Also, if the number of wolves in the pack decreases, then it appears as if its Level II number decreases correspondingly. To account for this, we have to introduce the concept of an average Level II number that is common for the entire species, as well as a specific Level II consciousness for an individual animal.
The average Level II number for a given species does not change if the pack gets smaller, because it is common for the entire species, but the individual Level II number (because it measures individual mental activity and consciousness) does change.
When applied to humans, the average Level II number must take into account the Dunbar number, which is 150, and represents roughly the number of people in our social grouping that we can keep track of. So the Level II number for humans as a species would be the total number of distinct emotions and gestures we use to communicate, multiplied by the Dunbar number of 150. (Individuals can have different levels of Level II consciousness, since their circle of friends and the ways they interact with them can vary considerably.)
We should also note that certain Level I organisms (like insects and reptiles) can exhibit social behaviors. Ants, when they bump into one another, exchange information via chemical scents, and bees dance to communicate the location of flower beds. Reptiles even have a primitive limbic system. But in the main, they do not exhibit emotions.
4 “The difference between man”: Gazzaniga, p. 27.
5 “The greatest achievement of the human brain”: Gilbert, p. 5.
6 “area 10 (the internal granular layer IV)”: Gazzaniga, p. 20.
7 The male gets confused, because it wants: Eagleman, p. 144.
8 “I predict that mirror neurons”: Brockman, p. xiii.
9 Biologist Carl Zimmer writes: Bloom, p. 51.
10 “Most of the time we daydream”: Bloom, p. 51.
11 I asked one person who may: Interview with Dr. Michael Gazzaniga in September 2012 for Science Fantastic national radio broadcast.
12 “It is the left hemisphere”: Gazzaniga, p. 85.
CHAPTER 3: TELEPATHY—A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
1 Indeed, in a recent “Next 5 in 5”: http://www.ibm.com/5in5.
2 I had the pleasure of touring: Interview with Dr. Gallant on July 11, 2012, at the University of California, Berkeley. Also, interview with Dr. Gallant on Science Fantastic for national radio, July 2012.
3 “This is a major leap forward”: Berkeleyan Newsletter, September 22, 2011, http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/22/brain-movies.
4 “If you take 200 voxels”: Brockman, p. 236.
5 Dr. Brian Pasley and his colleagues: Visit to Dr. Pasley’s laboratory on July 11, 2012, at the University of California, Berkeley.
6 Similar results were obtained: The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, http://brain.utah.edu.
7 This could have applications for artists: http://io9/543338/a-device-that-lets-io9.com/543338/a-device-that-lets-ou-type-with-your-mind.
8 According to their officials: http://news.discovery.com/tech/type-with-your-mind-110309.html.
9 being explored by Dr. David Poeppel: Discover Magazine Presents the Brain, Spring 2012, p. 43.
10 In 1993 in Germany: Scientific American, November 2008, p. 68.
11 The only justification for its existence: Garreau, pp. 23–24.
12 I once had lunch with: Symposium on the future of science sponsored by the Science Fiction Channel at the Chabot Pace and Science Center, Oakland, California, in May 2004.
13 On another occasion: Conference in Anaheim, California, April 2009.
14 He says, “Imagine if soldiers”: Garreau, p. 22.
15 “What he is doing is spending”: Ibid., p. 19.
16 When I asked Dr. Nishimoto: Visit to Dr. Gallant’s laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, on July 11, 2012.
17 “There are ethical concerns”: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47447302/ns/health-health_care/t/paralyzed-woman-gets-robotic-arm.html.
CHAPTER 4: TELEKINESIS: MIND CONTROLLING MATTER
1 “I would love to have”: New York Times, May 17, 2012, p. A17 and http://www.msnbc.mns.com/id/47447302/ns/health-health_care/t/parallyzed-woman-gets-robotic-arm.html.
2 “We have taken a tiny sensor”: Interview with Dr. John Donoghue in November 2009 for Science Fantastic national radio broadcast.
3 In the United States alone, more than two hundred thousand: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Washington, D.C. http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/scifacts.html.
4 When the monkey wanted to move: http://physio.northwestern.edu/faculty/miller.htm; http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/04/miller-paralyzed-technology.html.
5 “We are eavesdropping on the natural”: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2012/04/miller-paralyzed-technology.html.
6 More than 1,300 service members: http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Programs/Revolutionizing_Prosthetics.aspx. CBS 60 Minutes, broadcast on December 30, 2012.
7 “They thought we were crazy”: Ibid.
8 she appeared on 60 Minutes: Ibid.
9 “There’s going to be a whole ecosystem”: Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2012.
10 But perhaps the most novel applications: Interview with Dr. Nicolelis in April 2011 for Science Fantastic national radio broadcast.
11 Smart Hands and Mind Melds: New York Times, March 13, 2013, http://nytimes.com/2013/03/01/science/new-research-suggests-two-rat-brains-can-be-linked. See also Huffington Post, February 28, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/mind-melds-brain-communication_n_2781609.html.
