Monday 24 November 2014

The Future of the Mind

Finished November 22
The Future of the Mind: the Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku

This book is wide-ranging in ints scope. It is organized into three main sections. The first section deals with understanding the mind. It looks at the mind and consciousness, exploring what we know about the mind and how we view consciousness.
The second section covers enhancing the mind, going beyond what is traditionally thought of. This covers using the mind to communicate (telepathy), using the mind to control matter (telekinesis), memory control and thought direction, and enhancing intelligence.
The third section covers empowerment. Topics including dreams, controlling what we think and how we use our mind, altered states of consciousness, artificial minds and the nature of them, the different projects now underway to reverse engineer the brain, what the future may hold for our understanding, enhancement and use of the mind, the mind as a form of energy, and alien minds and what they might look like,
There is also a short appendix on quantum consciousness, Kaku's own topic of research. The book includes a list of further reading suggestions as well.
There is a lot to think about here. I learned a lot and started thinking in new ways about some of these topics. The book is very well-written, and easy for a layman to understand.

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