Cogito Ergo Sum – Pars II

                                                                                                           

It goes without sayingⁱthat even before science learns how to insert thoughts – and they willⁱⁱ– there will be ways found to read thoughts from the outside. It's already possible to identify the areas of the brain that are active in relation to a variety of stimuli, so it can be determined what“turns you on.”ⁱⁱⁱ Thoughts used to be considered sacred and beyond legal consequence. A couple of examples of that philosophy are the German song, Die Gedanken sind frei(thoughts are free) and a line from Frank Loesser's Standing on the Corner which says “Brother, you can't go to jail for what you're thinkin'.” The time will come, however, when you can. Right now all they can do in some jurisdictions is charge you with loitering.

The insertion of ideas, however, is not new. And it needn't be surgical. For better or worse it's always been with us. We call it education, but we try to limit the particular concepts our children learn to those with which we, ourselves, are comfortable. And we look for the“best” schools and teachers to implement the program we have prescribed. We want to choose the school district or, in some cases, a particular school – secular or parochial – to instill both the desired facts in our children and the techniques for working with them, and the “proper” outlook, which is sometimes more important than the facts. And, during this period of information acquisition, youth, we want to shield our children from ideas that we view as detrimental – whether because they are wrong or because we consider them contrary to our own ideas and, thus, confusing and misleading.

When it comes to “proper outlook,” most people usually accept the one that is available at no cost, the one usually described as public education, although some families will opt for a parochial^ivor a private school – even at what may be a significant cost – in order to promote a particular set of values or to improve the chances of a particular outcome that is likely to result from, the attendance at a desirable (type of) institution.

The“promotion” of thoughts, values, and philosophies in a parochial school is often viewed as restrictive and coercive by “liberal”citizens who don't use them, but the techniques they use are no different – and perhaps less harmful – than those used by the state in general.^v Under the usual circumstances the education our children receive –public education – is whatever is believed by the majority,^viand minority viewpoints are either ignored or belittled. It's usually some form of default to generally accepted ideas without much attention to details. In some instances, however, there may be a specific intent to indoctrinate the students into “correct”beliefs and “knowledge.” George Orwell, in 1984,^viishowed what can be done with the recasting of history, the“correction” of existing texts, careful crafting of the message, and the creative use of language. If there are no time constraints, if it can be done over generations, and no one will notice or care. Soon enough the information people are taught to believe becomes common knowledge. First “knowledge,” and then memory. Mythology and old wives' tales are well accepted in our society already. Who is not aware the George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and admitted his transgression, and that vitamin C will prevent or cure the common cold? In the next generation these will be the truths that everyone knows.

The education, provided by those who will seek community through uniformity of knowledge will be greatly assisted by technological advances, as well as by the popular desire for test score improvements and a common curriculum for all – however inappropriate it is for many of the students. Disingenuous innovators will, with feigned diffidence claim they are “standing on the shoulders of giants.” What is actually the case is that they've had an education and are working with more information than previous generations – the real giants – had. The idea, as they express it, sounds modest but noble, yet it is too often camouflage for calculated misrepresentation. And with the internet and all the social media outlets, false “truths” and spins, that “calculated misrepresentation” can be disseminated instantaneously. If it doesn't stick the first time, it can be presented again and again. After all, one of the basic techniques of education is repetition.

So the public may be horrified by scientific advances,^viiiwithout realizing that the advances research will bring some day by techniques now viewed as science fiction, have been present in less dramatic form since the dawn of civilization. And so, as with so many other things, before we take issue with what's to come, the perils of the future, it's vital that we evaluate what we have and what we've been taught is right. That, itself, may hold some dangers that need reconsideration. If I am what I think, I may not be what I think I am.

Anyway, that's what I think. At least I think it is.

Next episode: “Don't Put A Cold In Your Pocket”- Common sense but not Thomas Paine.

i           But I'll say it anyway.

ii            Surgery has already been employed to govern thought. Lobotomy was designed to sever pathways of emotional thoughts, allowing the victims to be more manageable. We now use mind-altering drugs to achieve the same results, but what we're learning may also teach us how to surgically change thought patterns. And we're experimenting with the transfer of genetic material to prevent, treat, and possibly cure diseases, so why not use the injection of facts as a cure for ignorance? It will be especially useful in those likely to have low IQs. Obviously that kind of procedure will be more difficult, but when scientists set their minds to solving a problem, it eventually gets solved, though it may take a long time and may be a problem better left unsolved.

iii         How long will it take before the techniques are refined and more specific information, perhaps individual thoughts, ideas, and memories, can be determined? Who knows? But it's only a matter of time.

iv          While a parochial school is usually chosen in order to have a particular religion inculcated in its students, the “public” schools similarly inculcate religion – the secular religion of the society in which the students live. (Although uncommon, there are occasions when a parochial school of another religion is chosen because of the quality of the education.)

v         Actually, it is not only the schools that do this, but the media. In their editorials, which are often repetitive messages emphasizing a particular viewpoint, they hammer home to susceptible readers the virtuous way to understand a particular situation or idea. Their way.

vi        Depending on sophistication and intent, that may be old wives' tales and mythology, or brainwashing and “reeducation.”

vii       Following the lead of the USSR and other totalitarian governments.

viii      As will many scientists.

