Pierre Cassou-Noguès' 'Lire le cerveau' Blends Neuroscience and Sci-Fi

Philosopher Pierre Cassou-Noguès has published 'Lire le cerveau' (Seuil), a book that merges neuroscience with science fiction. The work imagines a brain reader capable of accessing inner images, emotions, and thoughts. Structured as a novel reminiscent of Philip K. Dick, it draws on a 1958 scientific paper describing the 'autocerebroscope,' a machine for real-time brain observation. The narrative follows Dr. Smart, inventor of the brain reader, and Trams, an FBI agent hunting terrorists. The book engages with philosophers Wittgenstein, Spinoza, and Leibniz, revisiting the mind-brain correspondence problem. Cassou-Noguès uses fiction as a method to explore philosophical questions, ultimately celebrating the silence of thought. The review by Michel Vignard in artpress highlights the book's playful yet rigorous approach, calling it a genuine philosophy work.