NeuroScience Fiction: From "2001: A Space Odyssey" to "Inception," How Neuroscience Is Transforming Sci-Fi into Reality―While Challenging Our Beliefs About the Mind, Machines, and What Makes us Human
Written by Rodrigo Quian Quiroga
Narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon
5/5
()
About this audiobook
What if science fiction stopped being fiction?
Developments in neuroscience are turning sci-fi scenarios into reality, and causing us to revisit some of the philosophical questions we have been asking ourselves for centuries.
Science fiction often takes its inspiration from the latest science . . . and our oldest questions. After all, the two are inextricably linked. At a time when advances in artificial intelligence are genuinely leading us closer to a computer that thinks like a human, we can’t help but wonder: What makes a person a person?
Countless writers and filmmakers have created futuristic scenarios to explore this issue and others like it. But these scenarios may not be so futuristic after all.
In the movie Inception, a group of conspirators implants false memories; in Until the End of the World, a mad scientist is able to read dreams; in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a supercomputer feels and thinks like a person. And in recent years, the achievements described in leading scientific journals have included some that might sound familiar: implanting memories using optogenetics, reading the mind during sleep thanks to advanced decoding algorithms, and creating a computer that uses deep neural networks to surpass the abilities of human thought.
In NeuroScience Fiction, neuroscientist and author Rodrigo Quiroga reveals the futuristic present we are living in, showing how the far-out premises of 10 seminal science fiction movies are being made possible by discoveries happening right now, on the cutting edge of neuroscience. He also explores the thorny philosophical problems raised as a result, diving into Minority Report and free will, The Matrix and the illusion of reality, Blade Runner and android emotion, and more.
A heady mix of science fiction, neuroscience, and philosophy, NeuroScience Fiction takes us from Vanilla Sky to neural research labs, and from Planet of the Apes to what makes us human. This is a book you’ll be thinking about long after the last page—and once you’ve read it, you’ll never watch a sci-fi blockbuster the same way again.
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga
Rodrigo Quian Quiroga holds a Research Chair at the University of Leicester, UK. He is the director of the Centre for Systems Neuroscience and the Head of Bioengineering at the University of Leicester. He graduated in Physics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Luebeck, Germany. Before joining the University of Leicester in 2004, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research Center Juelich, Germany, a Sloan fellow at the California Institute of Technology, USA and had short stays at RIKEN, Japan and the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He has held visiting positions at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg, the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, the University of California Los Angeles, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Buenos Aires, and CONICET. He obtained a young investigator award by the American Epilepsy Society, in 2010 a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and in 2014 he was selected as one of the 10 UK RISE Leaders in Science and Engineering. His main research interest is on the study of the principles of visual perception and memory. He discovered what has been named "Concept cells" or "Jennifer Aniston neurons", neurons in the human brain that play a key role in memory formation, a finding that was selected as one of the top 100 scientific stories of 2005 by Discover Magazine. His work has been published in about 100 research articles and has received world-wide media attention, including articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Independent, and others. He is also the author of Borges and Memory, linking the thoughts of Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges with memory research in Neuroscience.
Related to NeuroScience Fiction
Related audiobooks
The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Biological Mind: How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infinite Reality: Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Science of Science Fiction: The Influence of Film and Fiction on the Science and Culture of Our Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Meghan O'Gieblyn's God Human Animal Machine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cathedrals of Glass: A Planet of Blood and Ice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Future Minds: The Rise of Intelligence, from the Big Bang to the End of the Universe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Science Delusion: Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Mirror and Philosophy: Dark Reflections Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Technological Singularity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking about Intelligent Machines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How Vast is the Cosmos? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBig Brain Revolution: Artificial Intelligence – Spy or Saviour? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Fossil Enigma: The Search for the Conodont Animal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Art of Being Ordinary: A Human Manifesto in the Age of the Metaverse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe God Drug Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sound of Blue: Four Science Fiction Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Writing: A Comprehensive Guide to Crafting Your Masterpiece Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biology For You
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How the Mind Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Uncertain Sea: Fear is everywhere. Embrace it. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Second Nature: A Gardener's Education Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hot Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion: Surprising Observations of a Hidden World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for NeuroScience Fiction
1 rating0 reviews