Can external technology help monitor when your cognitive function is at its peak? Harvard-trained scientist and physician, weighs in

Imagine a time when you will know exactly what the state of your mind is and will act accordingly. The world of nonperformance is promising in that it aspires to unleash the true potential of the human mind. But can this external manipulation impact the spontaneity that defines us humans? A Harvard-trained scientist, David Bach founded PlatypusNeuro in order to explore how neuroscience can help leverage cognitive abilities of the mind. In an interview with Khaleej Times, he deconstructs the idea of neuroperformance and why it could be a part of our daily lives sooner than we know. Edited excerpts from an interview:

Q) Tell us about your formative years and what drew you towards neuroscience.

I was born into a family of scientists and physicians. My father was widely credited with having invented bone marrow transplantation, and my mom was a prominent biochemist. With that background in place, it was natural for me to become a physician and scientist after college.

My focus in neuroscience stemmed from both a fascination with the brain (which is, by far and away, the most complicated organ in the body), as well as a driving desire to help improve the human experience.

Q) How would you define the concept of neuroperformance?

The neuroperformance industry’s goal, simply, is to leverage cutting-edge neuroscience to help people optimise their cognitive function.

From a practical perspective, the neuroperformance industry manifests itself via wearable devices (that look like headphones) that allow users to seamlessly measure and optimise their cognitive performance in real time.

As with all early-stage technologies, very few people today truly appreciate either how powerful neuroperformance technology is becoming, or how quickly the industry is growing to become part of our day-to-day lives.

Q) Do you foresee a certain resistance towards embracing this technology, given that it takes away from the spontaneity that defines us as humans?

The market appetite for neuroperformance technology today is staggeringly strong, and expanding rapidly. Because neuroperformance offers people the ability to dramatically improve their cognitive function… for example, by helping them sleep better, or overcome attention deficit disorder, or deal with anxiety issues, we’re not seeing any resistance to the tech.

I also don’t agree that neuroperformance technology has the potential to eliminate spontaneity. Quite the opposite is true. People have an almost passionate desire to be their best selves, and to the extent that neuroperformance technology can help us get there, it will not only allow us to be happier and better at our jobs, but it will also allow us to be more spontaneous.

Q) How will neuroperformance impact the workplace? You have mentioned that it has made its presence felt in sports, and that it is likely to impact the financial sector. Can you elaborate on why these two sectors have been or will be quick to embrace neuroperformance?

It’s effectively inevitable that, within the next decade, neuroperformance technology will become pervasive… as an integrated part of our daily lives that we don’t even notice. And with that, it’s just going to be part of our day-to-day work lives, much like email is today.

The reason that sports and financial sectors have been early adopters for the technology is simple: in both of these cases, having an “edge” can make a huge difference. To be more specific, because the brain is so important to performance in both of these arenas coupled with the fact that this edge is worth a lot of money to people, they are natural arenas for the technology to initially take hold.

Q) What kind of impact can neurotechnology have on society? Will such a technology not create a deeper divide in society between people who are able to use it and those that aren’t?

This is a very important question. Neuroperformance technology clearly has the ability to either uplift humanity as a whole or further divide it.

Today, given that neuroperformance technology is fairly expensive (at least right now), it’s being used almost exclusively by the “1 per cent”

The good news, however, is that, as with all new technologies, prices will almost certainly decline over time, and with that, it’s reasonable to expect that, like the Internet phones, it will ultimately become available to a vast portion of the population, and with that, the hope is that it will ultimately help uplift almost all people, and not just the elite.

Q) Creating and using neurotechnology in the future will come with its fair share of responsibilities. What are the ethics revolving around implementing it?

This is a very important question. All of us in the industry spend a great deal of time thinking about it. We are very aware of how other initially promising technologies (for example, social media) have done a great deal of harm in the world, and none of us want that to happen in our industry.

There are multiple ethical questions at play here focused on topics, including how to protect personalised brain data; how we can avoid having employers use this technology to screen out people based on their brain function and, of course, how to prevent people from using this technology to manipulate people’s minds.

Q) What are some of the success stories of this technology?

Many of the successes we’ve had have been in military settings, where I’m not able to share our results. In the non-military world, however, we’ve had some phenomenal successes, such as a) we’ve been able to more than double financial traders’ profit margins by monitoring when their brain is in a “flow state” or not in association with their trading decisions and b) we’ve been able to improve golfers’ putting accuracy by 30 per cent by training their brain to reliably get into the “zone” before they initiate a golf swing.

Q) How will such a technology impact neurodiverse conditions or various forms of dementia, for that matter, if at all?

Both of these are areas of intense research focus right now. Due to the fact that the brain can “rewire” itself, neuroperformance technology will almost have a huge impact in these areas.

Q) Where does the neuroperformance industry stand now and where is it headed?

It’s currently a $15B industry, and it’s growing at a staggering rate. As I mentioned earlier, it’s almost inevitable that, within the next decade, neuroperformance technology will become pervasive… as an integrated part of our daily lives that we don’t even notice using.

The education arena offers just one example of how this will occur.

By way of context, it’s important to understand that the “environment” in which students learn in the future will be radically different than it is today. Students will study in immersive, AR-powered environments in which, among other things, educational content will be produced by a Generative AI system geared to their specific needs.

Neuroperformance will be an important and integrated part of this environment, allowing students (and the AI system) to, for example, track when their brain is in a “learning” state or not… and when their brain is not in that state, they will have the ability to simply press a button and induce that state in their brain.

With all this in mind, I think it’s fair to say that the neuroperformance industry is bringing us into a new and exciting era where even the very nature of what it means to be human will dramatically evolve.

wknd@khaleejtimes.com