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The Era of Memory Engineering has Arrived

“We allow that our memories may fade and fail a bit, but otherwise, we go on the sanity-preserving assumption that there is one reason why we remember a particular thing: because we were there, and it actually happened. Now, a new set of experiments, led by MIT neuroscientists Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu in Susumu Tonegawa’s lab, shows that this needn’t be the case. Using a stunning set of molecular neuroscience techniques (no electrode caps involved), these scientists have captured specific memories in mice, altered them, and shown that the mice behave in accord with these new, false, implanted memories. The era of memory engineering is upon us, and naturally, there are big implications for basic science and, perhaps someday, human health and society…

…Naturally, one wonders whether these techniques might someday find human applications. Perhaps it would be possible to rebuild particularly cherished and important memories that have deteriorated with age or disease? Or perhaps, more provocatively, some might even embrace the idea of falsified memory – artificially adding in happiness where there is only remembered pain, or subtracting out enduring despair that’s long outlived its usefulness. These are some ethically tricky situations, to be sure. At the same time, though, it’s hard to not sympathize with someone, say a war veteran or a rape victim, who might want the emotional content of a specific, life-destroying memory modified.”

Gray: The Ethics and Politics of Cyborg Embodiment – Citizenship as a Hypervalue

“Cyborgs, extended and augmented by prosthetics, can be described as hyper-bodies. As human-based cyborgs proliferate in type and quantity what does this mean for ethics and politics in 21st century cyborg societies? The ontological instability of cyborgs warrants the use of political technologies such as manifestos and written constitutions in order to ameliorate the potential of cyborgization to fatally undermine political self-determination and the very idea of citizenship. A discussion of cyborg manifestos is followed by a proposal by the author for a Cyborg Bill of Rights and a new mechanism for determining citizenship based on the Turing test.”

Article Link: (Gray, 1997)

Transhumanism, Whole Brain Emulation, and Immortality–Inevitable?

Human knowledge currently doubles every 18 months, and this rate is increasing all the time. “Computers are getting evermore intelligent, and intelligence cannot be controlled”. It seems likely that in the near future we will have the technological ability to make ‘copies’ of our brains and upload them to computers in order to work on many projects simultaneously and to live forever. What will be the ramifications of this? It is contentious technology, because some people believe it is hubris, flying to close to the sun, and violating the sanctity of humanity and the ‘natural’ order of life.

Stephen Hawking: Brains Copied to Computers?

“I think the brain is like a program in the mind, which is like a computer… So it’s theoretically possible to copy the brain on to a computer and so provide a form of life after death.”

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Carboncopies: Realistic Routes to Substrate Independent Minds

“Carboncopies.org is a nonprofit organisation with a goal of advancing the reverse engineering of neural tissue and complete brains, Whole Brain Emulation and development of neuroprostheses that reproduce functions of mind, creating what we call Substrate-Independent Minds (SIM).”

Berger et al.: A Cortical Neural Prosthesis for Restoring and Enhancing Memory

“A primary objective in developing a neural prosthesis is to replace neural circuitry in the brain that no longer functions appropriately. Such a goal requires artificial reconstruction of neuron-to-neuron connections in a way that can be recognized by the remaining normal circuitry, and that promotes appropriate interaction. In this study, the application of a specially designed neural prosthesis using a multi-input/ multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear model is demonstrated by using trains of electrical stimulation pulses to substitute for MIMO model derived ensemble firing patterns. Ensembles of CA3 and CA1 hippocampal neurons, recorded from rats performing a delayed-nonmatch-to-sample (DNMS) memory task, exhibited successful encoding of trial-specific sample lever information in the form of different spatiotemporal firing patterns. MIMO patterns, identified online and in real-time, were employed within a closed-loop behavioral paradigm. Results showed that the model was able to predict successful performance on the same trial. Also, MIMO model-derived patterns, delivered as electrical stimulation to the same electrodes, improved performance under normal testing conditions and, more importantly, were capable of recovering performance when delivered to animals with ensemble hippocampal activity compromised by pharmacologic blockade of synaptic transmission. These integrated experimental-modeling studies show for the first time that, with sufficient information about the neural coding of memories, a neural prosthesis capable of real-time diagnosis and manipulation of the encoding process can restore and even enhance cognitive, mnemonic processes.”

Article Link: (Berger et al., 2011)

‘Artificial’ Intelligence and Personhood: a Defense by Captain Picard

What makes a being sentient? Can a computer achieve consciousness? Are human cyborgs less sentient due to their integration with inorganic technology? If people will one day be able to enhance their memory and intelligence with brain-computer interfaces, and even convert their consciousness into a computer chip, where can the line between sentient and non-sentient be drawn? Is there a point where the de-activation/destruction of a computer becomes murder?

One of the reasons why I love Star Trek TNG so much is their willingness to take on these questions. Captain Jean-Luc Picard gives a rousing argument in defense of Data’s personhood.

Peterson: Imaging God – Cyborgs, Brain-Machine Interfaces, and a More Human Future

“Recent developments in the neurosciences have made possible the advent of brain-machine interfaces, potentially altering our understanding of our relationship with technology and even the very meaning of what it is to be human. This article briefly examines some of the recent developments in neuroengineering and considers the ethical implications. Working from Jesus’ miracles as well as from a dynamic understanding of the image of God, I argue that the categories of healing and transformation should be employed in thinking through the implications of brain-machine interfaces specifically and neuroengineering generally. Although the vocabulary of the cyborg may represent the newfound freedom that this technology can bring, the category of the face may serve as a reminder of the boundedness of human nature.”

Article Link: (Peterson, 2005)

We Can Remember it for You Wholesale

‘We Can Remember It for You Wholesale’ is a short story by Philip K. Dick published in 1966. In it, the protagonist Douglas Quail visits a company called REKAL Incorporated in order to have ‘extra-factual memory’ implanted into his brain. What follows calls into question the divisions between fantasy and buried memory, and between false memory and reality. The story has been adapted into two films; Total Recall (1990) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a 2012 film by the same title starring Colin Farrell.

Maguire & McGee: Becoming Borg to Become Immortal – Regulating Brain Implant Technologies

“What would it be like to be an already aware individual with an ongoing history imprisoned in a child’s body?”

“Today, intense interest is focused on the development of drugs to enhance memory; yet, these drugs merely promise an improvement of normal memory, not the encyclopedic recall of a computer-enhanced mind combined with the ability to share information at a distance. The potential of brain chips for transforming humanity are astounding. This paper describes advances in hybrid brain–machine interfaces, offers some likely hypotheses concerning future developments, reflects on the implications of combining cloning and transplanted brain chips, and suggests some potential methods of regulating these technologies.”

Article Link: (Maguire & McGee, 2007)