Dr. Andrew Maynard, an author and science communicator here at ASU, shared his thoughts on the past presented in Douglas Trumbull’s Brainstorm on February 26th at the Majestic Neighborhood Cinema in Tempe. Read his musings below!
One of life’s biggest mysteries — we can communicate with each other, but we really don’t know what some else is experiencing, or how they see the world around them.
Philosophers have been grappling with this for thousands of years. The “problem of other minds”.
Scientists as well — theory of the mind.
We’ve developed intricate ways of tying to step into the minds of others — empathy, art, communication of various different types
But it’s only recently that we’ve had access to technology that can begin to get us closer to stepping into someone else’s mind.
And of course science fiction is rife with tales of how this might occur, from the Vulcan Mind meld to films like Strange Days, Total Recall, and The Matrix — and of course, today’s film.
VR went some way toward that — over 70 years of research. But it only emulates sensory stimulation, it doesn’t necessarily convey what someone else is experiencing
Apple’s Vision pro and similar systems go further — record what you experience in 3D and let others experience it.
But what about what’s actually happening inside our heads?
Brain computer interfaces are scratching the surface here. Inserts like Neuralink’s wireless chip are beginning to open up new possibilities. And we now have non-invasive headsets that can decode simple things like words and images inside someone’s head.
This is getting close to what we see in Brainstorm, but we are still light years away from this tech — and I don’t think we’ll actually get there.
But Brainstorm does what any good sci fi does — it puts a transformative technology into reality as we know it, and explores what might happen yet.
As I mentioned, this isn’t the only movie that does this. But Brainstorm is somewhat unique. The story isn’t about some dramatic impact the technology has — although we see this playing out — but the evolution of the technology itself.
And importantly. It forces us to grapple with what makes us human
And that, ultimately, is the big question that this movie forces us to confront through the lens of a technology that challenges what we know — what does it mean to be human?
The film was introduced by Dr. Andrew Maynard. Dr. Maynard is a Professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, a Senior Global Futures Scholar, and host of the Modem Futura podcast with Dr. Sean Leahy!