Cognitive Prostheses and Human Brains
Imagine it is the year 3023. Over the last thousand years, startling advances have been made in nanotechnology. A company called Supramentis is the largest publicly traded company devoted to implanting cognitive prostheses into human brains. A new service offered by Supramentis is the “comprehensive mind-replacement package”. Through a series of several surgeries, all parts of the human brain are gradually replaced with neuro-prostheses, ultimately culminating in the “i-Mind”. The i-Mind allows minds to upload, process, store, and retrieve 20 times more data than a natural human brain.
Initial Post: With reference to specific arguments from either the Descartes or Locke readings in Module 3, answer the following questions:
- Do the users of i-Mind have minds? Be sure to explain how Descartes’ or Locke’s arguments about the nature of consciousness are relevant to answering this question.
- Are the users of the i-Mind distinct from i-Mind itself? Be sure to explain how Descartes’ or Locke’s arguments about the nature of consciousness are relevant to answering this question.
Peer Response: Select a classmate’s initial post, and explain the extent to which it is consistent with Hume’s analysis of the idea of the self.
- According to Descartes, the mind and the body are separate entities, and the mind is non-physical and indivisible. He argued that consciousness is the defining feature of the mind, and that it cannot be reduced to anything physical. On the other hand, Locke believed that the mind is a tabula rasa, or a blank slate, at birth and that all knowledge is derived from experience. In the case of the i-Mind, it is clear that the physical brain has been replaced with a neuro-prosthetic, which raises the question of whether the user still has a mind. If we follow Descartes’ argument, the user still has a mind because the physical brain is not necessary for the existence of the mind. The i-Mind does not replace the mind, but rather acts as a cognitive prosthesis that enhances the mind’s abilities. However, if we follow Locke’s argument, it is not clear whether the user has a mind since the i-Mind is providing all of the user’s knowledge and experiences.
- Descartes argued that the mind and body are distinct entities, and that the mind can exist independently of the body. This raises the question of whether the user of the i-Mind is distinct from the i-Mind itself. If we follow Descartes’ argument, the user and the i-Mind are distinct entities, since the mind can exist independently of the physical body. The i-Mind is a tool that the mind uses to enhance its cognitive abilities.
