Rationality we are told—like pubes or breasts—apparently takes a while to manifest, at age 25 approximately. There’s a cortex: some “grey matter” inside the skull that eventually conducts right and wrong to the limbs. Too clever by half for sure: a few missteps along the way can ruin the cake, and the oven takes a half century or so to reheat. Not a recipe for success, but some of the tastiest dishes come from kitchen disasters. Nita Farahany studies neurotechnology, mechanisms that “read or write to the brain”, otherwise known as consciousness. The increasing feedback loops of our inescapable state are about to capsize the ship she says, and she’s already searching for legal lifejackets. Leo off the Titanic taught us that buyancy is no guarantee though: thought flows in both directions. There is no spoon, but there is soup.
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