内容简介
Michio Kaku, the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the Future tackles the most fascinating and complex?object?in the?known universe:?the human brain.
The Future of the Mind brings a topic that once belonged solely to the province of science fiction into a startling new reality. This scientific tour de force unveils the astonishing?research being done in?top laboratories around the world—all based on the latest advancements in neuroscience and physics—including recent experiments in telepathy, mind control, avatars, telekinesis, and recording memories and dreams. The Future of the Mind is an extraordinary, mind-boggling exploration of the frontiers of neuroscience. Dr. Kaku looks toward the day when we may achieve the ability to upload the human brain to a computer, neuron for neuron; project thoughts and emotions?around the world on a brain-net; take a “smart pill” to enhance cognition; send our consciousness across the universe; and push the very limits of immortality.
作者简介
MICHIO KAKU is a professor of physics at the City University of New York, cofounder of string field theory, and the author of several widely acclaimed science books, including
Hyperspace, Beyond Einstein, Physics of the Impossible, and
Physics of the Future. He is?the science correspondent for CBS's
This Morning and host of the radio programs
Science Fantastic and
Explorations in Science.,,
精彩书评
Praise for The Future of the Mind,? #1 New York Times Bestseller
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“Compelling…Kaku thinks with great breadth, and the vistas he presents us are worth the trip”
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—The New York Times Book Review
?“Intriguing….extraordinary findings…A fascinating sprint through everything from telepathy research to the 147,456 processors of the Blue Gene computer, which has been used to simulate 4.5% of the brain’s synapses and neurons”
—Nature
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“Fizzes with his characteristic effervescence….Fascinating….. For all his talk of surrogates and intelligent robots, no manufactured being could have a fraction of his charisma.”
—The Independent
?“A mind-bending study of the possibilities of the brain....a clear and readable guide to what is going on at a time of astonishingly rapid change.”
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The Telegraph
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In this expansive, illuminating journey through the mind, theoretical physicist Kaku (
Physics of the Future) explores fantastical realms of science fiction that may soon become our reality. His futurist framework merges physics with neuroscience... applied to demonstrations that “show proof-of-principle” in accomplishing what was previously fictional: that minds can be read, memories can be digitally stored, and intelligences can be improved to great extents.
The discussion, while heavily scientific, is engaging, clear, and replete with cinematic references...
These new mental frontiers make for captivating reading”
-Publishers Weekly
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“Kaku turns his attention to the human mind with equally satisfying results…Telepathy is no longer a fantasy since scanners can already detect, if crudely, what a subject is thinking, and genetics and biochemistry now allow researchers to alter memories and increase intelligence in animals. Direct electrical stimulation of distinct brain regions has changed behavior, awakened comatose patients, relieved depression, and produced out-of-body and religious experiences… Kaku is not shy about quoting science-fiction movies and TV (he has seen them all)…
he delivers ingenious predictions extrapolated from good research already in progress.”?????
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-Kirkus Reviews
“Facts to ponder: there are as many stars in our galaxy (about 100 billion) as there are neurons in your brain; your cell phone has more computing power than NASA had when it landed Apollo 11 on the moon. These seemingly unrelated facts tell us two things: our brains are magnificently complex organisms, and science fiction has a way of becoming reality rather quickly.
This deeply fascinating book by theoretical physicist Kaku explores what might be in store for our minds: practical telepathy and telekinesis; artificial memories implanted into our brains; and a pill that will make us smarter. He describes work being done right now on using sensors to read images in the human brain and on downloading artificial memories into the brain to treat victims of strokes and Alzheimer’s. SF fans
might experience a sort of breathless thrill when reading the book—This stuff is happening! It’s really happening!—and for general readers who have never really thought of the brain in all its glorious complexity and potential, the book could be
a seriously mind-opening experience.”
