersedes the mind-body problem. Philosophers have long debated the mind-body problem—whether to attribute such mental features as consciousness to mind or to body. Meanwhile, neuroscientists search for empirical answers, seeking neural correlates for consciousness, self, and free will. In this book, Georg Northoff does not propose new solutions to the mind-body problem; instead, he questions the problem itself, arguing that it is an empirically, ontologically, and conceptually implausible way to address the existence and reality of mental features. We are better off, he contends, by addressing consciousness and other mental features in terms of the relationship between world and brain; philosophers should consider the world-brain problem rather than the mind-body problem. This calls for a Copernican shift in vantage point—from within the mind or brain to beyond the brain—in our consideration of mental features. Northoff, a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher, explains that empirical evidence suggests that the brain's spontaneous activity and its spatiotemporal structure are central to aligning and integrating the brain within the world. This spatiotemporal structure allows the brain to extend beyond itself into body and world, creating the “world-brain relation” that is central to mental features. Northoff makes his argument in empirical, ontological, and epistemic-methodological terms. He discusses current models of the brain and applies these models to recent data on neuronal features underlying consciousness and proposes the world-brain relation as the ontological predisposition for consciousness.

Toward Brain-computer Interfacing

Toward Brain-computer Interfacing PDF Author: Guido Dornhege
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262042444
Category : Brain mapping
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
This volume presents a timely overview of the latest BCI research, with contributions from many of the important research groups in the field.

Our Grandchildren Redesigned

Our Grandchildren Redesigned PDF Author: Michael Bess
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807066621
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A panoramic overview of biotechnologies that can endlessly boost human capabilities and the drastic changes these “superhuman” traits could trigger Biotechnology is moving fast. In the coming decades, advanced pharmaceuticals, bioelectronics, and genetic interventions will be used not only to heal the sick but to boost human physical and mental performance to unprecedented levels. People will have access to pills that make them stronger and faster, informatic devices will interface seamlessly with the human brain, and epigenetic modification may allow people to reshape their own physical and mental identities at will. Until recently, such major technological watersheds—like the development of metal tools or the industrialization of manufacturing—came about incrementally over centuries or longer. People and social systems had time to adapt: they gradually developed new values, norms, and habits to accommodate the transformed material conditions. But contemporary society is dangerously unprepared for the dramatic changes it is about to experience down this road on which it is already advancing at an accelerating pace. The results will no doubt be mixed. People will live longer, healthier lives, will fine-tune their own thought processes, and will generate staggeringly complex and subtle forms of knowledge and insight. But these technologies also threaten to widen the rift between rich and poor, to generate new forms of social and economic division, and to force people to engage in constant cycles of upgrades and boosts merely to keep up. Individuals who boost their traits beyond a certain threshold may acquire such extreme capabilities that they will no longer be recognized as unambiguously human. In this important and timely book, prize-winning historian Michael Bess provides a clear, nontechnical overview of cutting-edge biotechnology and paints a vivid portrait of a near-future society in which bioenhancement has become a part of everyday life. He surveys the ethical questions raised by the enhancement enterprise and explores the space for human agency in dealing with the challenges that these technologies will present. Headed your way over the coming decades: new biotechnologies that can powerfully alter your body and mind. The possibilities are tantalizing: • Rejuvenation therapies offering much longer lives (160 and even beyond) in full vigor and mental acuity • Cognitive enhancement through chemical or bioelectronic means (the rough equivalent of doubling or tripling IQ scores) • Epigenetic tools for altering some of your genetically influenced traits at any point in your lifetime (body shape, athletic ability, intelligence, personality) • Bioelectronic devices for modulating your own brain processes, including your “pleasure centers” (a potentially non-stop high) • Direct control of machines by thought, and perhaps direct communication with other people, brain-to-brain (a new dimension of sharing and intimacy) But some of the potential consequences are also alarming: • A growing rift between the biologically enhanced and those who can’t afford such modifications • A constant cycle of upgrades and boosts as the bar of “normal” rises ever higher—“Humans 95, Humans XP, Humans 8” • The fragmentation of humankind into rival “bioenhancement clusters” • A gradually blurring boundary between “person” and “product” • Extreme forms of self-modification, with some individuals no longer recognized as unambiguously human

Deep brain stimulation think tank: Updates in neurotechnology and neuromodulation, volume III