Cogito Ergo Sum

 

                                                                                                          

That's what I thought; That's what I thought; That's what I thought; That's what I thought.

But I was wrong on all counts. And everyone makes the same mistake.

“I thought services started at 9 o'clock.”ⁱ That's what my friend said. “Thought.” One of mankind's greatest sources of error.ⁱⁱ Thought is too often a substitute for actual knowledge, and too often thought is confused with knowledge. For what you “know” may not be true. Certainly, as you get older your memories and your “knowledge” have a way of losing their clarity. The transmission of information from one neuron to the next isn't a sure thing. Sooner or later the memory – which is presumably some kind of chemical formulation which is passed along the neurons or resides in one of them – become corrupted, and words, ideas, and memories drop out. So grants will be sought and written to determine how to solve this problem. What, specifically, is the nature of an idea and where, specifically, is it located?

And this is where science fictionⁱⁱⁱ enters the picture. Once scientists discover how specific thoughts are encoded and recovered, and the location at which they are located, it won't be long before they figure out how to implant false ideas at those locations. Efforts to restore information will be superseded by those to implant it. Déjà vu will become reality.

The first step is anatomical. Where are thoughts located? That's not the only challenge, but it's an important one. It will probably be a while before we get the kind of answer we need, but the work has been going on for a while and we now know a little about thoughts and memories and their locations in various places in the cerebral cortex, in the frontal lobes and the basal ganglia, and in some other spots, but it will take more research before we can refine that knowledge to what we need. If the whole thing is going to work – if we're going to be able to implant thoughts the way we are learning to do with genes^iv – we'll need to know about which neurons to choose and how to get the new “fact” to stick. And of course we'll have to know what to insert to achieve the desired result.

So, needing a subject for experimentation, we recall that animals can be taught, if they have the physical apparatus both for the placement of the ideas and the performance of the acts that the encoded idea contains. They'll be the test subjects.^v After the chemical components, or the nucleic acid sequences of specific ideas are determined, and once the particular sites in the brain are identified, someone will come up with a way to insert the idea where it needs to be.

And then we'll start doing it on people. There will be numerous legal and ethical questions but they always lag behind the scientific accomplishments so it's unlikely that they will slow down the “critical” research.^vi First there will be the prisoners. Many of those destined for death will certainly be willing to offer their brains for experimentation in exchange for their lives, or for some “consideration” for family members. And once the techniques are perfected, there are likely to be some, among the elderly, who may find hope in the idea of restoration of memories. And the idea of a treatment for dementia will be extraordinarily appealing. Think of the savings for any health care program.

It will soon be noted that learning is nothing more than the acquisition of facts, so why not speed up education on the operating table? (Or “re-education,” as brainwashing is often labeled.) It is not hard to imagine a time when some amoral accountant will point out that it's cheaper to inject education – perhaps in newborns – than to pay for years of education. Of course the universities and other paid educational institutions will object, but what's wrong in having a child of Pre-K age who has the knowledge of a Ph.D? And, since the original advances in this field are likely to come from our country, perhaps we'll be able to catch up in all those surveys of education that show us behind so many countries in the free world.

Next episode: “Cogito Ergo Sum, Part Two” – The more I think about it,^vii the more I realize there's a lot more to be said.

i       It had been announced a week earlier that it would be 8:45.

ii      “Think” and “assume” are two ideas that can only get us into trouble. Both should be used with great caution and the knowledge of the risks inherent in their use – both in terms of the words themselves, and the process they reflect. If it ain't “know,” it ain't reliable. But sometimes that's not true either. Please continue with the text.

iii       Fiction at least for now. But science usually has a way of catching up with both the imaginable and the unimaginable.

iv      We're experimenting now with the transfer of genetic material to prevent, treat, and possibly cure diseases so, it will be argued, why not use the injection of facts as a cure for ignorance. It will be especially useful in those likely to have low IQs.

v      The guinea pigs, whatever their species.

vi      In fact, those doing the research will be happy if the lag is long, or even unending, so that they have the time to get whatever information, fame, or patents they seek.

vii     Yes, “think.” No one has injected me with anything yet. The fantasies are all mine.