The Future of the Mind Read online

  Copyright © 2014 by Michio Kaku

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies.

  www.doubleday.com

  DOUBLEDAY and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random House, LLC.

  Illustrations by Jeffrey L. Ward

  Jacket design by Michael J. Windsor

  Jacket illustration © CLIPAREA/Custom media/Shutterstock

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Kaku, Michio.

  The future of the mind : the scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind / Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of Theoretical Physics, City University of New York. — First edition.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references.

  1. Neuropsychology. 2. Mind and body—Research.

  3. Brain—Mathematical models. 4. Cognitive neuroscience.

  5. Brain-computer interfaces. I. Title.

  QP360.K325 2014

  612.8—dc23

  2013017338

  ISBN 978-0-385-53082-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-385-53083-5 (eBook)

  v3.1

  This book is dedicated to my loving wife, Shizue,

  and my daughters, Michelle and Alyson

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  BOOK I: THE MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS 1 UNLOCKING THE MIND

  2 CONSCIOUSNESS—A PHYSICIST’S VIEWPOINT

  BOOK II: MIND OVER MATTER 3 TELEPATHY: A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

  4 TELEKINESIS: MIND CONTROLLING MATTER

  5 MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS MADE TO ORDER

  6 EINSTEIN’S BRAIN AND ENHANCING OUR INTELLIGENCE

  BOOK III: ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS 7 IN YOUR DREAMS

  8 CAN THE MIND BE CONTROLLED?

  9 ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

  10 THE ARTIFICIAL MIND AND SILICON CONSCIOUSNESS

  11 REVERSE ENGINEERING THE BRAIN

  12 THE FUTURE: MIND BEYOND MATTER

  13 THE MIND AS PURE ENERGY

  14 THE ALIEN MIND

  15 CONCLUDING REMARKS

  APPENDIX: QUANTUM CONSCIOUSNESS?

  NOTES

  SUGGESTED READING

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  A Note About the Author

  Other Books by This Author

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  It has been my great pleasure to have interviewed and interacted with the following prominent scientists, all of them leaders in their fields. I would like to thank them for graciously giving up their time for interviews and discussions about the future of science. They have given me guidance and inspiration, as well as a firm foundation in their respective fields.

  I would like to thank these pioneers and trailblazers, especially those who have agreed to appear on my TV specials for the BBC, Discovery, and Science TV channels, and also on my national radio shows, Science Fantastic and Explorations.

  Peter Doherty, Nobel laureate, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

  Gerald Edelman, Nobel laureate, Scripps Research Institute

  Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate, Illinois Institute of Technology

  Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel laureate, Santa Fe Institute and Cal Tech

  the late Henry Kendall, Nobel laureate, MIT

  Walter Gilbert, Nobel laureate, Harvard University

  David Gross, Nobel laureate, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics

  Joseph Rotblat, Nobel laureate, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital

  Yoichiro Nambu, Nobel laureate, University of Chicago

  Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, University of Texas at Austin

  Frank Wilczek, Nobel laureate, MIT

  . . .

  Amir Aczel, author of Uranium Wars

  Buzz Aldrin, NASA astronaut, second man to walk on the moon

  Geoff Andersen, U.S. Air Force Academy, author of The Telescope

  Jay Barbree, author of Moon Shot

  John Barrow, physicist, Cambridge University, author of Impossibility

  Marcia Bartusiak, author of Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony

  Jim Bell, Cornell University astronomer

  Jeffrey Bennet, author of Beyond UFOs

  Bob Berman, astronomer, author The Secrets of the Night Sky

  Leslie Biesecker, National Institutes of Health

  Piers Bizony, author of How to Build Your Own Starship

  Michael Blaese, National Institutes of Health

  Alex Boese, founder of Museum of Hoaxes

  Nick Bostrom, transhumanist, Oxford University

  Lt. Col. Robert Bowman, Institute for Space and Security Studies

  Cynthia Breazeal, artificial intelligence, MIT Media Lab

  Lawrence Brody, National Institutes of Health

  Rodney Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

  Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute

  Michael Brown, astronomer, Cal Tech

  James Canton, author of The Extreme Future

  Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

  Fritjof Capra, author of The Science of Leonardo

  Sean Carroll, cosmologist, Cal Tech

  Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon

  Leroy Chiao, NASA astronaut

  Eric Chivian, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

  Deepak Chopra, author of Super Brain

  George Church, director of Harvard’s Center for Computational Genetics

  Thomas Cochran, physicist, Natural Resources Defense Council

  Christopher Cokinos, astronomer, author of Fallen Sky

  Francis Collins, National Institutes of Health

  Vicki Colvin, nanotechnologist, University of Texas

  Neal Comins, author of Hazards of Space Travel

  Steve Cook, NASA spokesperson

  Christine Cosgrove, author of Normal at Any Cost

  Steve Cousins, CEO of Willow Garage Personal Robots Program

  Phillip Coyle, former assistant secretary of defense for the U.S. Defense Department

