- We are finally taking a look at Valiant Comics today
with their popular character, Bloodshot,
to see if we could really create nanobot powered
super soldiers, plus, we explore the real science
behind hacking into your memories.
At least, I think we are.
I can't really remember.
(upbeat music)
- Bloodshot is a character from Valiant Comics
who is essentially a living weapon.
He was experimented on by the shady group
known as Project Rising Spirit, and injected with
billions of nanites throughout his body that give him
superhuman abilities, abilities like enhanced strength,
speed, reflexes and endurance, as well as
an incredible healing factor, plus
the ability to shapeshift.
Unfortunately this experiment came at a high cost.
All of Bloodshot's memories from before the injection
of nanites were completely erased.
He is entirely unaware of who he was before
Project Rising Spirit.
This group used Bloodshot as a means to deal with threats
all around the world that would be too dangerous
or even impossible for anyone else.
And while that sounds all nice and good,
the method they used to control Bloodshot
is a bit disturbing.
PRS implanted dozens of false memories of families
and friends and lives he never had into his mind
in order to motivate Bloodshot into completing his missions.
For example, uh hey Bloodshot, kill everyone in this town
because your wife and son's lives depend on it
even though you don't really have a wife or a son,
we just made you think that you do,
in order to get you to do our bidding.
All right, get to it.
Leave no soul alive.
That is pretty messed up, which is why when Bloodshot
became aware of this, he understandably
was pretty upset.
His new mission then became piecing together his real past
to discover who he used to be,
before he was experimented on.
I've been challenged by the people at Valiant Comics
to dissect the character of Bloodshot.
So while I could've made a video exploring the many
ethical considerations of transhumanism,
I wanted to take the opportunity to instead talk about
the science of Bloodshot, though, we did discuss
transhumanism on this week's podcast,
so you can listen to that if you want.
The folks at Valiant told me that they pride themselves
on being quote "The world outside your window,
"just tilted a few degrees.
"So a lot of the science is theoretically possible
"or scientifically correct."
And I want to put this to the test and answer
two interesting questions that Bloodshot poses.
Number one, how realistic are these nanites
coursing through his blood?
And number two, can false memories be
planted in our brains?
So let's tackle these one by one.
First, let's explore those nanites.
As we briefly mentioned earlier, Bloodshot's nanites
are responsible for his superhuman abilities.
So how do these fictional nanites stack up
with real world equivalents?
Well kinda good, kinda bad.
There have been all kinds of advancements
in the field of molecular nanotechnology but,
a lot of it is still theoretical, like the respirocyte,
which are hypothetical, artificial red blood cells
that would be able to carry 236 times
more oxygen throughout the body.
If Bloodshot's nanites functioned like respirocytes,
it would explain his superhuman endurance
as well as his ability to hold his breath
underwater for hours.
Some nanotechnology is indeed real, however.
In 2015, micromotor powered nanobots delivered
the first medicinal payload inside of a living creature.
They introduced the nanobots into a mouse
which reacted to the mouse's stomach acid
and produced little bubbles, turning the nanobots
into teeny tiny rockets which fired themselves
into the mouse's stomach lining.
This allowed the scientists to use the nanobots
as a method of delivering a compound directly
to the mouse's stomach tissue.
You're gonna hear about a lot of experiments done on mice
in this episode, I hope you're not averse to that.
As this technology evolves, we might see nanoparticles
used to deliver all kinds of drugs and compounds
directly to different parts of the body.
And this is something that's been demonstrated
with Bloodshot's nanites, like when they manually flooded
his brain with dopamine to reward him
for completing one of his missions.
Another important feature of Bloodshot's nanites,
is the ability to directly communicate with him and give him
status updates regarding the condition of his body.
And believe it or not, this is in line with a
current project that is developing nanoparticles
which will hopefully help detect cancer
and other diseases in the host.
The company developing these nanobots,
by the way, is, Google.
Because of course it's Google, who else would it be?
Once Google's nanoparticles are introduced to your system
via a pill, they will course through your body
gathering data.
The nanoparticles will send the data to a wristband
that the user wears and provide them with
knowledge of their own body at a cellular
and molecular level, a little different than how
Bloodshot can literally talk to his nanites,
but I'm willing to say that that's probably only like that
in the comics to aid us readers, so that we can see
a visual representation of the nanites
and him communicating.
Also not an Apple Watch, stop asking me if it's an
Apple, I'm not made of money.
I do YouTube.
Still there's no signs of nanobots giving someone
the ability to shapeshift like Bloodshot can,
nor are there any prominent advancements in using
nanobots to grant a user superhuman healing,
although there have been a few groups like DARPA
who are reportedly exploring the idea of
improved healing of soldiers through something like
nanobots, this one is a bit of a toss up for me,
but since the Valiant universe is supposed to be
our own world, just slanted a bit, I'll give them a point
for Bloodshot's nanites being at least, pretty close
to what science is working on today.
But if we want to build a Bloodshot, the nanites are
only half the story, the other important step
Project Rising Spirit took when crafting their
perfect weapon was to implant false memories
into his head, that would allow them some form of control.
As Dr. Emmanuel Kuretich a PRS scientist who worked
on the Bloodshot experiment explained,
"Project Rising Spirit filled Bloodshot's head with
"dozens of fictional wives, children, and friends
"tailor made for every possible scenario.
"His brain is like a TV, they change the channel
"and he becomes absorbed in a new show, a show that
"Bloodshot thinks is his life, but it's not.
"They do this to motivate him, he'll kill anyone
"they point him at if it means
"protecting the ones he loves."
Can this exist in real life?
