Beyond Boundaries: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines---and How It Will Change Our Lives

by Miguel Nicolelis

A pioneering neuroscientist shows how the long-sought merger of brains with machines is about to become a paradigm-shifting reality Imagine living in a world where people use their computers, drive their cars, and communicate with one another simply by thinking. In this stunning and inspiring work, Duke University neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis shares his revolutionary insights into how the brain creates thought and the human sense of self—and how this might be augmented by machines, so that the entire universe will be within our reach. Beyond Boundaries draws on Nicolelis's ground-breaking research with monkeys that he taught to control the movements of a robot located halfway around the globe by using brain signals alone. Nicolelis's work with primates has uncovered a new method for capturing brain function—by recording rich neuronal symphonies rather than the activity of single neurons. His lab is now paving the way for a new treatment for Parkinson's, silk-thin exoskeletons to grant mobility to the paralyzed, and breathtaking leaps in space exploration, global communication, manufacturing, and more. Beyond Boundaries promises to reshape our concept of the technological future, to a world filled with promise and hope.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Neuroscience, Psychology, Technology, Biology, Brain

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 1994

About the author

Miguel Nicolelis is the Duke School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Duke University Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Psychology and Neuroscience. In 2004, Scientific American elected him as one of the twenty most influential scientists in the world.

Reviews

[Priscila Jordão · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutamente fantástico! Orgulho de ser brasileira e conterrânea de Miguel Nicolelis :)

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI), technological devices either implanted straight onto the brain/ spinal cord, or, used at a distance, are a formidable scientific idea those impact can be massive; from addressing neurological disorders to our view of what it means to be human. Miguel Nicolelis, a pioneer in the field, doesn't hide his enthusiasm by breaking down in here what it's all about. This book is very technical, quite in depth, and surely requires its sweet time to be fully savoured if, like me, your knowledges in neurosciences are limited. Yet, it follows a simple but necessary path; and if the brain fascinates you then here's a mind-boggling and truly thrilling read to put your hands on!

First, Miguel Nicolelis explains how the brain truly works, by focusing on its plasticity. Informations are not processed by very specific neurons localised in very specific and specialised areas all segregated from each others. On the contrary, the basic unit of thinking are whole populations of neurons, interacting with each others and all interconnected for signals to flow across its whole area, no matter their 'original' specialisation. More, he claims the brain is relativistic in its functioning because, as with Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in physics, there is no way to know which neurons will be fired and/ or responsive when triggering a signal. It's all a matter of probabilities. Thing is, he even goes a step further by claiming the brain is not a passive organ awaiting stimuli to trigger appropriate responses, but, is an active, dynamic actor who generate its own expectations even before a signal is sent to it! This is crucial because, being such a reality builder, the brain generate its own view of ourselves, a 'body schema', which, since it's not fixed but constantly readjusted depending on our experiences, can be manipulated at will - should we decide to manipulate it. The human brain might be a powerful tool, but it remains easy to fool indeed! Phantom limbs, the 'rubber hand illusion' experiment, or, again, so-called 'out-of body experiences' all demonstrate that quite clearly.

Now, where does all that leads us?

Well, if you accept the idea of the relativistic brain and how probabilistic it all is, then we should be able to connect it to devices using algorithms to interact with its vast neuronal network. If you accept the idea that the brain can be tricked, that the body schema it build can at times be illusory (eg phantom limbs make for a fascinating discussion!) then we should also be able to have it incorporating outside devices as part of the body image it uses to respond to its surrounding environment. In a word: if you accept the brain as being 'relativistic' in its functioning, then you should be able to have devices operated by thoughts alone.

Crazy? Science fiction? Nope. Actually, the whole Brain-Machine Interface field might still be in its infancy, but how highly promising it is so far! We had rats pulling levers to get food by thought alone. By thought alone, we also had monkeys playing video games by controlling a distant robotic arm, and, others, walking a robot in Japan while being themselves on a treadmill in an American lab'! Sure, using technology to manipulate the brain is not without some ethical concerns. He retells, for instance, the experiment and fate of the misunderstood José Delgado and his ideas of 'physical control of he mind'. Yet, are such concerns fair? Imagine, on the other hand, the possibilities offered when it comes to treat certain neurological diseases like Parkinson or paralysis (for which targeting the spinal cord might be sufficient)!

