We can modulate human consciousness by several methods. One is chemical: there has been some significant progress in the use of psychedelic and psychoactive drugs, for instance, to augment and alter consciousness. New imaging techniques demonstrate the neurological details of these alterations: psilocybin, for instance, produces a state of increased chaotic brain activity and induces changes in frontal brain structures that may be associated with the phenomenology of psychedelic experiences.²⁷ Increasingly, experience with chemical modulations of consciousness are proving useful in medical contexts. Psilocybin and MDMA are being used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, for example.^28,29

Future Horizons:

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5-yearhorizon

Brain modulation experiments widen their scope

Drug-control frameworks are loosened to allow PTSD and other disorders of the brain to be treated in wider clinical settings using psychedelics. Electrical stimulation of the brains of coma patients sees some success in re-establishing higher levels of consciousness. Clinical trials in selected neurological and psychiatric disorders accelerate technologies capable of extracting information from the brain, inserting information or closing the information loop, thus enabling direct modulation of conscious states.

10-yearhorizon

AI decodes the brain

Feedback from wearable technology, electrical implants and new imaging techniques enable patients to modulate their own conscious experience. AI systems decode neural signatures of conscious urges and intentions, and inject signals useful for therapeutic treatment, including rudimentary memory editing. Psychedelic drugs altering states of consciousness enter mainstream psychiatry. Brain-machine interfaces move from the clinical environment to the general population, enabling enhancement of conscious states.

25-yearhorizon

Brain injuries are treated with stem-cell therapy

Stem-cell therapies rewire patients’ brains after injury. Engineered highly specific psychedelics transform trauma treatment and neuropsychiatry, and enter selective use in general populations. Memory-editing and selective memory chips become a widely available therapeutic and enhancing option.

Electrical modulation of consciousness is also seeing success in invasive and non-invasive forms. Brain-computer interfaces are developing at pace.³⁰ More precisely targeted non-invasive technology like transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) has successfully brought minimally conscious patients back towards higher consciousness.³¹ Deep brain stimulation is showing therapeutic promise for treating disorders of consciousness associated with impaired arousal or awareness.³² “Closed-loop” neuromodulation is able to act on, and sense, brain state based on feedback.^33,34 There is also growing scope for editing of memory and/or urges and wishes through electrical implants, as the technological tools required are already available.³⁵

Stem cells provide another approach to neuromodulation. Rat stem cells, for instance, have restored sensory abilities within a mouse brain that had its own olfactory neurons rendered inert.³⁶ It seems that stem-cell injection can modify the cellular composition of neural circuits, potentially altering conscious experience.

Modulation of human consciousness - Anticipation Scores

The Anticipation Potential of a research field is determined by the capacity for impactful action in the present, considering possible future transformative breakthroughs in a field over a 25-year outlook. A field with a high Anticipation Potential, therefore, combines the potential range of future transformative possibilities engendered by a research area with a wide field of opportunities for action in the present. We asked researchers in the field to anticipate:

The uncertainty related to future science breakthroughs in the field
The transformative effect anticipated breakthroughs may have on research and society
The scope for action in the present in relation to anticipated breakthroughs.

This chart represents a summary of their responses to each of these elements, which when combined, provide the Anticipation Potential for the topic. See methodology for more information.