Can Project Rising Spirit plant false memories
into Bloodshot's mind?
Believe it or not, yes, well, sort of.
Let me explain, technically speaking we do it to ourselves
all the time, our brains are great at taking experiences
and condensing them down into general lessons learned
and anything it thinks you'll need for later.
But the details of our memories, and even the sources
of them are often completely discarded.
Bloodshot has the benefit of being able to
access his memories, even the false ones,
like a computer hard drive, preserving every last detail
and nuance, us, not so lucky.
We discussed this in our Batman video about whether or not
Bruce Wayne accurately remembers the death of his parents,
so watch that one for a refresher, but the basic idea
is that even just the act of recalling a memory itself
changes it, physically changes how that memory
is wired in your brain.
In fact, recalling a memory should really be called
updating a memory, because, each time you reflect
on a past experience, you modify it.
The more you dwell on a memory, the less accurate it becomes
until it's almost entirely fabricated with false details.
So the takeaway here is that our brains are crowded
with fiction, don't trust anything you remember,
sit in a corner and have an existential crisis about
how your most precious childhood memories
probably never happened.
Happy birthday.
Statistically at least one of you guys has a birthday today.
But I'll grant you that Project Rising Spirit is going
way beyond the typical false memories that we create
in our day to day lives.
These are memories tailor made to specifically suit
Bloodshot and his mission, uploaded directly to his brain,
is that possible?
Could PRS selectively implant false memories into
Bloodshot's head that would influence his behavior?
Yes, at least in theory.
In the past few years, scientists have demonstrated
that they can plant false memories inside of mice.
Crazy right?
Unbelievable, even, as in Scott, I don't believe you,
stop making things up, I like Super Suits better,
unsubscribed.
OK, I mean that's certainly a reaction you could have.
For the rest of you who are wondering how the scientists
were able to do this, to give mice false memories,
it's pretty fascinating.
One study called, I kid you not, Project Inception,
used optogenetics.
Basically the researchers used mice that were
genetically engineered to have light sensitive proteins
in their brain cells, that the scientists could stimulate
with lasers, this allowed them to find a specific memory
in the mouse's brain and turn that memory on and off
at will, like a light switch.
With that system in place, the researchers set up
an experiment involving two boxes.
Box A was a perfectly nice and pleasant box
that the mouse had good memories of.
The scientists then put the mouse into box B
which gave the mouse mild electric shocks.
But here's the trick, at the instant the mouse would get
shocked, the scientists would use a laser to trigger
the mouse's memory of box A.
When the mouse was reintroduced to box A,
the perfectly fine and non shocky box,
it instantly froze in fear.
The mouse recognized the box and remembered
being shocked in it, even though that never happened!
The scientists had successfully planted a false memory.
That is nothing short of amazing,
and also, a little terrifying, but not as terrifying
as this next study which I can only assume
was an attempt to one up the aforementioned
Project Inception.
Neuroscientists in France wanted to see if they could
plant a false conscious memory in a mouse
while the mouse was sleeping.
They did this by putting mice in an enclosed arena
with many different locations,
and just letting them explore.
Later on when the mice were sleeping,
the researchers monitored the mice's neurons
and found which brain cells coincided with
the mouse's memory of a specific location
inside the arena.
Whenever that neuron fired, electrodes hooked up
to the mouse would stimulate the reward centers
of their brain, when the mice woke up they immediately
and consciously went straight towards the location
in the arena that they remember being rewarded in,
even though they were never actually rewarded there.
It was a false memory that the researchers planted
while the mouse was having little mousey dreams.
That's both awesome and extremely unsettling.
But I can already hear you now, these studies aren't
really planting false memories, they're just
altering existing memories, completely different,
than Bloodshot having full, complex memories
of past lives uploaded to his head.
And that's totally fair, but the general concept
still applies, Project Rising Spirit was planting
false memories as a method of influencing
Bloodshot's behavior in a way that they could control.
Similar to what these scientists were doing with these mice.
And, sure, while we aren't able to upload
complex memories or skills directly to the human brain
just yet, these studies are steps closer to that reality.
The researchers on these studies each echoed sentiments
about how planting false memories isn't
physically impossible, it would just be unbelievably,
astronomically difficult.
And if Valiant is supposed to be our own world,
just tilted a few degrees, I might give this one to them.
So to recap, the nanites in Bloodshot's body are just
much more sophisticated versions of already existing
nanoparticle technology, and Project Rising Spirit's
ability to plant false memories in Bloodshot
as a method of motivation is something that science
has already done, just, not to the
extreme scale of the comics.
Is it possible that we could create a super soldier?
A living weapon like Bloodshot?
Certainly not right now, but, as science continues
down these avenues, it's looking more and more likely.
You win this time Valiant.
You win this time. What do you guys think?
Would you like to have billions of nanites
coursing through your body like Bloodshot?
Are you scared that someone planted a false memory
into your brain while you were sleeping last night?
I wasn't before, but now I am.
What other Valiant characters
should we talk about on this show?
Let me know in the comments below.
And if you wanna learn more about memory, make sure you
check out that Batman video I mentioned earlier
about whether or not the Dark Knight can accurately
recall the night his parents were murdered.
Spoilers, he probably can't.
Click right here to learn why.
We've also got a video about the science behind
whether or not Deadpool is secretly a mutant.
Both videos are some of my absolute favorite,
so click on one to check them out.
And make sure you hit that big sexy subscribe button
so you don't miss out on all the new videos we make
for you every week that explore the history, science,
art and philosophy behind your favorite
comic book superheroes.
My name is Scott, and I will see you right here on Friday
for another video, see you.