In the sci-fi movie The Matrix, people lie motionless in pods of nutrients while they "dream” that they are living normal lives in the year 1999. Their version of reality is being fed into their brains by advanced computers to keep them passive slaves of a malevolent cyber-intelligence. They see what their brains are stimulated to see, not what is there.
Look around you. What do you see? Perhaps a cat sitting in a comfortable chair. But are you sure the cat is really there? Okay, we're teasing you. You're probably not lying in a plastic pod 200 floors up in some alien power station. On the other hand, The Matrix isn't all fantasy. Given sufficient knowledge of the human brain, it would be possible to make people see whatever you wanted them to see, rather than what was in front of their eyes. That's because we see with our brains, not with our eyes. Make the right nerve cells fire in the right order, and we can't tell the difference between a real cat and one that exists only in our minds.
The brain is sometimes compared to a computer that processes input from two cameras (our eyes). In fact, it is a mass of grayish jelly weighing about a kilogram and a half with stalk-like extensions called eyes. You could call it a bio-computer-and it's a powerful one at that. Your bio-computer whips through vision tasks with tremendous speed.
Denne historien er fra January 2022-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra January 2022-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A 12-Year-Old Girl's Election Sticker Is a Winner
VOTING IS A FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM FOR AMERICANS, A MEANS OF DOING ONE'S CIVIC DUTY AND A WAY AN INDIVIDUAL CAN EXPRESS THEIR VOICE. In 1971, the United States lowered its voting age to 18. But that doesn't mean kids and teens under 18 can't participate in elections in various ways.
If everything the human brain does is basically sets of electrical impulses, how exactly does that translate into a state of mind?
You're not the only one asking this question. Every neuroscientist in the world is wondering the exact same thing, says Zach Mainen
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A burglar sneaks into a house on a quiet street in New York City. He walks through the house, touching countertops and door handles. Finally, he steals a single card from a full deck. Then he leaves.
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When you think you're alone, you're actually not. In the ground, the air, your room, and even your body are Strillions and trillions of creatures so tiny you can't see them.
A Mars Rock Found With Leopard Spots Could Be a Sign of Ancient Life
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Para Athlete Uses Exoskeleton Suit to Carry the Olympic Torch
In July, a 36-year-old French tennis para athlete, Kevin Piette, got a chance to participate in this summer’s Olympic torch relay without using a wheelchair.
Ancient Egyptians May Have Used a Water System to Lift Stones to Build Pyramid
HOW ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BUILT THE MASSIVE PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT MORE THAN 4,000 YEARS AGO HAS LONG BEEN A TOPIC OF WONDER AND DEBATE.