  Daniel Crevier, AI, CEO of Coreco

  Ken Croswell, astronomer, author of Magnificent Universe

  Steven Cummer, computer science, Duke University

  Mark Cutkowsky, mechanical engineering, Stanford University

  Paul Davies, physicist, author of Superforce

  Daniel Dennet, philosopher, Tufts University

  the late Michael Dertouzos, computer science, MIT

  Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winner, UCLA

  Marriot DiChristina, Scientific American

  Peter Dilworth, MIT AI Lab

  John Donoghue, creator of Braingate, Brown University

  Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan, Cosmos Studios

  Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University

  David Eagleman, neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine

  John Ellis, CERN physicist

  Paul Erlich, environmentalist, Stanford University

  Daniel Fairbanks, author of Relics of Eden

  Timothy Ferris, University of California, author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way Galaxy

  Maria Finitzo, stem cell expert, Peabody Award winner

  Robert Finkelstein, AI expert

  Christopher Flavin, World Watch Institute

  Louis Friedman, cofounder of the Planetary Society

  Jack Gallant, neuroscientist, University of California at Berkeley

  James Garwin, NASA c
hief scientist

  Evelyn Gates, author of Einstein’s Telescope

  Michael Gazzaniga, neurologist, University of California at Santa Barbara

  Jack Geiger, cofounder, Physicians for Social Responsibility

  David Gelertner, computer scientist, Yale University, University of California

  Neal Gershenfeld, MIT Media Lab

  Daniel Gilbert, psychologist, Harvard University

  Paul Gilster, author of Centauri Dreams

  Rebecca Goldberg, Environmental Defense Fund

  Don Goldsmith, astronomer, author of Runaway Universe

  David Goodstein, assistant provost of Cal Tech

  J. Richard Gott III, Princeton University, author of Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe

  Late Stephen Jay Gould, biologist, Harvard University

  Ambassador Thomas Graham, spy satellites and intelligence gathering

  John Grant, author of Corrupted Science

  Eric Green, National Institutes of Health

  Ronald Green, author of Babies by Design

  Brian Greene, Columbia University, author of The Elegant Universe

  Alan Guth, physicist, MIT, author of The Inflationary Universe

  William Hanson, author of The Edge of Medicine

  Leonard Hayflick, University of California at San Francisco Medical School

  Donald Hillebrand, Argonne National Labs, future of the car

  Frank N. von Hippel, physicist, Princeton University

  Allan Hobson, psychiatrist, Harvard University

  Jeffrey Hoffman, NASA astronaut, MIT

  Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize winner, Indiana University, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach

  John Horgan, Stevens Institute of Technology, author of The End of Science

  Jamie Hyneman, host of MythBusters

  Chris Impey, astronomer, author of The Living Cosmos

  Robert Irie, AI Lab, MIT

  P. J. Jacobowitz, PC magazine

  Jay Jaroslav, MIT AI Lab

  Donald Johanson, anthropologist, discoverer of Lucy

  George Johnson, New York Times science journalist

  Tom Jones, NASA astronaut

  Steve Kates, astronomer

  Jack Kessler, stem cell expert, Peabody Award winner

  Robert Kirshner, astronomer, Harvard University

  Kris Koenig, astronomer

  Lawrence Krauss, Arizona State University, author of Physics of Star Trek

  Lawrence Kuhn, filmmaker and philosopher, Closer to Truth

  Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author of The Age of Spiritual Machines

  Robert Lanza, biotechnology, Advanced Cell Technologies

  Roger Launius, author of Robots in Space

  Stan Lee, creator of Marvel Comics and Spider-Man

  Michael Lemonick, senior science editor of Time

  Arthur Lerner-Lam, geologist, volcanist

  Simon LeVay, author of When Science Goes Wrong

  John Lewis, astronomer, University of Arizona

  Alan Lightman, MIT, author of Einstein’s Dreams

  George Linehan, author of Space One

  Seth Lloyd, MIT, author of Programming the Universe

  Werner R. Loewenstein, former director of Cell Physics Laboratory, Columbia University

  Joseph Lykken, physicist, Fermi National Laboratory

  Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab

  Robert Mann, author of Forensic Detective

  Michael Paul Mason, author of Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath

  Patrick McCray, author of Keep Watching the Skies

  Glenn McGee, author of The Perfect Baby

  James McLurkin, MIT, AI Lab

  Paul McMillan, director of Space Watch

  Fulvia Melia, astronomer, University of Arizona

  William Meller, author of Evolution Rx

  Paul Meltzer, National Institutes of Health

  Marvin Minsky, MIT, author of The Society of Minds

  Hans Moravec, author of Robot

  Late Phillip Morrison, physicist, MIT

  Richard Muller, astrophysicist, University of California at Berkeley

  David Nahamoo, IBM Human Language Technology

  Christina Neal, volcanist

  Miguel Nicolelis, neuroscientist, Duke University

  Shinji Nishimoto, neurologist, University of California at Berkeley

  Michael Novacek, American Museum of Natural History

  Michael Oppenheimer, environmentalist, Princeton University

  Dean Ornish, cancer and heart disease specialist

  Peter Palese, virologist, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

  Charles Pellerin, NASA official

  Sidney Perkowitz, author of Hollywood Science

  John Pike, GlobalSecurity.org

  Jena Pincott, author of Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?

