{"id":260801,"date":"2017-09-30T14:23:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-30T18:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=260801"},"modified":"2020-12-17T11:55:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T16:55:37","slug":"like-mice-humans-might-soon-have-their-brains-controlled-externally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/like-mice-humans-might-soon-have-their-brains-controlled-externally\/","title":{"rendered":"Like mice, humans might soon have their brains controlled externally"},"content":{"rendered":"
RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
No need for any advanced science to do it: controlling the brain of people is already available, it\u2019s called mainstream media, and especially television.<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scientists have succeeded in remotely controlling the movements of mice. If human beings are next, how can we deal with the moral and ethical implications of this discovery?
\nThe legendary John Steinbeck took the title of his most famous novella from\u00a0Robert Burns\u2019s poem\u00a0“To a Mouse”:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m truly sorry Man\u2019s dominion \/ Has broken Nature\u2019s social union,\u00a0\/ And justifies that ill opinion,\u00a0\/ Which makes thee startle,\u00a0\/ At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, \/ And fellow-mortal! \/\/ The best laid schemes of Mice and Men\u00a0\/ Gang aft agley, \/ And leave us nought but grief and pain,\u00a0\/ For promised joy!\u201d\u00a0(\u201cAgley\u201d\u00a0is a Scottish word for\u00a0\u201cawry, wrong.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The situation described in these lines is that of a human being apologizing to a mouse for breaking\u00a0\u201cnature\u2019s social union\u201d\u00a0due to his thirst for domination over the natural world, which justifies the mouse\u2019s fear of humans and poor opinion of them. The human also concedes that, even if his scheme was well-meant, it turned ugly, causing nothing but grief. But can we imagine the same scene taking place between the human scientist and the mouse on which he performed the following experiment?<\/p>\n

Imagine someone remotely controlling your brain, forcing your body\u2019s central\u00a0processing organ to send messages to your muscles that you didn\u2019t authorize. It\u2019s an incredibly scary thought, but scientists have managed to accomplish this science fiction nightmare for real, albeit on a small scale, and they were even able to prompt their test subject to run, freeze in place, or even completely lose control over its limbs. Thankfully, the research will be used for good rather than evil, for now at least.<\/p>\n

Forced actions
\nThe effort, led by physics professor Arnd Pralle PhD, of the University at America\u2019s Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, focused on a technique called\u00a0\u201cmagneto-thermal stimulation.\u201d\u00a0It\u2019s not exactly a simple process \u2014 because it requires the implantation of specially built DNA strands and nanoparticles which attach to specific neurons. But once the minimally invasive procedure is over, the brain can be remotely controlled via an alternating magnetic field.\u00a0When those magnetic inputs are applied, the particles heat up, causing the neurons to fire.<\/p>\n

Despite only being tested on mice, the research could have far-reaching implications in the realm of brain research. The holy grail for dreamers like Elon Musk is that we\u2019ll one day be able to tweak our brains to eliminate mood disorders and make us more perfect creatures. This groundbreaking research could very well be an important step towards that future.<\/p>\n

This qualified hope: that the research\u00a0\u201cwill be used for good rather than evil, for now\u201d sounds like the well-known doctor\u2019s jokes about \u201cfirst the good news, then the bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because when a new invention like the direct digitalization of our brain is sold to the public, the media, as a rule, begin by pointing out the medical benefits and new opportunities to diminish suffering. Even Stephen Hawking\u2019s little finger \u2013 the minimal link between his mind and outside reality, the only part of his paralyzed body that Hawking can move \u2013 is no longer needed: with his wired mind, he can DIRECTLY cause his wheelchair to move, as his brain can directly serve as a remote control device.\u00a0 But, as they say, what goes out must come in; and the digitalization of our brain opens up unheard-of possibilities of control.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-ed\/405138-mice-human-brain-science\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: No need for any advanced science to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":287369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/zh-hant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}