Fred Hapgood
Fred Hapgood, a freelance science writer in Boston, has written for publications including Wired, Smithsonian Magazine, and CIO Magazine. He is the author of Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and the Technical Imagination (Perseus, 1993).
Fearful Symmetry
Probing the Limits of Brain ModelingA scientist who hypothesizes that a certain process may occur in the brain can test the idea by seeing if a working computer model of the process can be made. If so, the scientist can go back to the lab with a better idea of what he is looking for. Would the ultimate simulation be a brain on a computer?
Computer Vision and the Dream of the Cyborg
Two major information-processing systems exist in the world today: brains and computers. Can we merge them, creating the “cyborg” beloved of science fiction writers? For a team at M.I.T., the goal was practical: find a way for a camera hooked to a computer to connect with the visual system to enable people blind from retinal damage to see again.