Week 4 | MedTech + Art
When we are appreciating art, that experience unfolds in our brains. Brain as we understand now is where all the interesting and exciting things happen: our feelings, imagination, intelligence, creativity, and consciousness all reside in the brain. It is impossible to imagine what kind of interesting life a brainless zombie would lead. If eventually what we care about are the ideas and feelings that we entertain and that entertain us, then it is safe to say that the brain is the most important organ when it comes to art. We create and seek art to expand our minds through novel experiences. Hence, I can imagine the future where we modify our brains with brain computer interface technology to augment our conscious experience. With companies like Neuralink, we may be closer to that future than we expected.
"Upgrade Trailer #1 (2018) | Movieclips Trailers". YouTube, uploaded by Movieclips Trailers. 3 Apr. 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PDeN9NRZ0.
"The Science Behind Elon Musk's Neuralink Brain Chip | WIRED". YouTube, uploaded by WIRED. 8 Mar. 2022. https://youtu.be/Gv_XB6Hf6gM.
Experimenting with brain implants can be thought of as a part of performance art, perhaps a step or two further than what Eduardo Kac or Kevin Warwick did, but the implications of augmenting our brains with technology are mind-boggling and fascinating. We have prosthetics and plastic surgery that change how we appear physically on the outside, but in the future with neural implants we may do the same to our brains for our minds on the inside. What if we can have personal AI companion in each of our brains, like Jarvis from Marvel's Iron Man series? What if our mind can become a hybrid with AI as part of our intellect?
“Rick Sanchez.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Sanchez.
Perhaps in the distant future, when we have sufficiently advanced AI and brain-computer interface technology, our minds would be so powerful with tremendous intellectual and artistic capacity that we would lose the culture of collecting and auctioning rare and expensive pieces of art. Instead we would create them on the fly and share with others directly on the web of interconnected conscious minds. Perhaps we would be able to close our eyes and jump into virtual reality, where we have endless possibilities with physical constraints lifted. Dystopian predictions regarding AI aside, we may be entering an artistic utopia with these budding technologies.
Bostrom, Nick. Superintelligence. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Chalmers, David J. Reality+ : Virtual Worlds and the Problem of Philosophy. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.
Rogers, Adam. “Neuralink Is Impressive Tech, Wrapped in Musk Hype.” Wired, Conde Nast, 4 Sept. 2020, https://www.wired.com/story/neuralink-is-impressive-tech-wrapped-in-musk-hype/.
Russell, Stuart J. Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control. Penguin Books, 2020.
Staff, WIRED. “Cyborg 1.0.” Wired, Conde Nast, 1 Feb. 2000, https://www.wired.com/2000/02/warwick/.
I agree with you about the fact that the brain is the most important organ when it comes to art and almost everything. Since the brain is basically the control center of our body, our creativity, our decision-making, and our uniqueness are all coming from the brain which makes the brain a really powerful organ. After watching the trailer of the movie “Upgrade” and the Neuralink video, it is really interesting to see how much the technology is evolving and who knows maybe one day the things we see in the movies can actually be a part of our daily lives.
ReplyDeleteI found that it is so insightful to read your article. I agree you said that the brain is where all the interesting and exciting things happen. Even the things are so complex in our brain, I appreciate how you point out that our feelings, imagination, intelligence, creativity, and consciousness all reside in the brain. When it comes to art, it is certain that brain is the most important part in our body as it process the complex feeling derived from perception for us. I do agree that as technology advances, more innovative art will come into play, such as NFT and web3 art.
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