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Philip S. Low (Canadian)

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Not to be confused with Philip S. Low (American).

Philip Steven Low
Born
Vienna, Austria
CitizenshipCanada
EducationPh.D., UCSD
B.Sc., University of Chicago
OccupationScientist
Known forAnimal consciousness
iBrain inventor
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsNeurovigil, Inc
Philip Low Foundation
ThesisA New Way To Look At Sleep : Separation & Convergence (2007)
Doctoral advisorsTerry Sejnowski
Fred Gage
Websiteneurovigil.com

Philip S. Low is a Canadian inventor, computational neuroscientist, and mathematician. He is the chairman, CEO and founder of NeuroVigil, a neurotechnology company. The author of the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, Low's research is focused on the development of technical means to decipher human brain waves. In a 2010 issue of MIT Technology Review he was recognized as one of its "35 Under 35" list of outstanding innovators.

Early life and education

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Philip Low was born in Vienna, Austria.[1] After completing his primary schooling at Cours Hattemer in Paris in 1991, Low attended Institut Le Rosey where he graduated in 1996 with a specialization in mathematics.[2]

Family

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Low's father, Steven Low[3]: xxi  (born Seweryn Lwów in Lviv on May 26, 1932)[4] was a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Poland, who came to Canada in 1948.[5][6][7] In Canada, the elder Low attended McGill University on a chess scholarship and worked for Canadian mining tycoon Joseph Hirshhorn, later "investing in copper mining in South America ... [and] brokering oil deals in the Middle East" according to an obituary following his death on May 19, 2024.[8] According to his daughter, Veronica, she and Low established the Steven Low Foundation in 2022 to support the identification and reburial of the remains of First Nations children from Indian residential schools.[7]

Low has described his father as "highly accomplished" but "violent".[9] According to Low, he became interested in the fragility of the human brain as a child when his father overdosed on a sleep drug and threatened a Swiss banker with a weapon.[10][11]

Tertiary education

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Low received his B.Sc. in pure mathematics from the University of Chicago, during which he spent a summer research internship at Harvard Medical School.[12][13]

Low went on to earn a Ph.D. in computational neurobiology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)[13][14] for work done at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, which he joined at the recommendation of Francis Crick. At Salk, Low developed Dynamic Spectral Scoring (DSS) and the SPEARS (Sleep Parametric EEG Automated Recognition System) algorithm, which is used to map brain waves.[14][15] Low presented the algorithm as his doctoral dissertation, the body of which he says was one page long and the shortest in the history of the university.[16][17][13][a]

Career

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In 2007, Low founded NeuroVigil, a neurotechnology company that manufactures a brain monitoring device called iBrain,[19] inspired by his doctoral research.[14][15]

Low was named to the 2010 edition of MIT Technology Review's "35 Under 35" list of young innovators.[15]

In 2012, Low published — with Christof Koch and David Edelman — the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which asserts that "humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness" and that non-human life may also possess consciousness.[20] He also collaborated with Stephen Hawking who provided him with data for his non-invasive iBrain monitor to interpret brain waves to decipher human intentions and enable communication.[14][15]

Personal life

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Low is a Canadian citizen and he lives in La Jolla, California.[1] He enjoys running, skiing, and chess.[1]

Works

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Articles

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  • Low, Philip (April 5, 2016). "No Neurozone for Trump". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2025.

Doctoral dissertation

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Patents

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  • US patent 11672459, Philip Low, "Localized collection of biological signals, cursor control in speech-assistance interface based on biological electrical signals and arousal detection based on biological electrical signals", issued September 8, 2016 
  • US patent 8073534, Philip Low, "Automated detection of sleep and waking states", issued January 18, 2007 
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  • In 2013, Low and NeuroVigil conducted further iBrain trials with another ALS sufferer, Augie Nieto, the founder of Life Fitness, Augie's Quest to Cure ALS and the ALS Therapy Development Institute.[21] The trials were featured in Episode 6 (Can our minds be hacked?) of Season 4 of the popular science TV series, Through the Wormhole.[22]
  • In January 2025, following the Elon Musk salute controversy, Low started criticizing Musk publicly, calling him a "total miserable self-loathing poser."[23] He stated that Elon Musk's "pattern is to take companies, invest in them, destabilise them, and then take them over" and that "...the White House is his biggest investment to date." [24] Low stated that his view of Musk's pattern was based on his experience of Musk's investment in his company[25] and on his observation of how Musk invested in Twitter.

