Herbert declined to elaborate on the session, citing a lack of recording “out of respect for those who value their privacy.” Meanwhile, he is supportive of advancing artificial intelligence that enhances human capabilities without compromising humanity. As his mental and physical faculties slowly decline, Hébert remarks, “I’m in constant dialogue with various teams, a direct consequence of my mind and body both falling victim to the ravages of time.” I’d like to have varying physique elements.
Hébert’s primary scientific focus lies in the neocortex, the outer layer of the brain characterized by its convoluted, noodle-like appearance, where the majority of our sensory perception, logical reasoning, and memory processes are housed. Hébert notes that the neocortex is arguably a vital component of what makes us human, and perhaps the most complex structure on Earth.
There are two primary reasons he suggests the neocortex might undergo changes, albeit at a gradual pace. While rare, there have been documented cases of benign brain tumours growing to unusually large sizes, such as that of a patient whose tumour had grown to the size of an orange, as reported in medical literature. As the tumor expanded at a glacial pace, the individual’s mental faculties were able to adapt, redirecting memories with ease; their behavior and verbal communications remained impressively consistent throughout, even after the tumor’s removal.
Hébert believes that gradually modifying the neocortex is feasible without sacrificing the stored knowledge, much like preserving one’s personal identity throughout life.
According to him, a second source of hope emerges from experiments demonstrating that fetal-stage cells can not only survive but also function when transplanted into adult brains. Medical assessments currently underway indicate that patients have successfully ceased experiencing seizures.
For Hébert, it’s the combination of brain plasticity and the ability to add new tissue that has led him to conclude: “Now there must be a way.”
Several approaches are being developed to produce artificial equivalents of brain cells, also known as “facsimiles” of neocortical tissue by neuroscientist Hebert. During a visit to Albert Einstein’s lab, Herbert discussed plans to manually assemble fragments of youthful brain tissue using stem cells? According to him, these elements would not yet be fully formed, but rather analogous to the nascent cognitive processes found in a developing fetus’s brain. Upon transplantation, these cells would mature, integrate with the host’s neural network, and become primed to absorb and learn from new information.
