With the alarming rate in which technology is advancing, it is most likely the next generation of children is never going to go to school; or the definition of a “school” is going to change. Researchers say the ability to download knowledge straight into your brain from a computer is set to become a reality. Learning how to fly a plane, a new martial art, or a new language is going to be possible through sitting in front of your computer and waiting for it to upload.

Studies have been looking at how a functional magnetic resonance machine (FMRI) can induce knowledge in someone through their visual cortex, by changing brain activity patterns. The process is called Decoded Neurofeedback, or “DecNef”. It involves no medication, and the subject doesn’t even have to be awake. The signals change the brain pattern to a designated target. Volunteers have undergone sessions of these treatments and the results have been positive. Scientists believe the day we are able to learn new skills like in the movie The Matrix is not too far away.

If this technology was to become a reality, and accessible to lots of people, it would literally shift the entire way we humans live our life. How would this technology be distributed? Would university courses involve paying a single large sum of money to have the desired degree uploaded into your brain? Could we apply the same technology to teach animals how to communicate? Could this be the real life rise of the planet of the apes?