I rarely give five star to a book unless it's a life changing read. This one, honestly, is not; BUT the views it offers are so breath taking, the future it opens up so thrilling, and the overall understanding and possibilities it presents regarding the brain so gripping and stimulating, that I have to break my own rules in here! Miguel Nicolelis was named one of the twenty most influential scientists in the world by 'Scientific American'; I am not surprised. Highly recommended!

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find this to be a particularly compelling read, especially as a trade book. It was much more of a textbook for students with a strong interest in neuroscience. There were some great, thought-provoking gems in there, but they were far and few between. I especially liked the last two chapters, which I thought the entire book would be like, but unfortunately not. I would not recommend this book unless I knew somebody who was interested in the most minute detail of neurophysiology!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing." - Benjamin Franklin

Having finished "Beyond Boundaries" I can confidently state that Prof. Nicolelis, like Franklin before him, is one of the few people to do both.

The book is a whistle-stop tour of modern neuroscience offering an invaluable first-hand insight into the process of research and the reasoning and methods behind many of the classic and state-of-the-art experiments featuring the work of many other accomplished modern neuroscientists such as Eberhard Fetz and Jose Carmena (who was a post-doctoral student of Nicolelis and completed his PhD at my own institution of Edinburgh).

Many readers have complained of the technical difficulty of the book, but I find that it is nothing that a brief visit to Wikipedia wouldn't explain, and I assure you that in persevering with the book you get out much more than you put in. Furthermore, the book is far from a dry account or technical lecture as it is peppered with numerous amusing anecdotes and historical tales ranging from the aeronautical exploits of Alberto Santos-Dumont to the incredible 'mind-control' experiments of Jose Delgado.

I was pleased to find that Nicolelis also believed that Delgado was unfairly demonised - I have always thought that he was mistreated by New Age Luddites who, unable to understand let alone appreciate his ground-breaking work on brain stimulation, simply gave into paranoid fear-mongering about 'mind-control'.

A recurring theme is the powerful ability of the brain to assimilate tools (and by extension Brain-Machine Interfaces and Brain-Brain Interfaces) into its model of the self. This is why a stick may feel like an extension of the arm used to grasp it, and why we needn't constantly think about our cutlery whilst we eat.

Nicolelis has the visionary belief that this remarkable plastic self-image of the brain might allow us to change what it means to be human. As we fully merge with machines via the Brain-Machine Interfaces of the future we will finally transcend our bodily frames that evolution deemed merely sufficient and liberate the human species from what Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man called "the indelible stamp of our lowly origin".

Recently Nicolelis' team have managed to use a Brain-to-Brain interface between rats to transfer meaningful information. Furthermore, today the first Human-to-Human Brain-to-Brain Interface was announced. These developments show that perhaps Nicolelis' vision is not as far-fetched as it first seems!

Currently Nicolelis is engaged in the Walk Again Project which uses Brain-Machine Interfaces to help paralysed patients and is discussed in the final chapter of the book. A key goal of the project is to have the kick-off of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil performed by a paraplegic child.

Whilst rendering paralysis as irrelevant to the human race as polio is certainly a worthy and laudable goal I hope that he will one day return his attention to the Brain-to-Brain interfaces that could be so transformative to the human condition.

I disagree with some of Nicolelis' thoughts: I am far more optimistic about our ability to use the results of brain research such as deep neural networks and neuromorphic hardware to solve many of the problems that haunt AI and visual processing for instance (although I share Nicolelis' doubt we will ever create a 'Strong AI') and I am sceptical about the ability of Brain-to-Brain Interfaces to share complex information between humans given that brain scans have shown that each individual encodes memories differently in their brain.

