{"id":90888,"date":"2024-03-27T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/lhomme-augmente\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T14:27:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:27:14","slug":"lhomme-augmente","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/lhomme-augmente\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Homme augment\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is very much in the news. Its recent achievements have created fascination and concern, including in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk has set up the company Neuralink to develop a brain-machine interface, arguing that this is the only way to avoid domination by machines. The author of L\u2019Homme augment\u00e9. Futurs de nos cerveaux [Augmented Humanity: The Future for Our Brains],<\/em> Rapha\u00ebl Gaillard, is particularly well placed to analyze the issue of AI and Musk\u2019s proposed solution. As a psychiatrist, he knows about disruptions to the functioning of the brain and as an academic he has a history of notable publications. In addition, his writing is very clear and satisfying, as befits a graduate of the ENS (\u00c9cole normale sup\u00e9rieure).<\/h6>
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Gaillard<\/span> Rapha\u00ebl, L\u2019Homme augment\u00e9. Futurs de nos cerveaux<\/em>, Paris: Grasset, January\u00a02024, 352\u00a0p.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

Brain-machine hybridization is explored from various angles: the opportunities offered by scientific advances, the potential impacts of this transformation, and the ways in which the impacts might be mitigated. Part one, dealing with the opportunities, is the longest, since there has been much spectacular progress in this area. Repairs to nervous system damage, in the form of loss of limb mobility, verbal expression, and memory, provide a starting point. Successful trials indicate astonishing outcomes: the brain assimilates the implanted prosthesis, a result that bodes well for the future. The author underscores the continuum between repairs, which are carried out in a patient, and augmentation, which is performed in a healthy subject. However, repairs only involve part of the brain, and hybridization in a healthy subject will only result in focused augmentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advances in both memory stimulation and the forgetting of unpleasant memories are also explored in the light of developments in neuromodulation. In addition, the author is a specialist in brain chemistry and, in the same repair-augmentation vein, discusses smart drugs: coffee, tea, cocaine, amphetamines, Ritalin, all of which cause cognitive doping but are also risky to use; here again, the author is well placed to talk about them. Somewhat surprisingly, he focuses on psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin or ketamine (the latter generally used as an anesthetic). His experience means that he considers them useful in the treatment of deep depression. These drugs also facilitate an approach to the workings of consciousness, the author providing an eloquent description of his experience in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n

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The influence of sleep in the repair process is also analyzed. The author revisits the problems caused by insufficient sleep and describes new technologies to combat insomnia. However, on a more original note, he cites research, both ancient and modern, that shows how alternate periods of wakefulness and sleep influence creativity. Even more surprisingly, recent research shows that, in order to prevent catastrophic forgetfulness during multitasking, AI needs to introduce rest periods.<\/p>\n

In this overview, Gaillard shows us that brain-machine hybridization, which was proposed in order to avoid AI domination by developing our creativity, is not the only way to move toward augmented humanity. Exploration of the human brain is in its infancy, and the existence of different states of consciousness resulting from physical or chemical modulation, or even control of sleep, also leads to increased creativity.<\/p>\n

In part two, the author reflects on the effect that hybridization either will or might have. First, he notes the difficulty and cost of interfaces, which will restrict such treatments to a very small number of people, potentially creating social disorder. He also points to the economic risks taken by companies embarking on this venture; should they go bankrupt, they will leave behind augmented individuals with unmaintained equipment. He further observes that these interfaces involve the sense organs: an artificial retina will enhance a person\u2019s sight, but will have no effect on their hearing, thereby creating sensory imbalances.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
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\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Dreams, Sleep and Memory: Brain Plasticity at the Heart of Memory, Sleep and Brain-Machine Interfaces<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
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26 June 2019<\/div>\n BENCHENANE Karim<\/a>\n
\n 12 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Article Revue\n <\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The author goes further, however. If a digital prosthesis can be incorporated into the human physiology, what are the psychological implications? Comments on the subject focus on machine parasitism, behavior that leads to the assumption that the machine is capable of taking control of the individual, a theory that has mainly been developed in science fiction. This point of view is cleverly countered by pointing out that AI is an emergent property that does not know what it is doing, just like ants searching for food.<\/p>\n

