Do you remember that scene from the 2010 Tamil movie “Enthiran”? The robot Chitti has to learn a bunch of information and so, it holds a book, scans it and absorbs the information. Or think of the 2015 Bollywood movie “PK”, where the alien has to learn a language and hold the hands of a woman for 6 hours to learn how to speak Bhojpuri, dialect included. Some of us must have scoffed at the idea. If only it were that easy.
With all of the advancements around us, maybe, the idea is closer to fruition than we think.
Researchers in New York seem to have been able to directly write new patterns of activity into the human brain to enable learning, And you won’t have to do surgery, drugs, the NZT pill that Bradley Cooper took in Limitless and interestingly, you won’t even need explicit instruction.
So, let’s say you can’t tell the difference between Hollywood actors Matthew Damon and Mark Wahlberg. They both, kind of, look alike and they were in The Departed together. So, you need to learn the difference between the two without anyone teaching you or without you having to learn who is who. First, you lie in one of those brain-scanning machines and are shown different pictures of Mark and Matthew on a screen, while a machine tracks your brain in real time.
Now, there may not be another person guiding you. Instead, scientists would have done past research to understand what brain activity looks like when someone correctly identifies Damon versus Wahlberg. That creates, for lack of a better phrase, a brain template to show what the brain looks like when each performer is correctly identified. So, when you get into the brain-scanning machine, the system compares the brain template to your pattern and when your brain pattern gets close to the template, there’s a tiny reward doled out, like some affirmation or even money. Looks like the Pavlovian dog has become human.
Over time, your brain learns to match the template and you start recognizing which performer is Matthew and which is Mark without even realizing it happened. It’s like that hot and cold game, where one has to find a hidden object in a room: someone doesn’t tell you where it is, but says “warmer” when you’re close and “colder” when you’re far. Similarly, your brain would naturally figure out the right direction over time. No instructor and no textbook. The folks at Khan Academy wanting to use AI for education might get worried.
It’s a sweet idea: gently nudging your brain into forming new knowledge on its own: kind of like muscle memory, but for thinking.
Maybe, something like this could help with a couple of creative or physical skills. Could someone learn how to play a guitar or speak French using this? Could you become a better public speaker this way? Could you become the most confident version of yourself? Go even deeper. Could your most traumatic memories be rewritten?
It’s interesting, because this could mean someone could rapidly acquire skills that may take years to learn. Could something, like this, help someone with learning abilities or someone who’s had a stroke? Would Hector Salamanca have walked again, if this tech were available?
Of course, if knowledge could be implanted without instruction, you might wonder who controls what knowledge is written into the brain and whether the tech might be misused. Could the machine be weaponized for some kind of behavioural conditioning or propaganda? If I download the ability to play as well as Van Halen through advanced brain stimulation, am I as creatively expressive as Edward, who must have practiced and honed his skill for years? Would an artificially implanted understanding of some knowledge or skill carry the same depth as one forged through experimentation, exploration, elimination and more?
Of course, in theory, this could help Indian students out. If someone could acquire STEM skills directly this way, instead of rote memorization, could this be more effective? Or go beyond education. Could a startup or company train employees in days, rather than months?
Sure, there have been a couple of EdTech startups that have received traction and funding, even in a post-BYJU’s era. But, could the time come for DeepTech EdTech startups to thrive using technologies like these? The global neurotech market is expected to reach about $35 billion by 2030. Could India have a significant share of that?
But, at the same time, maybe, we’re celebrating too early. The science may not be ready just yet. The long-term neurological effects of artificially modifying brain patterns may not be known just yet. One would have to make sure this doesn’t go out before everything is set in place or else this might end up being another wave of unscientific snake oil instead of a genuine breakthrough. Even the actual neural learning may take millions per person to be facilitated.
Are we prepared for a world where knowledge is not earned but installed? How do we ensure that such technology serves humanity rather than controlling it?
How are you going to learn your next skill or nugget of info?
