BLOWING THE MIND, EXPANDING THE MIND & LOSING THE MIND
The human brain becomes highly personalized after birth by the development of unique configurations of connections between the brain cells that characterize its subsequent growth, personalizing it into what we would call a ‘mind’ that is in constant dialogue with the environment. We shall explore insights from neuroscience into (i) ‘blowing’ the mind; (ii) expanding the mind; (iii) losing the mind.
(i)
Since the 21st Century is delivering a vast range of new digital technologies that are transforming our environment in unprecedented ways, it follows that the human brain, and thus our minds, could also be undergoing unprecedented changes, particularly in the young where the appeal to live in the immediate sensory press of the moment has never been greater.
(ii)
Consciousness is the ultimate miracle, – and enigma. We will explore how consciousness could grow as brains grow, as a continuously variable property of the brain, in both phylogenetic and ontogenetic terms. How could such a dynamic process ever be tractable to experimentation? ‘Neuronal assemblies’ are large scale (tens of millions), highly transient (sub-second) neuronal coalitions that could provide a sensitive objective correlate to subjective experience.
(iii)
When it comes to older age, one of the biggest problems of our time, is Alzheimer’s Disease: a basic problem is that existing therapies target symptoms in the late stages, but don’t arrest progression. However we shall discuss a new approach identifying the pivotal basic mechanism as an inappropriate reactivation of a developmental process that becomes toxic in the context of the mature brain.