The Future of the Mind

Copyright © 2014 by Michio Kaku

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies.

www.doubleday.com

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Illustrations by Jeffrey L. Ward
Jacket design by Michael J. Windsor
Jacket illustration © CLIPAREA/Custom media/Shutterstock

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Kaku, Michio.
   The future of the mind : the scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind / Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of Theoretical Physics, City University of New York. — First edition.
    pages cm
   Includes bibliographical references.
   1. Neuropsychology. 2. Mind and body—Research.
3. Brain—Mathematical models. 4. Cognitive neuroscience.
5. Brain-computer interfaces. I. Title.
   
QP
360.
K
325 2014
   612.8—dc23

                                                    2013017338

ISBN
978-0-385-53082-8 (hardcover)        
ISBN
978-0-385-53083-5 (eBook)

v3.1

This book is dedicated to my loving wife, Shizue
,
                                 
and my daughters, Michelle and Alyson

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

BOOK I: THE MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS

1
UNLOCKING THE MIND

2
CONSCIOUSNESS—A PHYSICIST’S VIEWPOINT

BOOK II: MIND OVER MATTER

3
TELEPATHY: A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

4
TELEKINESIS: MIND CONTROLLING MATTER

5
MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS MADE TO ORDER

6
EINSTEIN’S BRAIN AND ENHANCING OUR INTELLIGENCE

BOOK III: ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS

7
IN YOUR DREAMS

8
CAN THE MIND BE CONTROLLED?

9
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

10
THE ARTIFICIAL MIND AND SILICON CONSCIOUSNESS

11
REVERSE ENGINEERING THE BRAIN

12
THE FUTURE: MIND BEYOND MATTER

13
THE MIND AS PURE ENERGY

14
THE ALIEN MIND

15
CONCLUDING REMARKS

APPENDIX: QUANTUM CONSCIOUSNESS?

NOTES

SUGGESTED READING

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

A Note About the Author

Other Books by This Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It has been my great pleasure to have interviewed and interacted with the following prominent scientists, all of them leaders in their fields. I would like to thank them for graciously giving up their time for interviews and discussions about the future of science. They have given me guidance and inspiration, as well as a firm foundation in their respective fields.

I would like to thank these pioneers and trailblazers, especially those who have agreed to appear on my TV specials for the BBC, Discovery, and Science TV channels, and also on my national radio shows,
Science Fantastic
and
Explorations
.

Peter Doherty, Nobel laureate, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Gerald Edelman, Nobel laureate, Scripps Research Institute

Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate, Illinois Institute of Technology

Murray Gell-Mann, Nobel laureate, Santa Fe Institute and Cal Tech

the late Henry Kendall, Nobel laureate, MIT

Walter Gilbert, Nobel laureate, Harvard University

David Gross, Nobel laureate, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics

Joseph Rotblat, Nobel laureate, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital

Yoichiro Nambu, Nobel laureate, University of Chicago

Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, University of Texas at Austin

Frank Wilczek, Nobel laureate, MIT

. . .

Amir Aczel, author of
Uranium Wars

Buzz Aldrin, NASA astronaut, second man to walk on the moon

Geoff Andersen, U.S. Air Force Academy, author of
The Telescope

Jay Barbree, author of
Moon Shot

John Barrow, physicist, Cambridge University, author of
Impossibility

Marcia Bartusiak, author of
Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony

Jim Bell, Cornell University astronomer

Jeffrey Bennet, author of
Beyond UFOs

Bob Berman, astronomer, author
The Secrets of the Night Sky

Leslie Biesecker, National Institutes of Health

Piers Bizony, author of
How to Build Your Own Starship

Michael Blaese, National Institutes of Health

Alex Boese, founder of Museum of Hoaxes

Nick Bostrom, transhumanist, Oxford University

Lt. Col. Robert Bowman, Institute for Space and Security Studies

Cynthia Breazeal, artificial intelligence, MIT Media Lab

Lawrence Brody, National Institutes of Health

Rodney Brooks, director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute

Michael Brown, astronomer, Cal Tech

James Canton, author of
The Extreme Future

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

Fritjof Capra, author of
The Science of Leonardo

Sean Carroll, cosmologist, Cal Tech

Andrew Chaikin, author of
A Man on the Moon

Leroy Chiao, NASA astronaut

Eric Chivian, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

Deepak Chopra, author of
Super Brain

George Church, director of Harvard’s Center for Computational Genetics

Thomas Cochran, physicist, Natural Resources Defense Council

Christopher Cokinos, astronomer, author of
Fallen Sky

Francis Collins, National Institutes of Health

Vicki Colvin, nanotechnologist, University of Texas

Neal Comins, author of
Hazards of Space Travel

Steve Cook, NASA spokesperson

Christine Cosgrove, author of
Normal at Any Cost

Steve Cousins, CEO of Willow Garage Personal Robots Program

Phillip Coyle, former assistant secretary of defense for the U.S. Defense Department