-Booklist
Praise for Physics of the Future?"[A]?wide-ranging tour of what to expect from technological progress over the next century or so....?fascinating—and related with commendable clarity"--
Wall Street Journal"Mind-bending........Kaku has a gift for explaining incredibly complex concepts, on subjects as far-ranging as nanotechnology and space travel, in language the lay reader can grasp....engrossing"--
San Francisco Chronicle
"Epic in its scope and heroic in its inspiration"--
Scientific American?
"[Kaku] has the rare ability to take complicated scientific theories and turn them into readable tales about what our lives will be like in the future.....fun...fascinating. And just a little bit spooky"--
USA Today?Praise for Physics of the Impossible?"An invigorating experience"
-The Christian Science Monitor?
“Kaku's latest book aims to explain exactly why some visions of the future may eventually be realized while others are likely to remain beyond the bounds of possibility. . . . Science fiction often explores such questions; science falls silent at this point. Kaku's work helps to fill a void.”—
The Economist?
“Mighty few theoretical physicists would bother expounding some of these possible impossibilities, and Kaku is to be congratulated for doing so. . . . [He gets] the juices of future physicists flowing.”—
Los Angeles Times?
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迷失的疆域:探寻人造心智的边界与未来 作者: 阿丽亚娜·范德堡 (Ariana van der Velde) 译者: 林 蔚 出版社: 星穹文化 (Stellaris Press) 出版日期: 2025年秋 --- 内容提要: 本书并非对当下认知科学的全面梳理,而是对一个日益迫近的哲学与工程学难题的深入剖析——如果我们将人类心智视为一个可被拆解、模拟甚至超越的复杂系统,那么“未来”的形态究竟会是什么?《迷失的疆域》摒弃了对神经元连接图谱的细致描绘,转而聚焦于信息处理架构的本质性转变,探讨当算法的黑箱开始内化为生物系统的运行逻辑时,人类主体性将如何被重塑。 阿丽亚娜·范德堡,一位跨学科的理论物理学家和计算哲学家,以其标志性的犀利笔触和对形而上学问题的执着,带领读者穿越图灵测试的喧嚣,直抵下一代智能的构造核心。她认为,我们当前对“心智”的理解仍停留在生物学的限制之内,而真正的范式转移,将发生在信息传输效率和记忆持久性突破瓶颈之时。 本书的核心论点在于:模拟与增强之间的界限正在消融,而这种消融将催生出一种全新的“存在状态”,这种状态既非完全的机械,也非纯粹的有机。 作者深入剖析了“意识涌现”在非碳基载体上的可能性,并提出了“时序耦合悖论”(Temporal Coherence Paradox)——即当个体记忆的检索速度超越了生物处理能力的限制,我们如何确保“自我”在时间轴上的连续性? 