Systems neuroscience in focus: From the human brain to the global brain?

Abstract

Human intelligence (i.e., the ability to consistently solve problems successfully) has evolved through the need to adapt to changing environments. This is not only true of our past but also of our present. Our brain faculties are becom-ing more sophisticated by cooperating and interacting with technology, specif-ically digital communication technology (Asaro, 2008). When we consider the matter of brain function augmentation, we take it for granted that the issue refers to the human brain as a distinct organ. However, as we live in a complex technological society, it is now becoming clear that the issue is much more complicated. Individual brains cannot simply be considered in isolation, and their function is no longer local-ized or contained within the cranium, as we now know that information may be transmitted directly from one brain to another (Deadwyler et al., 2013; Pais- Vieira et al., 2013). This issue has been discussed in detail and attempts have been made to study the matter within a wider and more global context (Nicolelis and Laporta, 2011). Recent research in the field of brain to brain interfaces has provided the basis for further research and formation of new hypotheses in this respect (Grau et al., 2014; Rao et al., 2014). This concept of rudimentary “brain nets” may be expanded in a more global fashion, and within this framework, it is possible to envisage a much bigger and abstract “meta-entity” of inclusive and distributed capabilities, called the Global Brain (Mayer-Kress and Barczys, 1995; Heylighen and Bollen, 1996; Johnson et al., 1998; Helbing, 2011; Vidal, in press). This entity reciprocally feeds informa-tion back to its components—the indi-vidual human brains. As a result, novel and hitherto unknown consequences may materialize such as, for instance, the emer-gence of rudimentary global “emotion” (Garcia and Tanase, 2013; Garcia et al., 2013; Kramera et al., 2014), and the appearance of decision-making faculties (Rodriguez et al., 2007). These characteris-tics may have direct impact upon our biol-ogy (Kyriazis, 2014a). This has been long discussed in futuristic and sociology lit-erature (Engelbart, 1988), but now it also becomes more relevant to systems neuro-science partly because of the very promis-ing research in brain-to-brain interfaces. The concept is grounded on scientific principles (Last, 2014a) and mathematical modeling (Heylighen et al., 2012).