At a time when we talk a lot about artificial intelligence with the computer's repeated victories over the best go players, another notion, cognitive enhancement, is beginning to develop gradually and make people talk about it. In particular for its relationship with cosmetic innovation.
In 2013, the Davos Economic Forum devoted a chapter of its annual report to the unprecedented threats that States would face . In this report, we insisted on the development of a super intelligence at the service of things not always very avowable. Since then, this notion has continued to evolve with advances that are sometimes interesting or spectacular. Empirical practices of cognitive increase are no longer anticipatory. The"brain hack" has emerged from preventive studies to become a reality. For example, the use of cranial stimulation or certain psychostimulants is increasingly cited. This would not be of particular interest beyond the circle of neurobiologists if some did not look at these practices as being very favourable to the innovation process .
Let us quickly see what this is all about. In fact, there are several approaches: those that use specific techniques and those that consider substances.
The techniques
In the first row is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). It is a brain electrostimulation technique that modulates corticospinal excitability. She is practiced with a simple battery and two electrodes, one anode ( exciter ) and a cathode ( inhibitory ), which are positioned on the skull according to the regions whose …