Using USB flash drives and memory cards to store the "soul"? Is it possible for people to achieve "conscious immortality"?

We all know that the brain is the organ that produces thoughts and feelings, but throughout history "for most of our time, we have believed that the heart, not the brain, is the primary organ for producing thoughts and feelings."

In the ignorant ages, scientists and wise men were unable to know the true functions of the brain through observation.

The Mesopotamian epic 4,000 years ago mentioned that emotions and feelings originated from the heart; Aristotle of ancient Greece believed that the heart was the organ that produced feelings and emotions; ancient Chinese sages held similar views, so we have words such as "sad" and "heartbroken" to describe emotions.

Based purely on our intuitive feelings, the heartbeat does seem to change accordingly when emotions fluctuate, so it is not surprising to draw this conclusion.

Since the Enlightenment, human understanding of the brain has developed greatly.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, in addition to Newtonian mechanics, which revolutionized physics, there was another type of force that was studied and ultimately unlocked the mysteries of the brain: the study of electricity.

By the end of the 18th century, Italian scientists such as Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta were the first to reveal the miraculous power of electricity in living organisms. The secret of how the brain controls the body was finally found: bioelectricity.

During the two or three hundred years of the Enlightenment, scientists established a series of basic knowledge frameworks about the brain, including bioelectricity and functional divisions.

It was not until the end of the 19th century that brain research truly became a branch of science, and by then brain science research had entered the modern stage.

The first revolutionary discovery in modern brain science was the neuron theory proposed by Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal in the early 20th century.

British scientists Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley discovered the Hodgkin-Huxley equation. This equation explains the basic law of neuronal firing. This truly revolutionary discovery revealed the principle of neuronal firing, which is basically the flow of sodium and potassium ions across the membrane.

Since then, there have been: the concept of synapses proposed by Charles Sherrington, the concept of neurochemistry in the brain, and a series of neurochemical discoveries related to addiction, such as research on dopamine and opioid receptors.

Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) takes a selfie in his laboratory. Cajal won the Nobel Prize in 1906.

In the 20th century, there was another very important branch of brain science research, which was to try to use machines to simulate and approach human intelligence. The thinking of the pioneers in this field promoted the birth of electronic computers.

Now that we understand the basic structure of the brain, its cellular composition, how electrical activity works, and with ever-increasing computer power, the next step is to launch a battle to explore the brain's most important mysteries.

This image is from a 2017 paper by Eric Jonas and Conrad Paul Kolding, who attempted to “reverse engineer” a computer chip. a) The organization of the chip shows a clear hierarchy; b) A 1991 diagram showing the complexity of the macaque’s visual system (it was this diagram that prompted Francis Crick to call for a detailed study of the anatomical organization of the human brain)

A large part of contemporary brain science research (in the 21st century) is devoted to exploring these questions.

How are memories formed and stored?

How do emotions arise?

How does consciousness make us unique?

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The most dazzling jewel in the crown of brain research is the principles of these higher cognitive functions. We do not yet have answers to these questions that satisfy everyone. We are all waiting for the arrival of truly "revolutionary" discoveries.

The brain makes humans the most intelligent creatures in the world, but humans’ in-depth exploration of the brain has just begun.

Today, brain science and the related artificial intelligence and brain-computer interface technologies are not only the most cutting-edge scientific fields at the moment, but also the science and technology that are most likely to completely change the future of human society.

The world's major scientific and technological powers are all mobilizing national resources to seize the high ground in brain science.

In 2013, the United States launched the "Brain Activity Mapping" project, announcing the start of the US BRAIN Project. Now the US BRAIN Project has entered version 2.0 and has begun clinical transformation.

Also in 2013, Europe launched its own Human Brain Project.

Close behind is Japan, which launched its BRAIN Project in 2014.

South Korea and Australia also launched brain projects in 2016.

my country's brain project was proposed in 2014 and was finally implemented last year after more than six years of preparation. It is expected that tens of billions of dollars will be invested in the China Brain Project in the next few years.

Elon Musk has also started working on a brain-computer interface project;

Musk imagines that brain-computer interfaces can help disabled people regain their "health" and control "mechanical arms" and "mechanical legs" with thoughts, which may be more flexible than "natural hands and feet";

He believes that brain-computer interfaces will make communication more convenient and faster, and will even change the way we communicate. Humans will no longer need to use traditional languages.

He also hopes that through brain-computer interfaces, we can directly export our "memory" and "consciousness". Perhaps one day we can use USB flash drives and memory cards to store our "souls" and realize human "conscious immortality"...

But in fact, Musk’s brain-computer interface plan has been controversial since its inception.

In 2020, a grand product launch conference was held for the "pig brain implant chip", which sparked media discussion, but brain science experts pointed out that it was not a new technology and "did not show any significant progress in neural decoding";

Musk also admitted that brain-computer interface technology is still in its early stages.

Musk believes it will take at least a decade to truly solve the problem of brain and spinal injuries.

Therefore, brain-computer interface is a field that requires huge investment and it is difficult to achieve major breakthroughs in the short term.

Currently, cochlear implants are the most successful and widely used brain-computer interface technology in clinical practice. In addition, brain-computer interfaces have also achieved results in medical rehabilitation, helping a blind patient in Spain to "see" letters and graphics on paper again. Through deep brain stimulation, Parkinson's disease can be controlled to a certain extent. Brain-computer interfaces are also expected to be used in the treatment of depression and Alzheimer's disease.

Cathy Hutchinson, a quadriplegic after a stroke, uses her brain to control a robotic arm to eat an apple in John Donohue's lab at Brown University. It's the first time in more than a decade that she's been able to feed herself. "It felt natural to control the robotic arm," she said later.

Human "brain projects" around the world want to understand how the brain and nervous system work, hoping that one day we can:

● Solve the many brain diseases that currently leave doctors and scientists helpless - Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, autism, etc.;

● Use computers to simulate the working process of the brain, realize brain-like computing, and promote the development of artificial intelligence;

● Mastering brain-computer interface technology will allow paralyzed patients to control their limbs and stand up again, and may even be able to read the secrets of the brain and realize the scene of uploading consciousness and memory in science fiction movies...

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Editor: YANG