12 In 2013, the next important step: USA Today, August 8, 2013, p. 1D.
13 About ten years ago: Interview with Dr. Nicolelis in April 2011.
14 “so there’s nothing sticking out”: For a full discussion of the exoskeleton, see Nicolelis, pp. 303–7.
15 The Honda Corporation has: http://www.asimo.honda.com. Also, interview with the creators of ASIMO in April 2007 for the BBC-TV series Visions of the Future.
16 Eventually, you get the hang: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/may/review-test-driving-the-future.
17 Then, by thinking, the patient: Discover, December 9, 2011, http://discovermagazine.com/2011/dec/09-mind-over-motor-controlling-robots-with-your-thoughts.
18 “We will likely be able to operate”: Nicolelis, p. 315.
19 I saw a demonstration of this: Interview with the scientists at Carnegie Mellon in August 2010 for the Discovery/Science Channel TV series Sci Fi Science.
CHAPTER 5: MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS MADE TO ORDER
1 “It has all come together”: Wade, p. 89.
2 So far, scientists have identified: Ibid., p. 91.
3 For instance, Dr. Antonio Damasio: Damasio, pp. 130–53.
4 One fragment of memory might: Wade, p. 232.
5 “If you can’t do it”: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3488.
6 “Turn the switch on”: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/uosc-rmr06211.php.
7 “Using implantables to enhance competency”: http://hplusmagazine.com/2009/03/18/artificial-hipppocampus.
8 Not surprisingly, with so much at stake: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-12/national/40863765_1_brain-cells-mice-new-memories.
9 If encoding the memory: This brings up the question of whether carrier pigeons, migratory birds, whales, etc., have a long-term memory, given that they can migrate over hundreds to thousands of miles in search of feeding and breeding grounds. Science knows little about this question. B
ut it is believed that their long-term memory is based on locating certain landmarks along the way, rather than recalling elaborate memories of past events. In other words, they do not use memory of past events to help them simulate the future. Their long-term memory consists of just a series of markers. Apparently, only in humans are long-term memories used to help simulate the future.
10 “The purpose of memory is”: Michael Lemonick, “Your Brain: A User’s Guide,” Time, December 2011, p. 78.
11 “You might look at it”: http://sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0210-brain_scans_of_the_future.htm.
12 their study proves a “tentative answer”: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0710.
13 “The whole idea is that the device”: New York Times, September 12, 2012, p. A18.
14 “It will likely take us”: http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/58736-artificial-cerebellum-restores-rats.
15 There are 5.3 million Americans: Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, http://www.alzfdn.org.
16 “This adds to the notion”: ScienceDaily.com, October 2009, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091019122647.htm.
17 “We can never turn it into”: Ibid.
18 “This implies these flies have”: Wade, p. 113.
19 This effect is not just restricted: Ibid.
20 “We can now give you”: Ibid., p. 114.
21 Basically, the more CREB proteins: Bloom, p. 244.
22 “Propranolol sits on that nerve cell”: SATI e-News, June 28, 2007, http://www.mysati.com/enews/June2007/ptsd.htm.
23 Its report concluded: Boleyn-Fitzgerald, p. 104.
24 “Our breakups, our relationships”: Ibid.
25 “should we deprive them of morphine”: Ibid., p. 105.
26 “If further work confirms this view”: Ibid., p. 106.
27 “Each of these perennial records”: Nicolelis, p. 318.
28 “Forgetting is the most beneficial process”: New Scientist, March 12, 2003, http://www.newscientists.com/article/dn3488.
CHAPTER 6: EINSTEIN’S BRAIN AND ENHANCING INTELLIGENCE
1 “got caught up in the moment”: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/einsteins-brain-arrives-in-london-after-odd-journey.
2 “I have always maintained that”: Gould, p. 109.
3 “The human brain remains ‘plastic’ ”: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111208257120.htm.
4 “The emerging picture from such studies”: Gladwell, p. 40.
5 Five years later, Terman started: See C. K. Holahan and R.R. Sears, The Gifted Group in Later Maturity (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995).
6 “Your grades in school”: Boleyn-Fitzgerald, p. 48.
7 “Tests don’t measure motivation”: Sweeney, p. 26.
8 The pilots who scored highest: Bloom, p. 12.
9 “The left hemisphere is responsible”: Ibid., p. 15.
10 Dr. Darold Treffert, a Wisconsin physician: http://www.daroldtreffert.com.
11 It took him just forty-five seconds: Tammet, p. 4.
12 I had the pleasure of interviewing: Interview with Mr. Daniel Tammet in October 2007 for Science Fantastic national radio broadcast.
13 “Our study confirms”: Science Daily, March 2012, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120322100313.htm.
14 Kim Peek’s brain: AP wire story, November 8, 2004, http://www.Space.com.
15 In 1998, Dr. Bruce Miller: Neurology 51 (October 1998): pp. 978–82. See also http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant_syndrome/savant-articles/acquired_savant.
16 In addition to the savants: Sweeney, p. 252.
17 This idea has actually been tried: Center of the Mind, Sydney, Australia, http://www.centerofthemind.com.
18 In another experiment, Dr. R. L. Young: R. L. Young, M. C. Ridding, and T. L. Morrell, “Switching Skills on by Turning Off Part of the Brain,” Neurocase 10 (2004): 215, 222.