Notes

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  1. ^ A member of Low's review committee recalled a longer submission.[13] The entire document, including appendices, is 346 pages long as published at UCSD,[18] and contains a single-page 'Chapter 1' as the only non-preface, non-appendix, material.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "San Diego phenom named top innovator". San Diego Union-Tribune. August 31, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  2. ^ "Curriculum Vitae: Philip S. Low" (PDF). Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  3. ^ Low, Philip S. (2007). A New Way To Look At Sleep : Separation & Convergence. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  4. ^ "Poland, Jewish Holocaust Survivors Registered in Warsaw, 1945-1946 (USHMM) [database on-line]". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. February 26, 2025.
  5. ^ "Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 [database on-line]". Ancestry.com. 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
  6. ^ "Steven Low Obituary". Legacy. May 30, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Janssens, Emily (November 13, 2024). "Honouring the needs of Indigenous communities - The Steven Low Foundation aims to bring healing and hope through a gift to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation". UM News. University of Manitoba. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  8. ^ "Steven Low: A man of great vision and bold ideas". theocf.org. Oakville Community Foundation. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  9. ^ Hicks, William (January 27, 2025). "Bay Area startup founder says he booted Elon Musk from company over stock manipulation". San Francisco Business Times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2025. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  10. ^ Low, Philip (July 13, 2019). Simulation #485 Dr. Philip Low - New Paradigm for Brain Research. Event occurs at 4:30. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  11. ^ Low, Philip (February 4, 2025). Dr. Philip Low, former Elon Musk's Best Friend Speaks to Charles Awuzie. Event occurs at 5:15. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  12. ^ Recchie, Benjamin (Winter 2011). "Mind Reader". The Core: College Magazine of the University of Chicago. University of Chicago. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  13. ^ a b c d Grens, Kerry (December 31, 2012). "Philip Low: Sleep Analyzer". The Scientist. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Low also claims that he ultimately turned in a one-page thesis, but Charles Stevens, a member of Low's thesis committee, says he remembers a longer dissertation.
  14. ^ a b c d Duncan, David Ewing (April 2, 2012). "A Little Device That's Trying to Read Your Thoughts". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  15. ^ a b c d Rice, Jocelyn (April 25, 2010). "Philip Low". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  16. ^ "NEUROVIGIL, WORLD'S MOST VALUABLE NEUROTECH COMPANY, LAUNCHES IN US" (Press release). April 4, 2024. DSS was initially developed by Dr. Low when he was a graduate student at the Salk Institute on the personal recommendation of Francis Crick, late Nobel Laureate of DNA fame (who had seen Dr. Low's work at Harvard Medical School when he was a teenager), and was summarized in his one-page PhD thesis.
  17. ^ Isaacson, Betsy (November 20, 2012). "Mind Control: How EEG Devices Will Read Your Brain Waves And Change Your World". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2025. By 2009, Low had succeeded on his first invention, with "math so simple it could fit on a page." The algorithms he invented allowed researchers to collect electrical signals from bird brains using just a single electrode, a technique now called "single-channel EEG." They also allowed Low to graduate from the University of San Diego with a one-page thesis ("The shortest in the history of the university," he said.) and a 350-page appendix.
  18. ^ Low, Philip (2007). A new way to look at sleep : separation & convergence (Ph.D. thesis). University of California, San Diego.
  19. ^ Gates, Jack (November 7, 2010). "Meet the iBrain". YouTube. NBC. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  20. ^ Bekoff, Marc (September 19, 2012). "Animals are conscious and should be treated as such". New Scientist. Retrieved February 7, 2025. The upshot of the meeting was the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which was publicly proclaimed by three eminent neuroscientists, David Edelman of the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California, Philip Low of Stanford University and Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology.
  21. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (July 1, 2013). "If Hackers Inherit the Earth". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  22. ^ "Through the Wormhole - Season 4 Episode 6 - Can Our Minds Be Hacked?". Facebook. November 5, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  23. ^ Council, Stephen (January 30, 2025). "Bay Area tech founder brutally skewers former buddy Elon Musk". SFGate. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  24. ^ "DOGE: Inside Trump ally Elon Musk's race to upend US government". www.bbc.com. February 6, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
  25. ^ "Quand Elon Musk accuse l'Afrique du Sud, son pays natal, de « persécuter les Blancs »" (in French). February 5, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
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