Towards a fourth person perspective

Are the currently known perspectives, first, second, and third person, the only possible perspectives? With modern technology, it might be possible to construct a fourth person perspective, or even a fifth and sixth, that offers a new view on ourselves and different interaction possibilities with the world. One obvious means of this could be the concept of Siri 2.0, a mental performance optimization platform that reduces bias, serves as a personal virtual coach, and buffers communication.

Grounds for, and a potential understanding of a fourth person perspective may be found in philosophy. Philosophers such as Charles Pierce, Habermas, Levinas, Roarty, George Mead, and Stephen Darwall have helped to characterize salient aspects of the first, second, and third person perspectives, and this work could be examined, and extended to a fourth person perspective. Some of the most helpful elements that a fourth person perspective could afford are a different means of introspection and performative action-taking.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

An emerging technique for working with the brain is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In TMS, an electromagnetic coil is placed on the scalp and delivers short painless bursts of energy to stimulate nerve cells in the brain.

TMS has been suggested as clinical tool for the neurorehabilitation of many conditions including depression, hallucination, pain, tinnitus, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke, and possibly for neural enhancement in improving focus and concentration. NeuroStar, a TMS device used in the treatment of depression, was cleared by the FDA in 2008.

The non-invasive nature of TMS also makes it useful as a research tool. Some recent research using TMS has improved knowledge of motor control and perception:

1. adaptive motor learning in humans is related to cerebellar excitability and depression; motor learning could possibly be enhanced by noninvasive brain stimulation (paper)
2. the right parietal and frontal eye fields play a key functional role in the spatial updating of objects in trans-saccadic perception (TSP), the process of constructing an internal representation of the world from successive saccadic eye movements (paper)