Th e Tru e C r e a t or of Every thing
Y7643-Nicholelis.indb i
9/20/19 7:25 AM
Y7643-Nicholelis.indb ii
9/20/19 7:25 AM
∯
Th e Tru e C r e a t or of E v e r y t h i ng How t he Hum a n Br a in Sh a ped t he Uni v er se a s We K now It
Miguel Nicolelis
new haven and london
Y7643-Nicholelis.indb iii
9/20/19 7:25 AM
Copyright © 2020 by Miguel Nicolelis. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail
[email protected] (U.S. office) or
[email protected] (U.K. office). Frontispiece: Juliano Pinto inside the brain-controlled robotic exoskeleton built by the Walk Again Project. (Courtesy of the Alberto Santos Dumont Association for Research Support [AASDAP]) Excerpt at the end of Chapter 12 from THE ROCK: A Pageant Play, Book by T. S. Eliot. Copyright © 1934 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, renewed 1962 by T. S. Eliot. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Set in Scala type by Newgen North America. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019943685 isbn 978-0-300-24463-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.481992 (Permanence of Paper). 10
Y7643-Nicholelis.indb iv
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
9/20/19 7:25 AM
To the teachers who introduced me to the different faces of the True Creator of Everything: Juarez Aranha Ricardo César Timo-Iaria John Chapin Rick Lin Jon Kaas and Ronald Cicurel
Y7643-Nicholelis.indb v
9/20/19 7:25 AM
This page intentionally left blank
Con t en t s
Preface ix Acknowledgments xv 1. In the Beginning . . . 1 2. The True Creator of Everything Makes Its Evolutionary Entrance 8 3. Information and the Brain: A Bit of Shannon, a Handful of Gödel 25 4 Fueling the Brain with Dynamics: Biological Solenoids and Functional Principles