“The Great Cerebroscope Controversy”

Published Apr 01, 2000

by Richard Restak

Now that scientists can almost predict human behavior by examining the brain... “Wait!” cries Restak, neurologist and best-selling author on brain research. Brain scientists, for all the power and promise of their field, are rank newcomers to questions of human choice, motivation, and responsibility. He offers a cautionary parable, set in the year 2010, of hubris and humility.

“The Very First Foundation of Virtue”: Neurobiology and Ethical Behaviors

Published Jan 01, 2003

by Antonio Damasio

“The construction we call ethics in humans may have begun as part of an overall program of bioregulation,” writes Antonio Damasio in Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain. From the outset, Damasio has espoused a new perspective on human emotions as essential partners of reason in thinking about our values and choices and in the construction of consciousness itself. In this excerpt, he places emotions (and their mental counterpart, feelings) within the continuum of bioregulation, examining how feelings bring under cognitive control the information required for human survival, flourishing, and creation of political and social bonds. The foundation of ethical behavior, he writes “is the result of a discovery based on the observation of human nature rather than the revelation of a prophet.”

A Brain Built for Fair Play

Published Mar 01, 2006

by Donald W. Pfaff

As scientists and society as a whole are facing the ethical questions inherent in brain science, researchers are beginning to explore the biological nature of ethical behavior. Rockefeller University neuroscientist Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D., proposes that neural and molecular processes we are beginning to understand shed light on ways the mechanism of fear helps us to treat others as we would like to be treated.

A Fish Story? Brain Maps, Lie Detection, and Personhood

Published Oct 01, 2004

by Judy Illes

Wouldn’t it be nice if a machine could tell us when someone is not telling the truth and whether the transgression is just a minor deception or a dangerous lie? Despite progress in technologies such as “brain fingerprinting” and functional magnetic resonance imaging, neuroscientific lie detection is still a long way from commercial reality. For such a capability to be more than a sophisticated form of polygraphy, we must carefully work out our scientific concepts about deception and develop a better understanding of how minds work.

A Primer on Neuroscience and Public Policy

Published Apr 01, 1999

by Robert Cook-Deegan

A Revolution in Brain Literacy

Published Oct 01, 2001

by Norbert R. Myslinski

No doubt about it. By the end of the Decade of the Brain, Americans had new insights, attitudes, and expectations about the brain. How did we achieve a near revolution in brain literacy—and will it prepare us to cope with the tough questions that brain research is raising? Stem cells? Selecting genes for our children? Turning addiction on and off at will? Public debate, informed by facts and understanding, will be essential, says the author.

Anticipating “Smart” Drugs

Published Jan 01, 2006

by Hakon Heimer

Are There Things We'd Rather not Know?

Published May 01, 2002

Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness

Published Oct 01, 2004

by The President’s Council on Bioethics

In a chapter titled “Ageless Bodies,” the President’s council’s report considered the progress in research aimed at mitigating the normal changes and preventing the diseases associated with aging. This excerpt focuses on the research findings regarding the possibilities of retarding aging itself and the ethical implications for individuals and society of greatly increased longevity.