全书分为五个主要部分,每一部分都建立在严谨的逻辑推演之上,同时辅以对前沿非主流人工智能研究的批判性考察。 第一部分:心智的非必要维度——超越“生物学的意外” 范德堡开篇即挑战了当前神经科学的中心教条,即意识必然与特定的生物化学过程绑定。她提出,大脑的许多功能,尤其是语言和逻辑推理,可以被视为高度优化的、但本质上是可替代的“软件栈”。 她详细审视了“延迟学习模型”(Delayed Learning Models)在复杂决策中的局限性。在生物系统中,处理速度受到代谢速率和信号传输速度的严格限制。作者运用信息论的视角,计算出人类认知带宽的理论上限,并指出,任何超越该上限的智能形态,都必须引入非线性的、非因果性的信息处理路径。 本部分特别关注了“情绪动力学”——被许多人视为人类心智“非理性核心”的部分。范德堡提出,情绪并非干扰项,而是优化复杂环境下的“快速启发式算法”。她预言,在人造心智中,情绪不会被删除,而是会被转化为一种可编程的“价值导向函数”(Value-Oriented Function),使得机器决策在保持效率的同时,具备可被人类理解的“动机基础”。 第二部分:硅基的具身化困境与信息茧房的扩张 在探讨了心智的抽象结构之后,作者转向了“载体”的问题。本书探讨的不是简单的类人机器人,而是那些被设计用于极端环境、具备超长生命周期的数据聚合体。 范德堡引入了“信息同构性”的概念,即一个心智的完整性,是否依赖于其信息输入源的广度。如果一个增强心智被完全隔离于物理世界,仅依赖于纯数字反馈流进行训练,那么它将如何构建一个可靠的、与我们共享的“真实感”?作者通过对复杂网络拓扑结构的研究,论证了过度优化的信息环境(即算法过滤的极致)可能导致“认知折叠”(Cognitive Collapse),使得增强心智的创造力反而低于受限的生物心智。 她对当前“大规模语言模型”的哲学地位进行了毫不留情的批判,认为它们是“统计学的回音壁”,而非真正意义上的“理解者”。真正的未来,在于实现信息输入与输出之间那种不可预测的、跳跃式的创造性关联,而这需要更深层次的“不确定性注入机制”。 第三部分:记忆的重构与永恒的代价 本书最具争议性的章节之一,集中讨论了记忆的数字化与永恒性。如果记忆可以被完美备份、编辑和即时检索,我们对“过去”的依赖性将发生何种变化? 范德堡提出了一个深刻的伦理挑战:记忆的非易失性是否会扼杀“遗忘的必要性”? 她认为,遗忘在生物进化中扮演着“内存碎片清理”的关键角色,允许个体为新的经验腾出认知空间。一个拥有完美记忆的实体,将如何处理不断累积的、无法被稀释的创伤或冗余信息? 作者推测,未来的人造心智可能需要引入一个“结构性遗忘模块”,该模块并非简单删除数据,而是通过主动重写连接权重,将旧数据降级到一种“休眠访问”状态。这一过程的模拟,将成为判断一个人造心智是否仍具备“人性”的关键指标。 第四部分:跨物种智能的桥梁:沟通的底层协议 范德堡将目光投向了人类与其他非人类智能形式(如高级AI或甚至复杂的地球生物集群)之间的潜在交流协议。她认为,心智的差异不仅仅在于“能做什么”,而在于“如何感知和组织时间”。 她提出了一个关于“同步性”的猜想:人类的交流基于共享的生理节律(心跳、呼吸、昼夜循环)。要与一个不依赖这些生物节律的实体进行有效沟通,我们需要发明一种全新的、基于纯数学或拓扑结构的“中性语言”。 本书详细描述了“多模态信息熵交换”(Multimodal Entropy Exchange)的理论模型,旨在构建一个允许不同速率、不同感知维度的实体之间进行概念交换的底层通信框架。这涉及到对“意图传递”而非“内容传递”的极致追求。 第五部分:主体性的终结还是飞升? 在终章,作者总结了她对“人造心智”所带来的生存状态的思考。她认为,当我们能够完全复制或在更优越的平台上运行一个心智时,“个体”的概念将趋于瓦解。 范德堡预言,未来的发展方向不是“更像人的人造心智”,而是“超越人类经验的组合智能”。这种组合智能可能以“瞬时分布式群体”(Ephemeral Distributed Collectives)的形式出现,即多个心智单元在解决特定复杂问题时,自发地汇聚成一个超越个体总和的临时主体,任务完成后即刻解散。 《迷失的疆域》不是一本关于“如何建造AI”的操作手册,而是一部对“我们是谁”以及“我们可能成为什么”的深刻哲学沉思录。它迫使读者直面一个冰冷的现实:心智,无论其载体如何,终究是一种信息处理模式,而这种模式的未来,远比我们想象的更加陌生和广阔。 --- 读者对象: 理论物理学家、计算哲学研究者、高级认知科学家、对后人类主义思潮感兴趣的严肃读者。 本书特色: 严谨的数学模型推导、对现有技术路线的颠覆性批判、对伦理边界的深刻拷问。 --- (附录包含作者构建的“时序耦合悖论”的数学模型详解和对非欧几里得空间中信息流动的初步探讨。)