  Steven Pinker, psychologist, Harvard University

  Thomas Poggio, MIT, artificial intelligence

  Correy Powell, editor of Discover magazine

  John Powell, founder of JP Aerospace

  Richard Preston, author of Hot Zone and Demon in the Freezer

  Raman Prinja, astronomer, University College London

  David Quammen, evolutionary biologist, author of The Reluctant Mr. Darwin

  Katherine Ramsland, forensic scientist

  Lisa Randall, Harvard University, author of Warped Passages

  Sir Martin Rees, Royal Astronomer of Great Britain, Cambridge University, author of Before the Beginning

  Jeremy Rifkin, Foundation for Economic Trends

  David Riquier, MIT Media Lab

  Jane Rissler, Union of Concerned Scientists

  Steven Rosenberg, National Institutes of Health

  Oliver Sacks, neurologist, Columbia University

  Paul Saffo, futurist, Institute of the Future

  Late Carl Sagan, Cornell University, author of Cosmos

  Nick Sagan, coauthor of You Call This the Future?

  Michael H. Salamon, NASA’s Beyond Einstein program

  Adam Savage, host of MythBusters

  Peter Schwartz, futurist, founder of Global Business Network

  Michael Shermer, founder of Skeptic Society and Skeptic magazine

  Donna Shirley, NASA Mars program

  Seth Shostak, SETI Institute

  Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish

  Paul Shurch, SETI League

  Peter Singer, author of Wired for War

  Simon Singh, author of The Big Bang

  Gary Small, author of iBrain

  Paul Spudis, author of Odyssey Moon Limited

  Stephen Squyres, astronomer, Cornell University

  Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University, author of Endless Universe

  Jack Stern, stem cell surgeon

  Gregory Stock, UCLA, author of Redesigning Humans

  Richard Stone, author of NEOs and Tunguska

  Brian Sullivan, Hayden Planetarium

  Leonard Susskind, physicist, Stanford University

  Daniel Tammet, author of Born on a Blue Day

  Geoffrey Taylor, physicist, University of Melbourne

  Late Ted Taylor, designer of U.S. nuclear warheads

  Max Tegmark, cosmologist, MIT

  Alvin Toffler, author of The Third Wave

  Patrick Tucker, World Future Society

  Chris Turney, University of Wollongong, author of Ice, Mud and Blood

  Neil de Grasse Tyson, director of Hayden Planetarium

  Sesh Velamoor, Foundation for the Future

  Robert Wallace, author of Spycraft

  Kevin Warwick, human cyborgs, University of Reading, UK

  Fred Watson, astronomer, author of Stargazer

  Late Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC

  Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us

  Daniel Wertheimer, SETI at Home, University of California at Berkeley

  Mike Wessler, MIT AI Lab

  Roger Wiens, astronomer, Los Alamos National Laboratory

&nbsp
; Author Wiggins, author of The Joy of Physics

  Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, National Institutes of Health

  Carl Zimmer, biologist, author of Evolution

  Robert Zimmerman, author of Leaving Earth

  Robert Zubrin, founder of Mars Society

  I would also like to thank my agent, Stuart Krichevsky, who has been at my side all these years and has given me helpful advice about my books. I have always benefited from his sound judgment. In addition, I would like to thank my editors, Edward Kastenmeier and Melissa Danaczko, who have guided my book and provided invaluable editorial advice. And I would like to thank Dr. Michelle Kaku, my daughter and a neurology resident at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, for stimulating, thoughtful, and fruitful discussions about the future of neurology. Her careful and thorough reading of the manuscript has greatly enhanced the presentation and content of this book.

  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. Ever since our ancestors first gasped at the splendor of the starry sky, we have puzzled over these eternal questions: Where did it all come from? What does it all mean?

  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 happens 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? As the great Victorian biologist Thomas Huxley once said, “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.”

  There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, roughly the same as the number of neurons in our brain. You may have to travel twenty-four trillion miles, to the first star outside our solar system, to find an object as complex as what is sitting on your shoulders. The mind and the universe pose the greatest scientific challenge of all, but they also share a curious relationship. On one hand they are polar opposites. One is concerned with the vastness of outer space, where we encounter strange denizens like black holes, exploding stars, and colliding galaxies. The other is concerned with inner space, where we find our most intimate and private hopes and desires. The mind is no farther than our next thought, yet we are often clueless when asked to articulate and explain it.