The Brain Hacker

Phil Kennedy’s quest to conquer the mind.

For about as long as there have been computers, there have been people trying to figure out a way to control them with our minds. Throughout history, humans have had a knack for taking things further and further eventually to a point of no return. Phil Kennedy is the name of a famous neurologist, yet one you’ve likely still never heard of. Throughout the 1990’s, Phil was at the forefront of neuroscience. There is a quote that says “You can’t grow until you get out of your comfort zone.” Phil Kennedy is a prime example. Next thing he knew, he was looking at his shaved head in the mirror, in an 13 room hospital in Belize. He needed to tap into a healthy human brain even if it meant that he would have to use his own.

We’ll start our story in 1963 when neurology began making waves. A scientist at Oxford University figured out how to use human brain waves to control a simple slide projector. And shortly thereafter, a Spanish neuroscientist named José Delgado stole the headlines with a grand demonstration at a bullring in Córdoba, Spain. Delgado had invented a device he called a stimoceiver — a radio-controlled brain implant that could pick up neural signals and deliver tiny shocks to a bull’s cortex. When Delgado stepped into the ring, he flashed a red cape to provoke the bull, and according to plan, the bull charged. It was…