An initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE
With major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION
Prior to the film, John P Donoghue, Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience at Brown University, will give a presentation entitled: Merging Brains & Machines
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Through the lens of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, Theater of Thought takes audiences on a provocative journey into the study of the mind and consciousness, daring us to question whether we truly have autonomy over our thoughts, or if our brains will inevitably become infused with mind-controlling technology in the not so distant future. Gathering insight and predictions from some of the world’s most influential scientists and innovators, Theater of Thought is an exploration of the ethical, and existential, effects that neurotechnology presents in our rapidly advancing world.
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“Who Better to Explore the Mysteries of the Brain Than Werner Herzog?”
“Many of these scientists had a shocking openness to Herzog’s repeated insistence that we might all be living in a Matrix-like simulation.” Gal Beckerman – The Atlantic
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John P Donoghue
Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience, Brown University
John Donoghue is the Wriston Professor of Neuroscience and Engineering at Brown University. Prof. Donoghue is known for developing human brain computer interfaces (BCIs) to restore movement for people with paralysis (known as ‘BrainGate’) as well as fundamental research on brain computation. At Brown he was the founding Chair of the Neuroscience Department, Director of the Carney Brain Institute, and Director of the Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology Center of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His awards include the Roche-Nature Medicine Prize International Prize for Translational Neuroscience and the Israeli Brain Technology Prize.
