The Future of the Mind

Just received this book by Dr. Michio Kaku a day after my birthday. How cool can that be? Glancing through the content pages and chapters of interest, in particular, chapter 5 on memories, chapter 7 on dreams, and chapter 10 on artificial mind and silicon consciousness, I began to appreciate why this book is a number 1 New York Times bestseller.

The author draws from his vast store of knowledge collected from his own research as well as interviews with many renown experts in their related fields. This is evident from the impressive list of names spanning over six pages in the acknowledgment section of the book. And the American theoretical physicist has a way of making complex and abstract topics like neuroscience not only interesting but engaging with his style of writing, you could practically read through a chapter without putting the book down.

For a sample, here's the introduction:

The two greatest mysteries in all of nature are the mind and the universe. With our vast technology, we have been able to photograph galaxies billions of light-years away, manipulate the genes that control life, and probe the inner sanctum of the atom, but the mind and the universe still elude and tantalize us. They are the most mysterious and fascinating frontiers known to science.

If you want to appreciate the majesty of the universe, just turn your gaze to the heavens at night, ablaze with billions of stars...

To witness the mystery of our mind, all we have to do is stare at ourselves in the mirror and wonder, What lurks behind our eyes? This raises haunting questions like: Do we have a soul? What happen to us after we die? Who am "I" anyway? And most important, this brings us to the ultimate question: Where do we fit into this great cosmic scheme?

He quoted the great Victorian biologist Thomas Huxley:

The question of all questions for humanity, the problem which lies behind all others and is more interesting than any of them, is that of the determination of man's place in Nature and his relation to the Cosmos.

I'm definitely going to enjoy reading this book in between my novel writing, not just to take a break but also to draw inspiration from Dr. Kaku's intriguing insights into the human brain and the mind.

 

Going Beyond Logic

In a sense, humans and computers have brains of their own. But a human brain is very different from a machine's. It can be neatly divided into two hemispheres——a left and a right, each responsible for different functions or thinking.

The left hemisphere is great at processing language, mathematics, analysis, logical reasoning, and critical thinking. The right gravitates towards creativity, emotions, imagination, intuition, perceptions and awareness. Although every human has both, some are left-brainers while others are more dominantly right-brained.

Computers, on the other hand, are left-brained in their design and composition. In fact, they are much better at these tasks than humans in terms of speed and efficiency. But they have no concept of arts and creativity, nor real, subjective emotions.

The advents of quantum computing, neuroscience, and nanotechnology, however, have the potential to blur that distinction, if the present AI trend is anything to go by. It may be possible for sentient AIs to take on traits that are once unique only to humans.  Indeed, we might see it in our own lifetime.

 

Chapter 15: Grey Matters

So there you go, the 15th chapter of my novel, and the first chapter of Part 3: VIPER. Consolidating what I have discussed in my previous posts, here's the breakdown of this chapter:

1. David receiving the prototype Neuro-Synaptic Cognitive Interface (NSCI) from Dr. Harper, with a short write-up on its features.

2. A conversation between David and the neuroscientist to ascertain the concept behind the NSCI and how it could be used by EVE to capture and decipher brain signals to be assimilated into HAVAH.

3. David experimenting the NSCI on HAVAH and the effects it had on her.

4. Viper's struggle with her recurring nightmare and David's reassuring support.

5. An intriguing conversation between David and HAVAH on the topic of dreams and its implications.

6. Another discussion between David and Dr. Harper on the NSCI's use to decipher dreams and how it could be used to alleviate post-trauma stress. 

Unfortunately, time isn't on David's side...

 

Electric Dreams

Can an AI dream?

That's an intriguing question.  I'm reminded of the 1984 RomCom "Electric Dreams" which had many viewers wondering if computers could do all those things they saw in the movie, including dreaming (hence the title).

I believe many people do have that perennial question when their interactions with AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Bing, Bard, and the likes become a common affair. After all, it gives people the illusion that they are talking to an entity that seems to think and feel like they do.

So, leveraging from Viper's nightmare and HAVAH's curiosity after witnessing David calmed Viper of her post-traumatic stress, it would be natural to explore this fascination aspect of artificial intelligence, especially one which had attained a level of sentience.

Maybe I'll even bring in a separate conversation between David and Dr. Harper on this topic from a neuroscientist's perspective. There are possible scenarios that can come out of that one subject of dreams alone. It's just a matter of how to plot and then word it to make a narrative come alive.

