The brain is the final frontier of human anatomy. That isn’t to say that we understand all that is happening in every other part of our body. But for the most part I can tell you how the muscles in my arm work and what my stomach does when I eat a burrito. We can build an artificial kidney, a robotic arm, or even grow a new heart, but this is not true of the brain. The brain is an incredibly complex organ. Each of its 100 billion cells connect to thousands of others, creating over 100 trillion connections. This complex web depends on precise timings and electro-chemical processes that we barely understand the basic science behind. It’s no wonder that we haven’t yet grasped it all.

This article covers the history of brain computer interfaces in science fiction and compares it to the science of the time, showing the interactions between the two.

Early Medicine

Naturally, humans have always been fascinated by the brain, at least as since we have understood its importance. Early Egyptians regarded the brain as ‘cranial stuffing’. It was something that could become problematic and cause headaches but not worth any other thought. It is similar to how we think about the appendix now. Instead, the idea at the time was that the heart was responsible for our thoughts and feelings.

It wasn’t until a bit later (162 AD) that the physician and anatomist Galen looked at the soldiers coming in for treatment and thought, “All these people getting hit in the head with swords aren’t thinking straight. Maybe the brain is responsible for our thoughts.” He was, of course, banned from pursuing that line of thinking.

Later in the 1500’s, Vesalius published De Humani Corporis Fabrica (The Fabrics of the Human Body). This book was considered the foundation of modern anatomy. In it he proposed that the brain was responsible for sensation and movement. He proposed that it acted through the network of nerves that stretched from the brain and throughout the human body. This was a monumental milestone in the development of neuroscience.

Early Machines and Stories About Them

Humans have been thinking about thinking for a long time, but we have been captivated by machines even longer. In fact, the use of tools stretches so far back into human history it technically predates homo sapiens as a species. But what do humans do to the things we love? We personify them. From the beginning of history, we see men making machines in their own image. Throughout history, we see the creation of puppets and complex statues that use mechanics to mimic human movement or sound. We also get fantastical descriptions of mechanical beings, or automatons, that mimic people.

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