Mind Science Foundation Announces International Conference on Emerging Technologies and the Future o
- Emily Boice, PhD
- Mar 17, 2016
- 2 min read
The Mind Science Foundation is a 501.c.3 private operating foundation, established in 1958 by oilman and philanthropist, Tom Slick (1916 - 1962), with a mission to fund scientific research and provide education about the vast potential of the human mind, for the betterment of humankind.
The Mind Science Foundation (“MSF”), in conjunction with its Chief Science Advisor, David Eagleman, announced that it will convene an international conference on Emerging Technologies and the Future of Being Human in October of 2017.
According to Eagleman, “Our biology is on a crash course with our technology -- and this convergence promises to fundamentally change what it means to be human. Our evolution is no longer dependent on natural selection alone, but instead on the accelerating trajectory of our science.” He believes that, “what differentiates the Mind Science Foundation is the freedom and capacity to think big. As far as I can tell, the MSF is one of the few foundations in the world who would be well positioned to host an international conference on the future augmentation of our species.”
MSF Executive Director Meriam Musa Good noted that, “The boundary between psyche and technology -- between the human mind and the rapidly proliferating technologies of human enhancement, has been blurring steadily for the past 30 years,” illustrated by devices such a cochlear implants to restore hearing for deaf individuals. Spinal cord injury patients are learning to walk again with exoskeletons that they learn to control with their minds. Disorders of consciousness, such as epilepsy, can now be controlled with deep brain stimulators. Enhancements of human memory, sensation and perception, using technologies such as exemplified by Google Glass, will extend the limits of the human mind and change the way we perceive the world and interact with it, and the ways in which we imagine our future.
With an intimate, blue-sky-thinking, visionary vibe, neurobiologists, members of the technology and biotechnology sectors, and interested members of the public will gather to consider three domains of how emergent technologies interact with and extend the human mind:
- Technologies of sensory and perceptual enhancement, led by Dr. David Eagleman (Baylor College of Medicine);
- Neuroprosthetics, robotics, and motor systems, led by Dr. Miguel Nicolelis (Duke University);
- and Brain/mind interfaces and consciousness, led by Dr. Steven Laureys (Universite de Liege, Belgium).
Comments