People could “live inside a machine” by turning their brain into a program code once a computer capable of recreating some 100 trillion connections is built, a popular Cambridge neuroscientist said at a UK mass event this weekend.
“People could
probably live inside a machine. Potentially, I think it is
definitely a possibility,” Dr Hannah Critchlow of the
Cambridge Neuroscience said at the popular Hay Festival in Wales,
as quoted by The Telegraph.
Although the human brain is enormously complex, scientists are
beginning to better understand its separate parts’ functions,
Critchlow said, describing the brain as a complex circuit board.
The scientist claimed it “would be possible” to recreate
it as a computer program: “If you had a computer that could
make those 100 trillion circuit connections – then that circuit
is what makes us us.”
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answered after GPS-like brain mapping
“We are about 100
billion nerve cells and the most complicated circuit board you
could image,” the neuroscientist, who produces and presents
brainy interactive experiences for the public and has been named
among the UK’s Top 100 scientists by the Science Council, told
the audience.
She also debunked a common myth that humans only use some 10
percent of their brain, explaining the whole thing is constantly
running in idle mode to save energy and certain areas are only
powered up when needed. She noted that despite only weighing
about 1.5 kilos and taking up just two percent of the body’s
mass, the brain “takes about 20 percent of all energy
consumption.”
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creativity, may tackle depression
The neuroscientist confirmed that the brain’s right and left
hemispheres are different, and that there is some evidence to
support the belief that left-handed people are more creative.
It is known that the right hemisphere of the brain, which is more
active in left-handed people, is linked to creativity. Recent
studies have shown that creative thought can be externally
improved by special devices stimulating that part of the brain.
It is now possible to buy hats containing electrodes to stimulate
the area for around $80, the scientist said.