Brain stimulation to treat mental illness and enhance human learning, creativity, performance, altruism, and defenses against suffering
Medical hypotheses, vol. 21, no. 2, 1986, pp. 209–219
Abstract
Any mental/emotional state or process (MESP) which is considered (a) highly desirable (e.g., sustained concentration, memorization of important facts, empathy) or (b) undesirable (e.g., paranoid delusionalism, delirium) could be, respectively, (a) facilitated or (b) deterred by means of an external (i.e., extracranial, or at least extracerebral, and extracorporal) brain stimulation circuit designed in such a way as to deliver rewarding stimulation as often and only as often as and for as long and only for as long as an electroencephalographic or other kind of brain function characteristic, which uniquely identifies the occurrence of the MESP in question, were being emitted by the individual’s (i.e., the subject’s) brain, with the intensity of the stimulation at every point in time being proportional, respectively, (a) to the simultaneous magnitude or (b) to the of the simultaneous magnitude of the MESP-identifying characteristic. Approaches a and b are generalized examples of a number of hypothetical stimulation paradigms presented below that might be used to treat mental illness, enhance learning, etc. (as in the title). Explanations of the psychodynamic mechanisms whereby these paradigms might exert their intended effects are given in most cases.
Quotes from this work
Consistent with Bentham’s ideal of “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”, the quality of our world or universe (QW) could be assessed in terms of the ratio or quotient of the magnitude of the sum total of the subjective well-being (SWB) scores of everyone in the world or universe divided by the standard deviation of the distribution of all of the SWB scores.
In a similar way as the Dow Jones Index provides a means of assessing broad-based economic strength, this ratio, the QW, would provide a means of assessing broad-based (ideally universal) happiness and other aspects of SQB. It might also serve as a means of determining whether or not the lot of humankind were actually improving over time, that is, whether or not the changes which will come about in the world will actually be constructive. The larger the value of QW, the more worthwhile, humanistic, and heavenly we could consider our world to be.