If our brain is understanding some parts of the universe and not understanding other parts, and those understandings are about the laws of physics that our brains are built on top of, then it's kind of a loop, right? Edward Boyden More Quotes by Edward Boyden More Quotes From Edward Boyden For the last century of neuroscience, lots of people have tried to control neurons using all sorts of different technologies - pharmacology (drugs), electrical pulses, and so on. But none of these technologies are precise. With optogenetics, we can aim light at a single cell, or a set of cells, and turn just that set of cells on or off. Edward Boyden technology cells light Unlike optogenetics, where there are existing nonprofits that give away the DNA for free or at cost, expansion microscopy requires chemicals to be used, so having a company that makes the chemistry kit that anybody can use can save time. Edward Boyden nonprofits dna giving The skill-providers want to have more impact and solve problems; the problem people want new tools to get their problems solved. Edward Boyden impact skills people If you think backwards from a big problem, and you talk to all these other people who have skills and who think forward from their skills, it's very easy to form collaborations because everyone is incentivized to work together. Edward Boyden skills people thinking Work backward from your goal. Edward Boyden goal One of the things that got me transitioning from physical science to brain science was asking, Why do we understand so much about the universe? Edward Boyden physical-science asking-why brain It's actually kind of weird that we can comprehend the law of gravity, or that we can understand quantum mechanics, enough at least to make computers. Edward Boyden computer kind law It's surprising that the world is understandable to the extent that it is. Edward Boyden surprising world Remember, when we're conscious of something, that state is quite often generated by unconscious processes that happen right before it. Edward Boyden states conscious remember There are many things that we still don't understand about the universe, right? Einstein struggled to bring quantum mechanics and gravity together and never succeeded, and that's a problem that to this day is not well understood. Well, maybe to comprehend some of these things, we need to augment our intelligence. If we do, who knows? Edward Boyden problem together needs Behavioral economics can explain some things, but it's hard to explain a lot of the underlying processes that generate these decisions, much less some of these unconscious things that we don't have a handle on at all. Edward Boyden economics decision process The brain is really hard to see. The whole thing is very large - the human brain is several pounds in weight - but the connections between brain cells, known as synapses, are really tiny. They're nanoscale in dimension. So if you want to see how the cells of the brain are connected in networks, you have to see those connections, those synapses. Edward Boyden cells want brain If you could map out a human brain, an open question is, if you simulated it, would it be you? Now, as we discussed earlier, we don't have a great definition or even a good technological handle to know whether something is conscious or not just by looking at it, so there's that aspect that we're not ready to answer, I would argue. But it raises very interesting questions about the nature of identity. Edward Boyden identity brain interesting If we succeed, it makes no sense to keep it only for ourselves. Edward Boyden succeed ifs I was interested in big unknowns, and the brain is one of the biggest, so building tools that allow us to regard the brain as a big electrical circuit appealed to me. Edward Boyden me building tools brain What I'm really interested in is this idea of a 'brain co-processor' - a device that can record from, and deliver information to, so many points in the brain, with a computational infrastructure in between - a computer that can process the information and compute exactly what needs to be restored. Edward Boyden information process brain needs
