Imagine the Possibilities...

What if we could simply download and store information that we need in order to learn rather than spending years in a classroom accumulating knowledge that we may or may never use?  What if we could take the memories of the greatest minds of the world and convert them into experiences that we could all share?  What if we could share more than just data, but also share experiences, sensations, and thoughts?  How much different would the world be?

The zenith of computing technology may not rest in silicon chips, sub-micro transistors, and complex programming; rather, it may rest in the ability to take the essence of technology and embed it into the human brain.  We live in an exciting age where technology and neuroscience has reached a nexus.  We begin to look at the brain as not just a wonder of biological design; rather, we see it as a complex biological computer capable of processing over 100 million million instructions per second and storing over 100 million megabytes of information.

It is estimated that the average human brain only utilizes a fraction of its total potential at any given time.  The untapped resource is not our technological advances; rather, it is contained inside roughly 1500 cubic centimeters of space on our shoulders.  The key to unlocking the full potential of the brain may be through the help and use of technology.

Mapping the human brain is important for more than just the neuroscience community.  Knowledge is often more than being able to store and regurgitate information, it is knowing where to go and what to access that makes the process intelligent.  What we do know is that there are certain regions  of the brain where certain information is stored and processed on a very superficial level.  Understanding where the brain stores what information is a crucial step towards creating an effective man/machine interface.  What can make the process more difficult is that the brain, when injured, can in fact remap itself to a certain extent to bypass damaged areas to regain certain capabilities. However, given this fact, there is the possibility that if the human brain can reroute itself and to a small extent man has been able to do simple rerouting of brain impulses in lab specimens, there is a possibility that those very same impulses can be rerouted outside of the brain to another specimen or perhaps to a computer storage device where the data can be stored and used at a later time.

We have already mapped enough of the brain to issue simple commands such as cursor control to a computer.  As time goes on and our understanding of the brains transmission areas increase, the capability to send more complex commands is right around the corner.  To download information from a computer to a human brain is not necessarily dependent on understanding the "language" of the brain if other brains can understand what is being transmitted, we only need to be able to direct thought from a source to a target with the right connections, so we may be closer than you think to "jacking in" to download lessons stored as memory engrams on a computer.

Imagine, if you will, that we have the capability of being able to capture and store thought impulses from the brain and then, at will, transmit that stored data to another person.  Instead of learning math, history, or science, we could simply transmit the necessary data on demand.  No longer would we have to worry about motivating students to sit long hours in the classroom or wonder whether they understood the lesson. The future of technology and the future of mankind’s development are ultimately linked.  Quite possibly more closely than we could ever imagine.