However nonetheless I believe that the importance of Nicolelis' brave vision should not be understated after all as David Mitchell wrote in Cloud Atlas:

"All boundaries are conventions, waiting to be transcended. One may transcend any convention if only one can first conceive of doing so.”

Perhaps this book will one day be deemed a crucial first step as we travel beyond our neurobiological boundaries.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a different perspective for thinking about the brain. It's not just that you can't trace a particular action or thought or memory to a particular set of neurons. I was already comfortable with the idea that there are groups of neurons in different parts of the brain that perform different functions and that interact with one another in complex ways to create thought and action, but it's way more complicated than that because any single brain action has massive redunancy across the brain, is not clearly confined to any area, much less to any specific group of neurons and has to be analyzed over time by considering combinations of excitation and suppression. But it's not so complex as to defy understanding and analysis. Mr. Nicolelis shows how his understanding of these basic principles of brain architecture can be translated into experiments where monkeys were able to perform complex levels of control of robotic arms using their brains alone, so that the robotic arm became almost an extension of the monkey's own body. And he seems to be very close to enabling rats to send brain signals back and forth between each other so that one rat can act on knowledge that only the other rat has to cooperatively perform some task. It's pretty amazing stuff.

I wonder how much of the theory of brain architecture discussed here is being built into neural networks by artificial intelligence researchers. I'll bet that the AI people are not paying enough attention to this and that when they do new strides forward will happen.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma das melhores leituras de divulgação científica que já li. Acompanhar o desenvolvimento da pesquisa em interface cérebro máquina foi incrivel

[Rossdavidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitle: The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains With Machines - and How It Will Change Our Lives.

Generally speaking, non-fiction can be divided into One Big Idea books and Many Small Ideas books. This is a One Big Idea book. The author is best know to the world as "that guy who hooked up a monkey's brain to a robot, so the monkey could move the robot by thinking". He does tell us about that, and the many incremental steps that led up to it. But it's neither the introduction nor the finale to this book; it appears roughly halfway through.

Prior to that, Nicolelis takes us on a brief (roughly hundred year) history of brain science, from interpreting bumps on the skull to connecting electrical probes inside living brain tissue to a sensor. In between, he returns frequently to the ongoing debate as to how the brain works. Is it a toolbox of somewhat isolated modules, or is it a more or less holistic network where the various abilities are emergent properties of the whole? Nicolelis lies towards the latter end of this spectrum of opinion, and is not afraid to say so, but he does a creditable job of discussing the many twists and turns in the attempts of science to gain some kind of purchase on the slippery slopes of the topic of how neurons make up brains.

After leading us through experiments interfacing with the brains of rats and primates, including the after-the-fact-obvious observation that the way brains behave when they are awake and moving their body around freely is way different than the way brains behave when sedated and inside a restrained body, we get to the moment which put Nicolelis on the map. Using only the power of thought, a monkey named Aurora was able to move a robotic arm to perform tasks it had previously done with its own arms. Most impressively, it did this without having to move its own arms. Perhaps most impressively, its own arms were still free to move, but the monkey figured out that it wasn't necessary, and switched on its own accord to just using the robot arm.

From there, Nicolelis goes on to explore what this means about the way the brain works. Most obviously, it means that people who have lost limbs or the use of them will someday be able to move prosthetic robot replacements instead. Slightly less obviously, it means that our own body image is not in any sense hardcoded into our brains; we can (relatively quickly) rewire our brains to understand that our body is a different shape than it is.

In the last part of the book, Nicolelis is able to let his dreams take flight in a way that he cannot in an academic paper. Nicolelis believes, it seems, that humanity is preparing to reinvent itself. From the replacement of lost or paralyzed limbs, we will move on to wings, direct control of vehicles, or exploration of space without leaving the planet. He apparently thinks we will probably live to see our species kick its own evolution into overdrive. In the last chapter, he takes on such questions as, at what point do we cease to be humans? Does it matter? How attached are we to the very idea of an individual identity? What keeps this from being yet another hyperbolic exercise in wishful science fiction, is that he has real-world experience of the technical challenges involved.

Nicolelis' book is readable, with enjoyable historical anecdotes and adequate guidance through the technical discussions. His enthusiasm for his topic is clearly sincere, and one cannot deny the importance of the topic. How accurate his predictions of our near future are, I cannot claim to know, but it's an interesting diversion from the current grinding depression of the hidebound and retrograde trends of our day to day news. If you want to make your current troubles seem small-scale and transient, this is the book to give you something really significant to think about.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looked back over this review and can't recall why I only gave this three stars. The book itself is written as well as any non-fiction popular science title, but the research it describes is simply incredible.

The reader gets a first-person account of how some of the most amazing brain research is being done and by about half-way through the book, will understand the fundamental shift in thinking away from the static model of the mammalian brain.

If that sounds dry and boring- consider this: for a long time, the scientific consensus opinion was that certain neurons in our brains were responsible for certain functions. End of story.

A collection of neurons is responsible for say, moving your left arm. To connect a device to be controlled by your brain then, would (just!) require finding those neurons and connecting a sensor to those cells. When you tried to move your left arm then, it would trigger those sensors and operate a mechanical arm.

Turns out though, the brain is much more plastic than previously imagined. It is possible to reroute the neurons for the left arm to instead control the right eyelid- or to hook up those sensors to an entirely different part of the brain and let the subject learn how to operate the external machine much like a child learns to walk. It really works(!)

Understanding this pattern has so many implications, not only for brain-machine interfaces, but ways to improve brain treatment and maybe insight into building self-organizing robotics and computing.

If you're at all interested in learning how the brain works (at least the motor cortex anyway), this book will give you deep insights in an accessible way. It reads like a story, not like a research paper.

[Gabriel Deschamps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neste livro, o famoso e renomado neurocientista Miguel Nicolelis descreve de maneira magistral todo o trabalho desenvolvido em sua vida, sempre fazendo referências à história da Neurociência, da sociedade brasileira e ao contexto científico de cada época. É um retrato de como a neurociência oferece respostas sobre a natureza do nosso sistema nervoso e esperanças de que logo iremos transcender os limites do nosso corpo, incorporando ao nosso eu máquinas e até mesmo pensamentos de outros, ao passo que ainda falta muito para atingirmos uma boa compreensão dos fenômenos do cérebro. Durante todo o livro, reforça-se a visão distributivista do funcionamento cerebral, em oposição ao localizacionismo do século XX, ainda engendrado na neurociência. Além disso, nos capítulos finais, Nicolelis propõe uma nova visão do cérebro e ousa imaginar quais os próximos possíveis passos que a neurociência pode alcançar.

Sobre o teor da leitura em si, apesar de ser um livro de divulgação científica, é por muitas vezes bastante denso e não muito palatável para pessoas que não sejam da área biológica ou da saúde.

A qualidade do livro físico é boa, possui uma bela capa e são raríssimos os erros de digitação.

[Danilo Confessor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antes de qualquer análise do livro, é importante ressaltar a grandeza do autor. O Dr. Miguel Nicolelis é um dos maiores cientistas vivos no mundo, cuja obra é referência no campo da neurociência. Além disso é um divulgador científico apaixonado, que não se furta a opinar sobre várias questões da sociedade.

Em Muito Além do Nosso Eu, acompanhamos duas histórias. A principal, é a divulgação da pesquisa que envolve o entendimento do funcionamento do cérebro. Aqui a leitura às vezes se torna difícil, pelo uso de termos técnicos e o detalhamento de toda a história do campo de pesquisa. A outra história, é um pouca da vida de um brasileiro que conseguiu a proeza de realizar o sonho de se tornar um grande cientista.

Acompanhamos um pouco do caminho percorrido pelo autor, passando pelos anos de experimentos culminando no desenvolvimento de próteses neurais que podem ser usada na reabilitação de pacientes com paralisa, por exemplo.

