Submitted by bablebooee t3_119xgkc in Futurology
I heard that with things such as brain/computer interfaces, neural implants, and mind uploading we can delete memories, deal with mental illness better, enhance cognition, etc. If this is true, do you think we’ll ever be able to do things like modify ones personality and artificially create emotions? I’ve never felt romantic attraction and I’d like to experience it one day. Could this be possible, or is it just science fiction?
Or they are aromantic. That's fine too. But I don't think what they are asking for (artificial emotions) is unrealistic. Maybe a bit distant though.
if aromantic the pathways for the feelings of "romance" could still be found and stimulated or even, simulated.
Indeed. To make a coding analogy: The feeling might be like a functional line of code of their program that nothing else is referencing.
You can modify your brain now! Ever heard of a lobotomy?
There's some emerging fields of science exoring how the voltage potentials effect the production of certain stem cells.
Biophotomodulation which uses wavelengths to increase atp production in cells and neurons.
Brainwave entrainment that stimulates certain brainwave patterns.
PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic therapy) that can stimulate activity in specific parts of the brain.
Transcranial AC stimulation that can induce currents along peripheral and cranial nerves to produce signals along specific structures in the brain.
Much more very interesting science coming out and being mastered in the next two decades. So I'm sure eventually we will be able to!
There're already ways to modify our brains. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Meditation. Visualization techniques. Exercise. Learning new languages, music, trying new things, etc.
But we keep watching streaming services and logging 8hrs of screen time a day. Not to mention video games...
>Will we be able to modify our brains in the future?
Look up transhumanism and human enhancement.
With sufficient advancement those things are possible, but for now I'd think chemical alterations are much more likely. We are paving the way in mind interface technology though. Its only a matter of time until commercialization.
I think about this, for humans the most realistic way to get superhuman abilities or godly powers won't be magic but some kind of technology like gene manipulation, cyborg and other things we don't even know about right now
We do brain surgery on people with epilepsy, so we do some now physically. But things involving changing our thoughts thinking, or experiences is in fact coming eventually. And its going to change things.
Do we change our justice system to rewrite people? Could we fix pedophiles? IE change their urges completely so that their current one disgusts them, and normal relations excite them? Is that right or wrong to do?
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I hope to be able to enhance cognition. I have two grandparents with advanced dementia and it scares the Eva livin out of me!
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Mushrooms have been doing this since the dawn of time.
We've been modifying our brains since we discovered alcohol. We have a very large number of ways to modify brains right now - from various psychoactive drugs to surgeries to even directed therapy (which can, over time, cause changes in neural pathways).
It's not a matter of "can/can't", it's a gradient of capability. Over time we will be able to do it more easily; in more complex, targeted ways; and with fewer side effects.
Humans have pretty limited gray matter. It's more than the other animals we know, but it's just marginally better. I would love to see someone's capabilities who had 2 brains worth of neural connections.
What about synchronising two peoples minds. Easier than doubling someones brain mass.
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>I heard that with things such as brain/computer interfaces, neural implants, and mind uploading we can delete memories,
You heard wrong. It's science fiction.
We have no real idea how memories are stored, beyond a fairly basic level. We know that the hippocampus is involved in storing memories and if you destroy it, you can't create new memories, but memories aren't stored in a folder somewhere in your brain. You can't just go in an delete a memory. They're stored throughout your brain (edit: Specifically the neocortex, but this is a pretty extensive area of the brain). That's why you can remember smells and sounds and sights and the way things feel, because they're stored in all those parts of the brain where those sensations are experienced. And they're interweaved with each other. You couldn't destroy one without destroying others.
This is not something that we're anywhere close to being competent to messing with.
My brother said he could modify my brain with a sharp stick right now.
It should be possible eventually to choose mental abilities for offspring including IQ, musical ability, and other traits. Further down the road, a redesign of the human brain might strengthen areas responsible for intelligence, memory and cooperation and make emotions, tribalism and other parts less dominant.
Why would you choose to make your emotions less dominant?
When a person is overwhelmed with emotions, fear, anger, their own safety and the safety of others can be at risk. I'm not saying get rid of emotions entirely. But the human brain can be so dominated by emotions at times that it screws everything else up. 100,000 years ago, it wasn't so terrible if someone flipped out. But now, with everything from guns to nukes at our disposal, it's a different story. The structure of the brain is an impediment to progress.
Agreed. What I meant is that I feel like we should try to make emotions such as empathy and kindness more dominant, but for some reason it’s seen as less masculine.
We can modify our brains now. But if you're poor (or a minority) they'll throw you in prison for it.
I cannot imagine the dystopia that would (will?) result from being able to hack our own brains. For every mental/emotional deficit that is beneficially remediated, there will be fresh horrors introduced.
As an ethical hacker, I've argued against something like this. The ease a hacker could hack in and do something is frightening. It could be possible to overload and overheat some brain chip and die from cooked brain.
You are modifying it right now. It is called reading
enderverse87 t1_j9oiewq wrote
>I’ve never felt romantic attraction and I’d like to experience it one day. Could this be possible, or is it just science fiction?
That's more likely to be altered with chemicals rather than surgery.
It's also possible you have felt it but weren't able to recognize or label the emotion properly. That's also common.