On the planet of know-how, the largest breakthroughs normally occur in labs or factories or boardrooms.
However currently, among the most mind-blowing experiments are taking place inside folks’s personal heads.
Fairly actually.
Biohackers, researchers and even some Silicon Valley executives are turning to sensible medicine and different brain-stimulating units in an try to spice up their brainpower.
However do they really work?
And in that case, are we on the verge of a brand new form of tech warfare…
One which takes place inside the human thoughts?
The Rise of “Good Medicine”
Human beings have traditionally used medicine to boost their creativity, from tribal shamans to well-known rock stars.
And we’re all the time chasing methods to enhance our focus and reminiscence. Heck, it’s why I depend on espresso to get me by the day.
However immediately’s biohackers are experimenting with much more than caffeine.
Many flip to nootropics, that are medicine and dietary supplements designed to enhance psychological perform.
Caffeine is a nootropic, and I’m proof that it really works.
So are dietary dietary supplements like ginseng and ginkgo, that are supposed to enhance cognitive perform and psychological efficiency. The Nationwide Institute of Well being (NIH) says there’s some proof that that is true, though extra analysis is required.
Different nootropics like CDP-choline, L-theanine and creatine monohydrate present some promise on this space too.
Then there are prescription nootropics, which largely include stimulants reminiscent of Adderall — the model title for amphetamine, which is used to deal with ADHD. One other common prescription possibility is modafinil, a drug initially used to deal with sleep problems that’s now broadly used to assist customers keep sharp and alert.
There was a 28% soar in Adderall prescriptions between 2017 and 2021…
And the drug is so broadly prescribed now that it has led to shortages.
In fact, it’s doable to get a lot of these medicine illegally, and many individuals do. In accordance with a decade-old survey by The Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA,) 5 million American adults stated they obtained prescription stimulants illegally.
However there are severe dangers to taking these sorts of medication and not using a prescription, together with insomnia, hypertension and habit.
Whereas different “sensible drug hacks” push the envelope of legality even additional.
For instance, microdosing psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin, the energetic compound in magic mushrooms.
NPR notes that microdosing and tripping on mushrooms is on the rise within the U.S. And tech employees in Silicon Valley have made headlines like this one from Forbes:
That’s as a result of they’re utilizing tiny, sub-perceptual doses of those medicine to spice up their creativity and improve problem-solving abilities.
Early analysis suggests there would possibly even be some cognitive advantages to micro-dosing, however scientists are nonetheless debating whether or not it’s an actual impact or only a placebo.
And in a lot of the nation psychedelic medicine are nonetheless unlawful.
However for some, even these medicine aren’t sufficient. As a substitute, they’re zapping their brains with electrical energy.
Units that use transcranial direct present stimulation (tDCS) or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) declare to boost studying, reminiscence and problem-solving talents by sending weak electrical pulses into particular mind areas.
Navy organizations have examined these units on troopers to enhance response occasions and focus throughout fight coaching. And I can see the attraction.
Why spend years creating abilities if you happen to can simply “improve” your mind with a headset like one thing out of The Matrix?
Nevertheless, the outcomes have been combined.
Whereas some research counsel mind stimulation can briefly enhance focus or math abilities, others warn that long-term results are unknown.
It’s fairly doable that boosting one skill may come at the price of one other. And a few scientists suppose that messing with mind chemistry an excessive amount of may truly hurt creativity or emotional intelligence in the long term.
However how about messing with the mind itself?
Mind Implants: The Final Improve
Whereas medicine and headsets are spectacular, they nonetheless depend on exterior choices.
The actual game-changer could possibly be mind implants.
These tiny chips or electrodes might be positioned inside the mind to boost cognition or restore misplaced talents.
Neuralink, the brain-chip firm based by Elon Musk, is without doubt one of the largest names on this house.
Supply: Wikimedia Commons
The corporate is engaged on units that would assist folks with paralysis management computer systems with their minds.
Sooner or later, Musk claims these chips may permit people to “merge” with synthetic intelligence, giving us instantaneous entry to information and enhanced cognitive talents.
Different firms, like Synchron and Blackrock Neurotech, are additionally creating brain-computer interfaces that would revolutionize how we predict and work together with know-how.
These are the primary steps towards what’s often known as “transhumanism.”
Transhumanism is the concept that people can and will use know-how to enhance themselves past their pure limits.
Many transhumanists consider we’ll finally merge with machines. Some even consider AI would possibly finally permit us to “add” human consciousness into machines, making us digital beings that dwell perpetually.
And corporations like Neuralink are on the forefront of constructing this a actuality.
However there are dangers to this know-how.
Implanting a chip within the mind isn’t so simple as getting a brand new telephone improve. It includes surgical procedure and the potential for long-term well being results that we’ve but to uncover.
There are additionally moral issues about who controls the know-how and whether or not these implants could possibly be hacked.
Right here’s My Take
Whereas most individuals immediately are centered on AI, the following huge tech warfare could possibly be taking place inside our brains.
In some methods, it already is. Simply have a look at the results of social media on people and on society as an entire.
In accordance with the Nationwide Institute of Well being: “intensive interactions with social media might be correlated to gray-matter alteration of mind areas concerned in addictive habits.”
And it’s fairly clear to me that the way in which people work together with one another has quickly modified because the introduction of social media on a mass scale.
On this method, transhumanism is already beginning to go mainstream.
However how concerning the people who’re making an attempt to turn into transhuman on a person degree?
Bryan Johnson, who bought Venmo for $800 million, might be the world’s most well-known “biohacker.” He’s spending round $2 million a yr to reverse the growing old course of.
And he’s not alone.
Firms are additionally racing to develop smarter, sooner methods to spice up human intelligence. And other people world wide are experimenting with their very own our bodies in pursuit of an edge.
Synthetic limbs, brain-computer interfaces and medical advances are all early steps towards a future the place people and know-how are extra linked than ever.
In the meantime, governments and regulators are struggling to maintain up, attempting to resolve whether or not to embrace or prohibit these new applied sciences.
However to me, the largest query isn’t whether or not cognitive enhancement will turn into mainstream, it’s how society will deal with it.
And the way can we earn money from it?
I’m on the hunt for the very best frontier investments on this house. As a result of one factor is definite: the road between people and machines is getting blurrier by the day.
And whether or not we prefer it or not, the age of the upgraded thoughts is coming.
Regards,
Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing