Hacking the Mind (Part 2): Are decisions really free?

The first part of 'Hacking the Mind' introduced optogenetics as a proven means to alter behavior in animals, at the flick of a switch.  This post goes a step further: stopping thoughts before they happen. 

In optogenetics, the shift (for instance, from cowering in a corner to exploring) occurs at the time scale we experience consciousness -- in the range of tens of milliseconds to seconds -- not microseconds and not minutes. 

It's roughly the same frames per second (fps) in movies, like the video clip at the above -- a TED talk by Jim Fallon, "Exploring the Mind of a Serial Killer".[1] I'll get to the connection between optogenetics and serial killers at the end of Part 2. It's a winding tour through a brave new world, where technology wires computers and brains together.

1. Thought-stopping technology (TST)

The behavioural levers in optogenetics are pinpoint laser beams carried by fiberoptic threads, painlessly placed into certain regions of the brain that have been genetically engineered to respond to light by producing electrical signals. Optogenetics has been widely tested in mammals like rodents and will likely be widely tested in humans too one day.  

But what if it was possible to stop thoughts or urges, such as an irresistible craving for cigarettes, before the subject is  aware of the thought or feeling? "Searching for the 'Free-Will' Neuron", an article that appeared in a recent issue of Technology Review, shows how this could happen in the not too distant future.  I will be discussing this article in more depth addressing specific questions in this and following posts.

The formation of a particular 'thought' creates distinct signals in the brain, a "pre-conscious" signal, before the subject consciously thinks it.  That time delay sets a lower limit on the marching pace of consciousness. It's easiest to think of consciousness as an observer of brain processes, so there has to be a delay.  Indeed such delays have been experimentally measured.  Interrupt  that pre-conscious brain activity, at the right times and in the right places, and the subject would never know the thought they were going to have, or that it had been erased.

2. What's up next

The number of questions this technology opens up is mind-boggling, from curative or healing (think of compulsive or addictive impulsive cravings) to profoundly dystopian, to everything in between.  

Some of you will probably be able to think of more futuristic outcomes than I. The implications for philosophy are beyond my ability to adequately address, so I'll stick mostly with the former. Any comments along those lines are appreciated, to widen the discussion.  I look forward to reading your thoughts!

In the next posts, I'll explore some of these questions and also highlight the way thought-stopping technology in real time can work.





[1]  Some neuronal processes run faster than others, or are refreshed more often, but tens of milliseconds to seconds is the pace consciousness marches by.