Apesar do vocabulário às vezes demasiadamente complexo para leigos, é possível sair da leitura com um pingo de esperança para um futuro onde interfaces cérebro/máquina poderão mudar nossa relação com o mundo.

[Rodrigo Vieira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se você tem curiosidade de saber como Juliano Pinto, um portador de necessidades especiais, foi capaz de dar o pontapé inicial da copa de 2014, este livro mata essa curiosidade.

O autor, Miguel Nicolelis, o qual tenho profunda admiração, fez uma autobiografia, com detalhes da sua vida de estudante na USP, além de seus primeiros passos como pesquisador, os motivos que o levaram a sair do país e o que levou a pensar que seria possível, apenas com a força do pensamento, trazer movimentos de braços e pernas a quem não os tem naturalmente.

É um dos cientistas mais populares e mais importantes do mundo e do nosso século. Só por isso já vale a leitura!

[Jerrid Kruse · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and enlightening history of neuroscience. While many chapters sort of make the same conclusion (that our brains run on networks rather than individual neurons), the personal stories of his own learning coupled with forays into the history and progress of neuroscience make each chapter unique and interesting. The book is a nice intro to neuroscience and the technological frontier of brain machine interfaces as well as a peek behind the curtain as to how scientists and engineers do their work.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great read!
Basically, this guy figured out how to connect brain synapsis with machines so that the electrical impulses that you THINK will be sent to a machine that will then DO.

Super interesting stuff. I had to read this book with a dictionary in hand. Wow.

[Dul Bat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achieving Professor X’s ability. Chance for collective thinking?

I have a mixed feeling about thought sharing part, but potential application to science progress where going beyond human physical limitations- seems fascinating.

[Veena Somareddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indepth knowledge of how your brain works and interacting with BMI's. A really long book, but Dr.Miguel is at the forefront of the BMI technologies, so its worth a read

[Hakan Guveli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agir bir dili var , zaman alan bir kitap. Okumak keyifli ama populer bilim kitabi modunda okunmasi zor.

[Leandro Zanotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book about Neuroscience field.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto bello, interessante, è del 2010. La scrittura non è scorrevolissima, ma è l'autore giusto per l'argomento giusto.

[Skip (David) Everling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neuroscience memoir of thought-provoking work, experimental brain interfaces and thought control tests told through the lens of Nicolelis' own academic history and Brazilian based life story.

The book offers specific and compelling evidence for not only controlling robotic systems remotely, but also for how our brain is naturally built to incorporate external apparatus and sense data directly into the body map and further into the sense of self, for brain connected robotics that restore the ability to walk to the paralyzed, for thought-based personal interaction, and even for direct brain to brain connections that create literal brain networks and a higher order of complexity.

Very inspiring concrete experiments to shake some of these formerly sci-fi concepts loose from their intermediate fiction. Indeed the specifics of the experimental methods are sharp enough to be double-edged, disengaging from the overall visionary narrative to bring the reader back down into the due diligence of science and Nicolelis' experience as researcher and academic, which, while important to establish the validity of the book's premise, are less accessible than the grand ideas described in the preceding paragraph. Still, Nicolelis does it right by interspersing anecdotes of Brazilian football matches or personal history to keep the book moving.

[Carolina Hamano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não sou nem capaz de dar nota de tão difícil de entender.

[Rafael Parreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um verdadeiro manifesto a favor do cérebro e as possibiidades que podem ser alcançadas quando nos libertarmos do limite do nosso corpo. Uma ideia difícil de aceitar e imaginar. Citando suas próprias pesquisas, bem como percorrendo uma linha do tempo com referências a outros neurocientistas, Nicolelis tenta nos mostrar que o cérebro, com seus neurônios, é um conjunto de células que atua como um todo, como um grupo, e que seria limitante reduzir seu funcionamento a áreas especializadas. A mudança do paradigma reducionista, ou localizacionista, para o relativista é a sua proposta, defendida com diversos exemplos e argumentos.
Além disso, suas ideias tem por objetivo ajudar pessoas que sofreram lesões graves a recuperar, por exemplo, a habilidade de caminhar ou movimentar um membro. Ideias de ficção científica que, com o tempo, podem se tornar cada vez mais reais com as pesquisas do médico brasileiro.