19 “When applied to the prefrontal lobes”: Sweeney, p. 311.
20 Until recently, it was thought: Science Daily, May 2012, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509180113.htm.
21 “Savants have a high capacity”: Ibid.
22 In 2007, a breakthrough occurred: Sweeney, p. 294.
23 “Stem cell research and regenerative medicine”: Sweeney, p. 295.
24 Scientists have focused on a few genes: Katherine S. Pollard, “What Makes Us Different,” Scientific American Special Collectors Edition (Winter 2013): 31–35.
25 “I jumped at the opportunity”: Ibid.
26 “With my mentor David Haussler”: Ibid.
27 One such gene was discovered: TG Daily, November 15, 2012. http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/67503-new-found-gene-separates-man-from-apes.
28 Many theories have been proposed: See, for example, Gazzaniga, Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique.
29 “For the first few hundred million years”: Gilbert, p. 15.
30 “Cortical gray matter neurons are working”: Douglas Fox, “The Limits of Intelligence,” Scientific American, July 2011, p. 43.
31 “You might call it the mother”: Ibid., p. 42.
CHAPTER 7: IN YOUR DREAMS
1 He followed this up with one thousand: C. Hall and R. Van de Castle, The Content Analysis of Dreams (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966).
2 When I interviewed him, he told me: Interview with Dr. Allan Hobson in July 2012 for Science Fantastic national radio broadcast.
3 Studies have shown that it is possible: Wade, p. 229.
4 ATR chief scientist Yukiyasu Kamitani: New Scientist, December 12, 2008, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16267-mindreading-software-could-record-your-dreams.html#.UvE9P0Qi07s.
5 When I visited the laboratory: Visit to Dr. Gallant’s laboratory on July 11, 2012.
6 “Our dreams are therefore not”: Science Daily, October 28, 2011, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111028113626.htm.
7 Already, prototypes of Internet contact lenses: See the work of Dr. Babak Parviz, http://www.wearable-technologies.com/262.
CHAPTER 8: CAN THE MIND BE CONTROLLED?
1 A raging bull is released: Miguel Nicolelis, Beyond Boundaries (New York: Henry Holt, 2011), pp. 228–32.
2 The cold war hysteria eventually reached: “Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Program of Research into Behavioral Modification. Joint Hearings Before the Select Committee on Human Resources, U.S. Senate, 95th Congress, First Session,” Government Printing Office, August 8, 1977, Washington, D.C., http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/13inmate_ProjectMKULTRA.pdf; “CIA Says It Found More Secret Papers on Behavior Control,” New York Times, September 3, 1977; “Government Mind Control Records of MKUltra and Bluebird/Artichoke,” http://wanttoknow.info/mindcontrol.shtml; “The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Foreign and Military Intelligence.” The Church Committee Report No. 94-755, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 392, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1976; “Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavior Modification,” http://scribd.com/doc/75512716/Project-MKUltra-The-CIA-s-Program-of-Research-in-Behavior-Modification.
3 “great potential for development”: Rose, p. 292.
4 “neuro-scientific impossibility”: Ibid., p. 293.
5 “It is probably significant that”: “Hypnosis in Intelligence,” Black Vault Freedom of Information Act Archive, 2008, http://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/mindcontrol/hypnosisinintelligence.pdf.
6 To see how widespread this problem: Boleyn-Fitzgerald, p. 57.
/> 7 Drugs like LSD: Sweeney, p. 200.
8 “This is the first time we’ve shown”: Boleyn-Fitzgerald, p. 58.
9 “If you want to turn off”: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/science/17optics.html.
10 “By feeding information from sensors”: New York Times, March 17, 2011, http://nytimes.com/2011/05/17/science/17optics.html.
CHAPTER 9: ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
1 “Some fraction of history’s prophets”: Eagleman, p. 207.
2 “Sometimes it’s a personal God”: Boleyn-Fitzgerald, p. 122.
3 “ ‘Finally, I see what it is’ ”: Ramachandran, p. 280.
4 “During the three minute bursts”: David Biello, Scientific American, p. 41, www.sciammind.com.
5 To test these ideas: Ibid., p. 42.
6 “Although atheists might argue”: Ibid., p. 45.
7 “If you are an atheist”: Ibid., p. 44.
8 One theory holds that Parkinson’s: Sweeney, p. 166.
9 “Neurons wired for the sensation”: Ibid., p. 90.
10 “The brain’s gonna do what”: Ibid., p. 165.
11 “Brain scans have led researchers”: Ibid., p. 208.
12 “If left unchecked, the left hemisphere”: Ramachandran, p. 267.
13 Underactivity in this area: Carter, pp. 100–103.
14 Ten percent of them, in turn: Baker, pp. 46–53.
15 “Depression 1.0 was psychotherapy”: Ibid., p. 3.
16 One to three percent of DBS patients: Carter, p. 98.
17 “The calcium channels findings suggest”: New York Times, February 26, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/health/study-finds-genetic-risk-factors-shared-by-5-psychiatric-disorders.html.