 

Premonition

In a previous post, I mentioned about a third part to my novel, which would set the pace for a more intense emotional rollercoaster for the readers. I thought hard and long how to achieve that. Premonition is the result.

What kind of premonition suits best than a recurring nightmare? And that's what I intend to get Viper into from a recent mission that almost got her killed, if not for her personal armor. Better yet, if I can link the incident to the Prologue and at the same time, get David and HAVAH involved as well.

A good story narrative should not only have layers and character interactions, but also a thought flow that readers can link to something they've read earlier. That would give them a Déjà Vu experience to double their reading enjoyment.

 

Unchained Memories

Just for the fun of it, I toyed with the next chapter title using an adaptation from the song "Unchained Melody". But then, after an online search I realized it is a 2003 American documentary film about the stories of former slaves by the same title, so I'd have to drop the idea.

Perhaps Grey Matters would be a more suitable title. We'll see.

I reckoned that HAVAH would have a hard time trying to make sense of the vast brain data collected and deciphered by EVE for her assimilation during the trial sessions. A little humor injected in the process should spice up the narrative as well.

 

Neuro-Synaptic Cognitive Interface

There have been a lot of online buzz about brain-computer interface (BCI) that are geared towards not only medical applications but military and commercial as well. But just how realistic are mind-reading and brain scanning devices in this age of technological advancement?

For a novel which revolves around the idea of a sentient AI, a portable headwear device with integrated electroencephalography (EEG) technology used for scanning and interpreting brain waves into electronic signals and information would seem like a plausible possibility in the near distant future. So yeah, I'm definitely including this topic as part of a conversational discussion in the story.

I named the prototype device engineered by Dr. Harper as a sort of neurosynaptic headwear (she's a neuroscientist after all). David would get his hand on one working sample to experiment on HAVAH, and perhaps later on Viper at a crucial juncture. As a first cut, here is an introduction:

The Neuro-Synaptic Cognitive Interface, or NSCI, as Dr. Harper called it, is a cutting-edge, wearable neuro-reading analyzer designed for neural exploration. Crafted with state-of-the-art neuro-sensing technology, this sleek head-mounted device is a convergence of neuro-quantum engineering and proprietary synaptic scanning methodologies.

Sounds impressive and promising, I must say.

 

Neurosynaptic Chip and Cognitive Computing

The idea of modelling the human brain has captivated and confounded scientists for a long time. The brain, a spongy mass the size of a grapefruit, is a remarkable organ. Consuming just 20 watts of power, it can comprehend complex concepts, explore the world we live in, and produce incredible things——from sophisticated machinery to beautiful music.

The way a human brain functions is more akin to an unstructured jam of signaling between organic matter cells, or nodes, instead of a structured processor core running on precision clocks.  Not surprisingly, imitating the brain has proven to be incredibly difficult. Conventional computers don’t even try. They use linear logic and hard-wired circuitry to calculate, send messages, analyze data and organize knowledge, consuming enormous amounts of power while failing to match the brain’s protean capabilities.

A neurosynaptic chip, also known as a cognitive chip, is a computer processor that functions more like a biological brain than a typical CPU does. Unlike cognitive computing, which is made to emulate the thought and learning of humans through software, neurosynaptic chips are made to function like human brains on the hardware level.

Here’s how IBM describes the chip's architecture:

“IBM’s brain-inspired architecture consists of a network of neuro-synaptic cores. Cores are distributed and operate in parallel. Cores operate—without a clock—in an event-driven fashion. Cores integrate memory, computation, and communication. Individual cores can fail and yet, like the brain, the architecture can still function. Cores on the same chip communicate with one another via an on-chip event-driven network. Chips communicate via an inter-chip interface leading to seamless availability like the cortex, enabling creation of scalable neuromorphic systems.”

Fascinating, isn't it? And that's what inspires and drives me to continue writing as I learn and explore such futuristic possibilities.

Source: IBM, Electronic Design, The Intelligence of Information

 

Creating a Mind

Can non-biological brains have real minds of their own? That's the question Ray Kurzweil attempted to answer in his article How to Make a Mind in The Futurist magazine dated March-April 2013. He stated upfront:

The mammalian brain has a distinct aptitude not found in any other class of animal. We are capable of hierarchical thinking, of understanding a structure composed of diverse elements arranged in a pattern, representing that arrangement with a symbol, and then using that symbol as an element in a yet more elaborate configuration

This capability takes place in a brain structure called the neocortex, which in humans has achieved a threshold of sophistication and capacity such that we are able to call these patterns ideas. 