Daniel Crevier, AI, CEO of Coreco

Ken Croswell, astronomer, author of
Magnificent Universe

Steven Cummer, computer science, Duke University

Mark Cutkowsky, mechanical engineering, Stanford University

Paul Davies, physicist, author of
Superforce

Daniel Dennet, philosopher, Tufts University

the late Michael Dertouzos, computer science, MIT

Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winner, UCLA

Marriot DiChristina,
Scientific American

Peter Dilworth, MIT AI Lab

John Donoghue, creator of Braingate, Brown University

Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan, Cosmos Studios

Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University

David Eagleman, neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine

John Ellis, CERN physicist

Paul Erlich, environmentalist, Stanford University

Daniel Fairbanks, author of
Relics of Eden

Timothy Ferris, University of California, author of
Coming of Age in the Milky Way Galaxy

Maria Finitzo, stem cell expert, Peabody Award winner

Robert Finkelstein, AI expert

Christopher Flavin, World Watch Institute

Louis Friedman, cofounder of the Planetary Society

Jack Gallant, neuroscientist, University of California at Berkeley

James Garwin, NASA chief scientist

Evelyn Gates, author of
Einstein’s Telescope

Michael Gazzaniga, neurologist, University of California at Santa Barbara

Jack Geiger, cofounder, Physicians for Social Responsibility

David Gelertner, computer scientist, Yale University, University of California

Neal Gershenfeld, MIT Media Lab

Daniel Gilbert, psychologist, Harvard University

Paul Gilster, author of
Centauri Dreams

Rebecca Goldberg, Environmental Defense Fund

Don Goldsmith, astronomer, author of
Runaway Universe

David Goodstein, assistant provost of Cal Tech

J. Richard Gott III, Princeton University, author of
Time Travel in Einstein’s Universe

Late Stephen Jay Gould, biologist, Harvard University

Ambassador Thomas Graham, spy satellites and intelligence gathering

John Grant, author of
Corrupted Science

Eric Green, National Institutes of Health

Ronald Green, author of
Babies by Design

Brian Greene, Columbia University, author of
The Elegant Universe

Alan Guth, physicist, MIT, author of
The Inflationary Universe

William Hanson, author of
The Edge of Medicine

Leonard Hayflick, University of California at San Francisco Medical School

Donald Hillebrand, Argonne National Labs, future of the car

Frank N. von Hippel, physicist, Princeton University

Allan Hobson, psychiatrist, Harvard University

Jeffrey Hoffman, NASA astronaut, MIT

Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize winner, Indiana University, author of
Gödel, Escher, Bach

John Horgan, Stevens Institute of Technology, author of
The End of Science

Jamie Hyneman, host of
MythBusters

Chris Impey, astronomer, author of
The Living Cosmos

Robert Irie, AI Lab, MIT

P. J. Jacobowitz,
PC
magazine

Jay Jaroslav, MIT AI Lab

Donald Johanson, anthropologist, discoverer of Lucy

George Johnson,
New York Times
science journalist

Tom Jones, NASA astronaut

Steve Kates, astronomer

Jack Kessler, stem cell expert, Peabody Award winner

Robert Kirshner, astronomer, Harvard University

Kris Koenig, astronomer

Lawrence Krauss, Arizona State University, author of
Physics of Star Trek

Lawrence Kuhn, filmmaker and philosopher,
Closer to Truth

Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author of
The Age of Spiritual Machines

Robert Lanza, biotechnology, Advanced Cell Technologies

Roger Launius, author of
Robots in Space

Stan Lee, creator of Marvel Comics and Spider-Man

Michael Lemonick, senior science editor of
Time

Arthur Lerner-Lam, geologist, volcanist

Simon LeVay, author of
When Science Goes Wrong

John Lewis, astronomer, University of Arizona

Alan Lightman, MIT, author of
Einstein’s Dreams

George Linehan, author of
Space One

Seth Lloyd, MIT, author of
Programming the Universe

Werner R. Loewenstein, former director of Cell Physics Laboratory, Columbia University

Joseph Lykken, physicist, Fermi National Laboratory

Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab

Robert Mann, author of
Forensic Detective

Michael Paul Mason, author of
Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath

Patrick McCray, author of
Keep Watching the Skies

Glenn McGee, author of
The Perfect Baby

James McLurkin, MIT, AI Lab