Nobody has yet been able to successfully define what
‘Consciousness’ is. In the ‘Future of the Mind’, famous physicist Michio Kaku
makes an interesting attempt to explain consciousness based on the latest
developments in Neuroscience. The last few years have witnessed rapid progress
in understanding the Brain and how it works, and this has been accompanied by a
large number of popular science books on Neuroscience and the Brain. Hence I
was rather reluctant to read another one on the same subject – but having read
other books by Dr.Kaku on Physics, I was intrigued enough to check how a
Physicist would look at this subject. I am happy to say that the effort was not
in vain as Kaku provides a grand tour on the subject explaining in detail how
the latest technologies provide us greater insight into brain function.
Kaku has divided the book into three sections – Section 1
describing the Mind and Consciousness, Section 2 taking a look at Mind and
Matter – telepathy, telekinesis and brain enhancement, and Section 3 exploring
dreams, different types of consciousness, and the future of the Mind. The
Appendix on Quantum consciousness is the icing on the cake – a fascinating few
pages which one should not miss under any circumstance.
One reason that I really liked the book was because it drew
upon some of best books I have seen on this subject from experts like VS
Ramachandran, David Eagleman ( his fantastic book ‘Incognito’ is a must read)
and Ray Kurzveil. Further Kaku has met and interviewed hundreds of other
experts and visited most of the leading neuroscience research labs across the
world. Then he has been able to distill all that information into a great
narrative that you will find difficult to put down.
Physicists like to create models and that approach is
entertaining when applied in a complex domain. One may not agree with all the
simplifications and approximations but it definitely enables better
understanding of the subject. Most of us
may also not agree with the future that Kaku (and others like Ray Kurzveil)
envisions, where one will download the brain into a digital storehouse and
become immortal. They feel that the Universe will ‘awaken’ when human
consciousness develops into a cosmic consciousness, which is supposed to be our
destiny. I am reminded of a cartoon I
saw many years back in which a stick person shouts to the Universe ‘Sir, I
exist”. “However” replies the Universe
“that has not created in me a sense of obligation”.
We take great delight in our “Consciousness” and find it
difficult to believe that the Universe may not care. If we consider that it
took 3.5 billion years (which is not a small time period even at cosmic scale)
and a multitude of accidents to develop ‘intelligent’ life and “consciousness”
on earth, it may not be a part of a grand scheme that we would like dream
about. Also, the fact an asteroid from space
or a volcanic eruption on earth can finish off all life in earth in minutes is
something that we do not think about much.
Nevertheless it is fascinating to understand how the brain
works and marvel at the way evolution has created such a complex organ. It is
even more entertaining to see how we can use that organ to not only try to understand
the Universe but dream about taking it over.
