The Biological Mind summary

What is a brain actually like? Well, that depends on who you ask.

Throughout history, the brain has often been compared to the latest cutting-edge technology. For Plato, the brain was a chariot pulled by the horses of passion. In the 1920s, anthropologist Arthur Keith likened it to a telephone switch board. Today, the most common metaphor for the brain is a computer.

If there is one thing we know about the brain, it’s that it’s complicated – very complicated. Top neuroscientist Christof Koch of the Allen Brain Institute, calls our noggin “the most complex object in the known universe.”

There’s truth to this statement – the brain is complex. Just look at the numbers. The average human brain consists of about 60 billion neurons. Each of these neurons has about ten thousand synapses. These synapses allow neurons to maintain about 150 individual connections. The result of all this is a network with trillions of possible configurations. 

Have you ever wanted to be a mindreader? Life would certainly be easier if you could just peek inside someone’s head and see what they’re really thinking. Well, new advancements in brain imaging technology make this dream look like a real possibility. 

The most cutting-edge method for looking at the brain is functional magnetic resonance imaging, also known as fMRI. In simple terms, this technique uses the tiny amount of magnetism in blood-born iron to track blood flow throughout the brain. fMRI studies usually entail giving a patient some type of stimuli, then watching which parts of the brain become active.

Want to see the future? The Alcor Life Extension Foundation has got a deal for you! For a couple dozen grand, this service will freeze your brain in  liquid nitrogen until a later date. When technology has advanced enough, they’ll thaw it out and pop it in a new body. 

If this sounds too easy, it’s because it is. Even if your brain survives the process, that new “you” won’t really be you. That’s because what we understand as the “self” is not contained in the brain alone. The body plays an important role as well. Remove one, and the whole system falls apart.

If you’ve ever tried to study in a crowded cafe, you know that a little bit of racket can do a lot to disrupt your concentration. It’s pretty obvious that our surroundings can affect our cognition, whether we like it or not.

The key message here is: Everything from your thoughts and feelings to your intentional actions are impacted by the outside world.

A hot August morning in 1966. Former marine Charles Whitman takes a rifle and climbs the 300-foot tower at the center of UT Austin. Over the next few hours, he shoots at innocent victims below. When it’s over, 18 are dead.

What drove Whitman to this senseless massacre? That depends on who you ask.

You wake up one morning: stuffy nose, sneezing, chills down your spine. You’ve got a cold. Physical illness happens to everyone. It’s a drag, but not a personal failing.

These days, mental illness is treated in a similar manner. This is a big improvement. In the past, psychiatric disorders were considered the result of moral failings. Patients were seen as “degenerates” and sometimes locked away in terrible conditions. 

A swarm of nanobots rewire your neurons. Suddenly, you can speak perfect French. Digital nodes connect your cortex directly to the internet. Now, you can email your thoughts to a friend. And your car? You can drive it with your mind.

These are just some features transhumanists like Raymond Kurzweil and Michio Kaku see in our future. These thinkers, and others like them, base their forecasts on the emerging science of brain hacking. Here, hacking means manipulating the brain with the use of digital technology or other gadgetry. 

Let’s end with a thought experiment. Let’s say the unspeakable happens: your life is cut short by an unforeseen tragedy. Luckily, your loved ones sign you up for an experimental service. Your brain will be cryogenically preserved in a vat. 

Decades later, medical technology has advanced. Scientists develop an advanced bioelectronic neural input-output interface. With this new machinery, frozen brains may be reawakened. Your body may be gone, but your brain will now experience the world as a rich computer-generated simulation.