the director Jean-Stéphane Bron met five renowned neuroscientists for a dive into the world of research on artificial intelligence. His documentary Five stories from the brain comes out Wednesday, March 16 at the cinema. “Not only will we reproduce human intelligence, but we will be able to surpass it. We will also be able to reproduce our emotions and consciousness”declares one of them in this film.
“Imagine a neighbor who hates you or who loves you, he could hack the brain. I know areas of stimulation for that.”
A neuroscientistExcerpt from the documentary “Five stories from the brain”
Another scientist confides that he wants to manufacture “machines that would be free to live without us”. It’s not a movie science fiction but a documentary because it is true that one day it will be possible to manipulate someone’s brain. Asked in this film, niels Birbaumer, doctor specializing in brain stimulation, explains that science now makes it possible to activate on demand the areas of the brain responsible for concentration, language, emotions, thanks to electrodes.
But he fears that this technology will be developed without control by digital giants. Each of us could end up with a stimulation helmet on our head to improve our brain performance or our mood. Again this is only fiction, but it is scientifically possible.
Alexandre Pouget, professor of neuroscience in Geneva, believes that everything can be put into the equation, both decision-making and emotions. Moreover, in this documentary, several researchers imagine that robots will one day feel pleasure, sadness, anger and that they will emancipate themselves from humans, with their logic and their freedom. But other researchers do not share this theory. According to them, the human brain is far too complex to be imitated.
The future will tell. In the meantime, this documentary shows that research on artificial intelligence suggests several possible futures for our society and that we have everything to gain by taking an interest in it now.