Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [December 9, 2022]

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Questions include: Are there nuclear reactions going on inside our bodies? - Do you think we'll ever be able to replace damaged brain parts with computational parts as another form of prosthesis? -- What ethical implications will become relevant when we combine machine learning and brain sensors/effectors? - Suppose a rule creates a memory in our brain. Then it could be an irreducible problem to make a true brain interface for any individual that could interpret a memory or preexisting concept. Truly a fascinating subject. Assuming we are able to completely understand the human brain, one could probably make a complete copy - basically, we could "fork" one brain into multiple copies! - Do you think neurons do their signal processing based mostly on discrete states or the temporal difference between states? - Even though all brains are different, don't they all "implement" the same underlying ideas? Doesn't this point to some Platonic realm of reality? - One of the issues with being able to read and decode a memory is that someone will have the ability to write artificial memories into a brain. It's somewhat scary to think that could happen one day, but it could also be used for good. - What about a Turing test, but for memories; like in Inception? - Perhaps the only difference between dreams and reality is just a matter of degree? Perhaps it just depends on its logical coherence? Once the logical coherence is larger than what the brain can be aware of, it is considered "real." - We've co-evolved with our environment so it should be coherent to us, but if we inject things into our environment that we haven't co-evolved with or evolved in, we get confused.