Tonight on Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman – is the future one where we can all be geniuses?
It is a fact that intelligence is mostly genetic but could we soon use technology to boost our innate abilities?
Well even without technological enhancement there is some evidence that you can increase your intelligence if you’re older, though this could be more a slowing of decline. Mostly studies and experts doubt the claims of brain training companies.
Even defining what intelligence is can be difficult in itself but people who do well in one sort of IQ test tend to do well in them all and there is also a correlation with wealth, health and lifespan.
So if training does not really work and it is mostly genetics then the only way to really increase how smart we are would seem to rely on technology. Perhaps altering genes or maybe even some sort of cybernetic enhancement. Both of these ideas have been heavily used in science fiction movies such as Johnny Mnemonic and Blade Runner.
UCLA scientists have improved the memory of some humans subjects by stimulating the entorhinal cortex in the brain, this appears to result in improved performance in a navigation simulation.
DARPA funded researchers may also be a lot closer to being able to routinely implant chips in people’s brains, the actual procedure has been fraught with danger.
Some research even indicates that the bacteria in our guts could influence our intelligence!
It is certainly a fascinating subject and also raises moral questions, for instance you could end up with an augmented elite populated by those able to afford the technology.
Watch Through the Wormhole With Morgan Freeman – Can We All Become Geniuses tonight at 10 PM on Science Channel.