Deep brain stimulation think tank: Updates in neurotechnology and neuromodulation, volume III PDF Author: Michael S. Okun
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832513077
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description


Conserving Humanity at the Dawn of Posthuman Technology

Conserving Humanity at the Dawn of Posthuman Technology PDF Author: Joseph R. Carvalko Jr.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030264076
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This volume examines the latest scientific and technological developments likely to shape our post-human future. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the author argues that we stand at the precipice of an evolutionary change caused by genetic engineering and anatomically embedded digital and informational technologies. The author delves into current scientific initiatives that will lead to the emergence of super smart individuals with unique creative capacities. He draws on technology, psychology and philosophy to consider humans-as-they-are relative to autonomy, creativity, and their place in a future shared with ‘post humans.’ The author discusses the current state of bioethics and technology law, both which policymakers, beset by a torrent of revolutionary advances in bioengineering, are attempting to steer. Significantly, Carvalko addresses why we must both preserve the narratives that brought us to this moment and continue to express our humanity through, music, art, and literature, to ensure that, as a uniquely creative species, we don’t simply vanish in the ether of an evolution brought about by our own technology.

Cyber-Humans

Cyber-Humans PDF Author: Woodrow Barfield
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319250507
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
It is predicted that robots will surpass human intelligence within the next fifty years. The ever increasing speed of advances in technology and neuroscience, coupled with the creation of super computers and enhanced body parts and artificial limbs, is paving the way for a merger of both human and machine. Devices which were once worn on the body are now being implanted into the body, and as a result, a class of true cyborgs, who are displaying a range of skills beyond those of normal humans-beings, are being created. There are cyborgs which can see colour by hearing sound, others have the ability to detect magnetic fields, some are equipped with telephoto lenses to aid their vision or implanted computers to monitor their heart, and some use thought to communicate with a computer or to manipulate a robotic arm. This is not science-fiction, these are developments that are really happening now, and will continue to develop in the future. However, a range of legal and policy questions has arisen alongside this rise of artificial intelligence. Cyber-Humans provides a deep and unique perspective on the technological future of humanity, and describes how law and policy will be particularly relevant in creating a fair and equal society and protecting the liberties of different life forms which will emerge in the 21st century. Dr Woodrow (Woody) Barfield previously headed up the Sensory Engineering Laboratory, holding the position of Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor at the University of Washington. His research revolves around the design and use of wearable computers and augmented reality systems and holds both JD and LLM degrees in intellectual property law and policy. He has published over 350 articles and major presentations in the areas of computer science, engineering and law. He currently lives in Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Foundations of Augmented Cognition. Directing the Future of Adaptive Systems

Foundations of Augmented Cognition. Directing the Future of Adaptive Systems PDF Author: Dylan D. Schmorrow
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642218520
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 682

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Book Description
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Augmented Cognition, FAC 2011, held in Orlando, FL, USA in July 2011, within the framework of the 14th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2011, with 11 other thematically similar conferences. The 75 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical parts on theories, models, and technologies for augmented cognition; neuroscience and brain monitoring; augmented cognition, social computing, and collaboration; augmented cognition for learning; augmented cognition and interaction; and augmented cognition in complex environments.

Nanoscale

Nanoscale PDF Author: Nigel Cameron
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470165863
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
An authoritative examination of the present and potential impact of nanoscale science and technology on modern life Because truly transformative technologies have far-reaching consequences, they always generate controversy. Establishing an effective process for identifying and understanding the broad implications of nanotechnology will advance its acceptance and success, impact the decisions of policymakers and regulatory agencies, and facilitate the development of judicious policy approaches to new technology options. Nanoscale: Issues and Perspectives for the Nano Century addresses the emerging ethical, legal, policy, business, and social issues. A compilation of provocative treatises, this reference: Covers an area of increasing research and funding Organizes topics in four sections: Policy and Perspectives; Nano Law and Regulation; Nanomedicine, Ethics, and the Human Condition; and Nano and Society: The NELSI Imperative Presents differing perspectives, with views from nanotechnology's most ardent supporters as well as its most vocal critics Includes contributions from professionals in a variety of industries and disciplines, including science, law, ethics, business, health and safety, government regulation, and policy This is a core reference for professionals dealing with nanotechnology, including scientists from academia and industry, policy makers, ethicists and social scientists, safety and risk assessment professionals, investors, and others. It is also an excellent text for students in fields that involve nanotechnology.