可穿戴技術控制人類大腦不是夢

I’m sitting in Sumon Pal’s office in Boston’s Back Bay, and while fixing two small electrodes to my head with a light adhesive—one to my temple, another to the back of my neck—he’s explaining what the next 16 minutes should feel like. Most users feel reduced tension in their bodies, he says. Their thoughts ping-pong less frequently, breathing slows noticeably, and thoughts that typically cue anxiety—of work, of relationships, of family—become less consequential.

我正坐在薩門o帕爾位於波士頓後灣區的辦公室裏，他一邊用輕型粘合劑在我的頭上安裝小型電極——一個粘在太陽穴上，另外一個在脖子後面，一邊解釋接下來16分鐘的感受。他表示，大多數使用者會感覺身體裏的緊張感減輕。他們的思維跳躍頻率降低，呼吸明顯放緩，與工作、人際關係或家庭有關的那些通常引發焦慮感的想法，也隨之減少。

Pal, executive director of Los Gatos, Calif., -based neuroscience startup Thync, designed the calming “vibe” that’s being imparted to my brain through a prototype of the app-controlled wearable device that the company will release later this year. Thync’s technology utilizes tDCS, or transcranial direct current stimulation, to trigger specific responses in the brain, dialing up feelings of calm and serenity or conjuring energy and focus on demand.

帕爾是加州洛斯蓋多斯神經科學初創公司Thync的首席執行官，他設計出這種令人平靜的“氛圍”，並且通過一款由應用控制的可穿戴設備原型將這種氛圍傳遞到我的大腦當中。該公司預計將在今年晚些時候發佈這款設備。Thync的技術利用經顱直流電刺激(tDCS)來觸發大腦的某些反應，產生平靜的感覺，或根據需要激發出能量和專注。

Thync isn’t out to alter the brain’s biology, but to allow better control of the energy, focus, and calm that are already naturally available to us, co-founder and chief science officer Jamie Tyler says. “Coffee, alcohol, drugs; these are all neuro-enhancers,” Tyler says. “You’re already modifying your brain activity.” Thync wants to better harness that command—and perhaps grab a piece of the alcohol, coffee, pharmaceutical, and energy drink markets collectively worth billions.

公司聯合創始人兼首席科學官賈米o泰勒表示，Thync的目的並非改變大腦的生物活動，而是讓我們更好地控制我們生來便可以使用的能量、專注和平靜。泰勒說道：“咖啡、酒精、藥物，這些都屬於神經增強劑。你已經在改變大腦的活動。”Thync希望更好地利用這種能力，這樣或許就可以從價值數十億美元的酒精、咖啡、藥物和能量飲品市場中分得一杯羹。

The pulses—each “100 times lower than what’s considered dangerous,” Tyler insists—feel comfortably warm but not painful. Just as Pal described, the familiar tension in my shoulders eases, my breathing slows, my mind noticeably stops racing. My body takes on the feeling of lax warmth usually associated with a finger or two of scotch—my usual means of unwinding.

泰勒堅持認爲，設備產生的脈衝讓人感覺溫暖舒適，不會有疼痛感，其強度僅有危險脈衝的百分之一。正如帕爾所描述的那樣，我肩部那種熟悉的緊張感消失了，呼吸放緩，大腦開始陷入平靜。我的身體感覺到令人放鬆的溫暖，我通常在吸一兩口蘇格蘭鼻菸之後纔會有這種感覺——這也是我常用的放鬆方式。

“People have been doing this forever, this is nothing new,” Tyler says. “I think this is the kind of product people have been waiting for.”

泰勒說道：“人類一直都在這麼做，這沒什麼新鮮。我認爲這是那種人們一直在期待的產品。”（財富中文網）