The $15,000 A.I. from 1983:    • The $15,000 A.I. From 1983  

Scraping, grinding, or drilling a hole through the thick, hard skull that evolution developed to protect our most sensitive contents might be one of humanity’s worst ideas and also one of our best.

We have no idea how it started, or why the first trepanner thought it would fix anything. We just know that nearly every civilization worldwide has been drilling holes in heads for at least 7,000 years. Sometimes it actually worked. Sometimes it… didn’t.

Unraveling the impossiblycomplex story of trepanning exposes a deep conceptual understanding of the relationship between the brain and behavior. It reveals our desire to take drastic measures to preserve the lives of people who are important to us, whether their value is practical or emotional. And the development of trepanning from Neolithic peoples to the Greeks and Incas and modern trauma surgeons takes a winding road through horrors and genius.

Trepanning evolved alongside our understanding of biology, physics, and even consciousness, with both its tools and practices reflecting our increasing knowledge and our changing attitudes toward health and human life.

Love stories. Skull jewelry. Headache cures. Experimental psychosurgery. A few people who just wanted to chill. It’s all trepanning.

And the most remarkable thing about this seeminglycrude phenomenon is how it not only persists, but that it might actually be an important part of our plan for tomorrow.

So sharpen an old rock, measure your brainbloodvolume, and grab a watermelon to practice on.

We’ll see you in the future.

** SOURCES / FURTHER INVESTIGATION **

“Bore Hole” by Joe Mellen: https://www.amazon.com/BoreHoleStra...

“A Hole in the Head: More Tales in the History of Neuroscience” by Charles Gross: https://mitpress.mit.edu/978026251733...

“Holes in the Head: The Art and Archaeology of Trepanation in Ancient Peru” by John Verano: https://www.amazon.com/HolesHeadArc...

“Hippocrates, Vol. III” translated by Dr. E. T. Withington: https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

“The Popular Science Monthly,” September 1875: https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

“The Popular Science Monthly,” February 1893: https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

“A History of Medicine: Primitive and Ancient Medicine” by Plinio Prioreschi: https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

“A History of Human Responses to Death: Mythologies, Rituals, and Ethics” by Plinio Prioreschi: https://www.amazon.com/HistoryHuman...

The Wellcome Collection: https://wellcomecollection.org/search...

** SPECIAL THANKS **

Advisor, History of Medicine: Dr. John Dickey, UMass Chan Medical School

The Wellcome Collection, The British Museum, and others who generously license their material with Creative Commons

#science #technology #documentary #history