The Brain Electric: The Dramatic High-Tech Race to Merge Minds and Machines
by Malcolm Gay
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The gripping and revelatory story of the dramatic race to merge the human brain with machines
Leading neuroscience researchers are racing to unlock the secrets of the mind. On the cusp of decoding brain signals that govern motor skills, they are developing miraculous technologies that will enable paraplegics and wounded soldiers to move prosthetic limbs and will give all of us the power to manipulate computers and other objects through thought alone. These fiercely competitive scientists are vying for government and venture capital funding, prestige, and wealth.
Part life-altering cure, part science fiction, part Defense Department dream, these cutting-edge brain-computer interfaces promise to improve lives--but they also hold the potential to augment soldiers' combat capabilities. In The Brain Electric, Malcolm Gay follows the dramatic emergence of these technologies, taking us behind the scenes in operating rooms, startups, and research labs, where the future is unfolding. With access to many of the field's top scientists, Gay illuminates this extraordinary race--where science, medicine, profit, and war converge--for the first time. But this isn't just a story about technology. At the heart of the scientists' research is a group of brave patient-volunteers, whose lives are given new meaning through these experiments. The Brain Electric asks us to rethink our relationship to technology, our bodies, even consciousness itself, challenging our assumptions about what it means to be human.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9780374536411
- Binding
- Paperback
- Authors
- Malcolm Gay
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Published Date
- October 11, 2016
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 282
- Physical Info
- 9 in L x 6 in W (0.91 lb)
I have a decent backing in science: an engineering background and a family fascinated with neuroscience...but I'm also a huge sci-fi but: loving flicks like The Matrix and animes like Sword Art Online. I like questions that probe into the "self" and what is really reality, and this book does just that.It also does so in an accessible way. I find scientific articles terribly dry and boring, but Malcolm Gay presents the story in a way that keeps me engaged. Moreover, it makes me find these terribly dry articles and work through them, so I may get a glimpse into what the future of brain-computer interfaces hold.How it's going to alleviate the suffering of those faced with paralysis or stroke. How it's going to enable a more intimate connection between ourselves and technology, ourselves and others, and ourselves...and ourselves.While we are a long way off from uploading our consciousness into a computer and achieving a pseudo immortality, or be able to switch "sleeves" as I'm Altered Carbon...I think this book acts as a great signpost in the dark at the beginning of this next great venture...
I liked the clarity of the author’s prose in transmitting complex information to lay readers. Also, his effort to accurately present the timeline of progress in baron exploration. His writing style is crisp, energetic and fun to read.
The topic is very timely, so I appreciate that this is the first book on brain-computer interface in Audible.But it needs to be checked by a biologist.For example, microglia is not a protein - it is a type of brain cell.
I am an old trauma nurse. This man is so behind the times. If you want to know about science that was developing years back, read this book. If you want more current science, read elsewhere. Almost anywhere elsewhere.
very interesting!