[kiubert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un buen libro de divulgación, aunque a veces se ocupaba demasiado el lenguaje técnico y costaba entender la totalidad de lo contado. Igual al final uno se acostumbraba y entendía por contexto, pero si no cachái demasiado de neurociencias y similares como yo, resulta complicado. De todos modos, en la parte menos técnica y más divulgativa resultó ser un libro bastante ameno, el autor usaba un montón de comparaciones de fútbol y cultura pop (Miguel Nicolelis es un hincha fanático del Palmeiras, y fue el quien estuvo a cargo del exoesqueleto que dió el pase inicial en la inauguración del mundial de Brasil, la que nadie vió porque el director de la transmisión pinchó mal).

* Nota: Leí una edición en español, sale que lo leí en portugués porque no estaba la edición que leí, y que flojera agregarla yo.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond Boundaries is a very interesting but difficult read. Dr. Nicolelis describes his innovative experiments with brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) and discusses the clinical and philosophical implications of these new neuroscience technologies. He's done some truly incredible research--for instance, he designed a project in which electrical brain activity was transmitted from Durham, NC to Kyoto, Japan in real time, allowing a monkey to control an overseas robot with its mind alone. This book is extremely well-written but highly technical; I had to read certain parts several times to understand them. Still, I think Beyond Boundaries is worth reading if you have a background in psychology and/or are interested in the subject.

Side note: Dr. Nicolelis works at Duke!

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't say this is for the lay person unless you're already familiar with neuroanatomy and some college level math. I wasn't as familiar as I had hoped with Nicolelis' research, and had to look up things frequently in the beginning, but that's also why I read the book, to learn something right? I loved the level of detail throughout the book, and though at first I thought the author was a little too fanciful with his real-world anecdotes, they grew on me to the point of adoration! This is a great read for those interested in brain machine interfaces and is a solid overview of the work and people that have made it an actual thing today.

[Jian · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting book; couple of things amazing to unveil during reading. First is his post-doc advisor is a still-active neuroscientist in my department.
Obama's brain project just set out this year. Some people say this book is the reason for this marathon project. After monthly observation (read), I found this book do touch your brain to re-think about methods of studying human brain----1, are we on the right track of neural signal recording. 2, how psychophysics affects our daily lives.
anyhow,I would not mind reading this book again during my studies

[Alderlv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lasot šo grāmatu nereti bija jāapstājas un jāpārlasa daži paragrāfi vairākas reizes, ne tāpēc, ka autors būtu nesaprotami uzrakstījis, bet gan manu zināšanu trūkuma dēļ. Melotu, ja teiktu, ka visu sapratu pat pārlasot un pieminētie aprēķini un diagrammas man sagādāja (ne)lielas galvassāpes. Šī lasāmviela pilnīgi noteikti vairāk domāta tiem, kuri ar neirozinātni ir uz TU - popzinātnes plauktā tā neiederētos, kas patiesībā arī ir viens no iemesliem 4 (4.5) zvaigznēm.

[Hom Sack · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's not much here about "How It Will Change Our Lives". This book reads more like a text book. There is too much detail and is too technical for a general audience. Too much time is spent (wasted?) on the history of neuroscience and not enough on the exciting aspects of "Connecting Brains with Machines". But if you have nothing better to read, this book will do.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was tough to finish. I thought some parts were REALLY interesting while others put me to sleep. Although I think the brain is fascinating, I don't think I could ever spend as much time with rats as these people did.

[Norah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounds like Borg to me! (It was difficult for me to get past the fact that many animals suffered for them to get all this information. Though I know it's necessary so humans don't suffer. There's just no easy answer.)

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an amazing book that leads us to the way Nicolelis defeated a huge challenge which was proving that the mind is relativistic, against the majority of the neuroscientists, and how we can use it to transcend our body and perceptions. I repeat, it's amazing.