(Book Log) The Crystal Slab-- an MRI?

In the first few chapters of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke covers the initial spark of humanity by telling the story of an Ape-Man named Moon-watcher and his group, which is on the verge of extinction. One day while scavenging, the group comes across a 15ft high transparent crystal slab which mesmerizes the group and somehow taps into their brains. It tests them and evaluates them, trying to get them to do and understand simple tasks. Finally after several days, Moon-watcher completes the task of throwing a rock, this is the initial spark of humanity that, according to Clarke, grew into what it is today. While the idea of mind reading technologies has been widely used in Sci-Fi, Clarke says that the Slab creates new, artificial pathways with-in the brain. Essentially, creating familiarity with task or idea so there is little to no learning curve. After Moon-watcher successfully completes the Crystal Slab's task, he gradually begins to exhibit signs of higher thought. This shows that the Slab created the necessary neural pathways to support higher thought. 

The idea of achieving anything like this was previously unheard of, but as of December 11th 2011 this technology is officially no longer fiction. The NSF (National Science Foundation) released a video describing a technique called Decoded Neural Feedback using a fMRI and its potential uses (see bottom for video). An article posted with the video said that it is:

 ...possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort... Experiments conducted at Boston University (BU) and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, recently demonstrated that through a person's visual cortex, researchers could use decoded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to induce brain activity patterns to match a previously known target state and thereby improve performance on visual tasks...Think of a person watching a computer screen and having his or her brain patterns modified to match those of a high-performing athlete or modified to recuperate from an accident or disease...

It is interesting to see yet another technology predicted or imagined by a Sci-Fi author made into reality. We've seen the Trans-coder turn into the smart phone and countless authors predict inter-planetary travel. If you want to see technology that will be released in the next fifty years, look at the Sci-fi from the past hundred and fifty years. If someone has thought of it, it going to be invented.

While man tirelessly searches the skies, looking for some sign of  life, the idea that he and his intelligence are alone in this universe looms in the back of his mind. If at some point in the future, man looks at the sky and decides nobody is looking back, he may just forget his loneliness and abandon his search; or he may find that reality unbearable and take matters into his own hands. Who knows, maybe someday man will send his own probe to some far off planet and pass on the spark of intelligence that was given to him long ago.