Another comment is drawn from the author\u2019s professional experience. In his view, psychiatric disorders are imbalances between reason and emotion in a brain that has to manage very different environments. Emotions play an important role in creativity; this is evident in the work \u201ccreated\u201d by AI which, in its current version, has no emotions. In order to write a text, AI seeks to optimize the choice of words in relation to the set of learned texts. Generative AI writes poetry and creates images and music, but what it creates does not arouse any emotion in us. The psychiatrist speaks of \u201cideo-affective dissociation,\u201d resulting from a lack of coordination between affects and thoughts expressed. This dissociation leads to schizophrenia and hallucinations. Users of generative AI have been surprised by the absurdity of some responses, confabulations that the author likens to schizophrenic hallucinations caused by this constitutive imbalance!<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
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\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Transhumanism in Science-Fiction: Science-Fiction at the Forefront of Philosophical and Ethical Thinking<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
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25 August 2017<\/div>\n HOTTOIS Gilbert<\/a>\n
\n 16 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Article Revue\n <\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the conclusion to this part, the author returns to the brain\u2019s fragility and complexity, and foresees an epidemic of mental disorders caused by hybridization. In his opinion, some people will benefit from hybridization and reach new heights, justifying Musk\u2019s theory, but others will be reduced to zombies, unable to cope with this glut of new features!<\/p>\n

Part three is undoubtedly the most original since, after providing an overview of knowledge about brain-machine hybridization and using his professional experience to contemplate the turmoil it may cause, the author puts forward two original hypotheses as part of a more philosophical discussion. The first is that we did not wait for brain-machine interfaces to hybridize ourselves: the book, the object that combines writing and reading, is humanity\u2019s great hybridization. According to the second, reading as the earliest hybridization is the prerequisite for all our future hybridizations. The first hypothesis, which was mentioned in Plato\u2019s Phaedrus<\/em>, establishes the liberation of memory, which unloads knowledge into the written word, thereby enabling the brain to access other activities. The second hypothesis postulates that what enables humanity to progress can also be used at the individual level. It draws on children\u2019s mathematical performance, which correlates with their progress in reading. Reading makes us intelligent, but the content is not important: \u201cWhen we learn, we modify our brain and enable it to perform in new ways. Our cerebrum is incomplete, and it is culture that attempts to complete it, but without ever succeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book concludes with this rather optimistic outlook. It is recommended reading for anyone interested or alarmed by developments in AI. They will find a wide-ranging overview of the most recent developments, as well as valuable reflections enhanced by the writing and literary sophistication of an inspired author.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
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\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Elon Musk, an unscrupulous visionary?<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
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21 March 2024<\/div>\n SOUPIZET Jean-Fran\u00e7ois<\/a>\n
\n 4 min.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Newswatch\n <\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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————————- <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article has been translated from French and edited by Cadenza Academic Translations.<\/span> <\/em>
Translator: Se\u00e1n Morris, Editor: Zahira Ransome, Senior editor: Mark Mellor<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence (AI) is very much in the news. Its recent achievements have created fascination and concern, including in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk has set up the company Neuralink to develop a brain-machine interface, arguing that this is the only way to avoid domination by machines. The author of L\u2019Homme augment\u00e9. Futurs de nos cerveaux … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":88003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[210,212],"keyword":[988,1298,1189,1302,928,1236],"class_list":["post-90888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-seen-heard","tag-science-et-technique-en","tag-societe-en","keyword-intelligence-artificielle-en","keyword-cerveau-en","keyword-cybernetique-en","keyword-medecine-en","keyword-psychologie-en","keyword-robotique-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90888"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99209,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90888\/revisions\/99209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90888"},{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=90888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}