# Brain Implants Will Change What Our Brains Are Becoming by Juan Enriquez > "Given that one in five Americans is now taking a mind-altering drug(s), the experiment continues and accelerates. Never mind fields like optogenetics, which alter and reconnect our brains, thoughts, memories, fears using light stimuli projected inside the brain. Eventual implants will radically change brain design, inputs, and outputs. Having a baseline, a good paleoneurological history of brain design, for ourselves and many other basic species, may teach us a lot about what our brains were, where they came from, but even more important, what they are becoming. I bet this is a challenge Tilly Edinger would have relished." > **— Juan Enriquez**, *2017, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Paleoneurology](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/27061) — Edge published this passage in its 2017 Annual Question collection, *What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known?*. The full response preserves the qualifications and argument surrounding this exact extract. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2017 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2017 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first archive record for the complete yearly response cohort. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas|Organic-Synthetic Brain Atlas]] - **Article:** [[articles/2026 Annual Report on Brain-Computer Interfaces|2026 BCI Report]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Next Interface Layer|Next Interface Layer]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Neural Interfaces and Continuity Architecture|Neural Interfaces and Continuity Architecture]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Neuroplasticity|Neuroplasticity]] - [[wiki/Optogenetics|Optogenetics]] - [[wiki/Neural Interface|Neural Interface]] - [[wiki/Cognitive Enhancement|Cognitive Enhancement]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Given that one in five Americans is now taking a mind-altering drug(s), the experiment continues and accelerates. Never mind fields like optogenetics, which alter and reconnect our brains, thoughts, memories, fears using light stimuli projected inside the brain. Eventual implants will radically change brain design, inputs, and outputs. Having a baseline, a good paleoneurological history of brain design, for ourselves and many other basic species, may teach us a lot about what our brains were, where they came from, but even more important, what they are becoming. I bet this is a challenge Tilly Edinger would have relished." — Juan Enriquez, 2017, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-juan-enriquez-implants-change-brains-becoming ```