That's the reason I based my narrative of HAVAH's evolution on a digital neocortex. It is not a big stretch to imagine that's the likely trend for AI implementation in robotics. Advancement in nanotechnology may be the deal breaker. Perhaps that's what Mr. Kurzweil had in mind when he postulated:

With regard to our biological intelligence, although our neocortex has significant plasticity, its basic architecture is limited by its physical constraints. Putting additional neocortex into our foreheads was an important evolutionary innovation, but we cannot now easily expand the size of our frontal lobes by a factor of a thousand, or even by 10%. That is, we cannot do so biologically, but that is exactly what we will do technologically.

But should AI become far more intelligent and superior than humans, what are the implications and even moral concerns we may face? The futurist gave his parting thoughts on this:

As nonbiological brains become as capable as biological ones of effecting changes in the world—indeed, ultimately far more capable than unenhanced biological ones—we will need to consider their moral education. A good place to start would be with one old idea from our religious traditions: the golden rule.

Perhaps it's time to take a second look at Will Smith's iRobot movie.

 

Chapter 12: Hippocampus

What is the hippocampus?  It is a region of the brain that's heavily involved with storing past event memories, and more. In Greek mythology, it refers to a sea-horse like creature with an upper body of a horse and a lower body of a fish. Click on the picture below to learn more.

When David made known his intention to give HAVAH a physical form, you can expect certain reactions from his friends:

“You want to make HAVAH a sentient entity? That's quite a leap, David.” Dr. Harper voiced her apprehension. “The complexity involved in emulating the brain's functions within a physical body is immense. What we call neural networks in today's deep learning use only a subset of the whole family of neuronal models, limited mostly to feed forward and recurrent types. Our current neuro-quantum setup, while advanced, doesn't match up to the sophistication of a human brain.”

Of course, David is undeterred when he has set his mind to do something that even his friends find unthinkable. In a hard sci-fi novel, we need to be "realistic" in our approach in case the narrative becomes too fantasy it detracts or disengages readers from a reasonable probability mindset. That would defeat the objective of writing the novel.

So, I've included a short dissertation by Dr. Harper on her knowledge of this topic, which would invariably lead to the question of whether it's possible to invent a device for memory transfer.

Well, what do you think, my readers?

Update: The chapter on Empathy is now relegated to Chapter 12.

 

Anatomy of the Human Brain

As I pondered the next chapter titled "The Precursor", two topics of interest become my primary focus——brain function and human consciousness, I didn't study biology and I'm not into neurology either. Yet now I'm attempting to understand these two subjects to enable me to produce something credible for the story.

How exciting! But it can also be quite overwhelming at the same time. Writing a novel can be an educational and learning journey, depending on the nature of the story you're creating, don't you think so? But what's amazing about it is, things that you don't normally think you would get into, you are compelled by necessity, in a good way of course. At the very least, you are motivated to pick up something foreign, outside your comfort zone, and you have imagination as an additional pair of wings to give you the needed leverage.

I wanted to create a dialogue between David and Dr. Harper, the neuroscientist, to give insight on the workings of the human brain. This will enable the prodigy to understand the brain's intricate nature and allow him to create a "digital" version for EVE to facilitate her next evolution. The conversation has to be engaging but not bogged down by too many scientific details.

For a start, a simple introduction to the structure of the brain should suffice:

Our brain is basically comprised of three parts—a reptilian complex, a limbic system, and the neocortex. The first, also known as the “croc” brain, is passed down from our first ancestors and controls our fight or flight, pleasure or pain decisions. The limbic controls our emotions, while the neocortex is where we derive our logical thinking.

To implement the "digital" brain, it would need the ability to recognize patterns much like machine learning:

Our neocortex is quite weak in processing logic but strong in recognizing patterns. Images, videos and sounds are stored and retrieved as sequences of patterns in memory. The primary advantage of working with patterns is the ability to fill in the gaps, such as when part of an image is covered, or to make sense of incomplete sentences. Our neocortex establishes a hierarchy of patterns through recursion—by assembling small parts into a big cluster, and then uniting clusters to form an even larger structure, et infinitum.

Since the emphasis is on this part of the brain, the term "digital neocortex" would be fitting for a non-biological model to perform a similar function. As to how David's going to implement it, I'll leave that to another chapter.