PeterWatts_Blindsight

Peter Watts 315 Blindsight
begins to act before the brain even "decides" to move 31 (but see 32,
33 ), and the whole concept of free will—despite the undeniable
subjective feeling that it's real—begins to look a teeny bit silly,
even outside the influence of alien artefacts.
While electromagnetic stimulation is currently the most trendy
approach to hacking the brain, it's hardly the only one. Gross
physical disturbances ranging from tumors 34 to tamping irons 35 can
turn normal people into psychopaths and pedophiles (hence that
new persona sprouting in Susan James's head). Spirit possession
and rapture can be induced through the sheer emotional bump-andgrind
of religious rituals, using no invasive neurological tools at all
(and not even necessarily any pharmacological ones) 21 . People can
even develop a sense of ownership of body parts that aren't theirs,
can be convinced that a rubber hand is their real one 36 . Vision
trumps propioreception: a prop limb, subtly manipulated, is
enough to convince us that we're doing one thing while in fact
we're doing something else entirely 37, 38 .
The latest tool in this arsenal is ultrasound: less invasive than
electromagnetics, more precise than charismatic revival, it can be
31 Libet, B. 1993. The neural time factor in conscious and unconscious events.
Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Consciousness 174: 123-146.
32 P. Haggard, P., and Eimer , M. 1999. On the relation between brain potentials
and the awareness of voluntary movements. Experimental Brain Research
126: 128-133.
33 Velmans, M. 2003. Preconscious free will. Journal of Consciousness Studies
10: 42-61.
34 Pinto, C. 2003. Putting the brain on trial. May 5, 2003, Media General News
Service.
35 Macmillan, M. 2000. An Odd Kind of Fame Stories: of Phineas Gage. MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA.
36 Ehrsson, H.H., C. Spence, and R.E. Passingham 2004. That's My Hand!
Activity in Premotor Cortex Reflects Feeling of Ownership of a Limb. Science
305: 875-877.
37 Gottleib, J., and P. Mazzoni. 2004. Action, illusion, and perception. Science
303: 317-318.
38 Schwartz, A.B., D.W. Moran, and G.A. Reina. 2004. Differential
representation of perception and action in the frontal cortex. Science 303: 380-
383.