Essay Competition

The Future of the Brain

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Abstract

The brain has had a fairly uneventful past. It has evolved: millions of years of expansion and adaptation have added enormously to its capacity for controlling behaviour in the service of survival. But beyond this Darwinian miracle, it has been affected by little else. Such evolutionary changes have been incremental – as far as we know, the brain didn’t undergo a quantum leap in complexity or function. Its future, on the other hand, may be very different. Sudden enlargement of faculties could become commonplace. In this article I allude to what that world might be like, and consider the philosophical implications of technological advances for the humble brain.

How to Cite:

Fleming, S., (2007) “The Future of the Brain”, Opticon1826 3(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/opt.030711