Editor’s note: This issue of BrainWork is devoted to special coverage of the conference Neuroethics: Mapping the Field, that took place May 13-14, 2002, in San Francisco, California. Organized by Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco, and underwritten by The Dana Foundation, the two-day event gathered neuroscientists, bioethicists, doctors of psychiatry and psychology, philosophers, and professors of law and public policy together to discuss this emerging field.

“Neuroethics” may be defined as the study of the moral and ethical questions involved in applying new brain-related scientific findings, such as genetics, brain imaging, disease diagnosis and prediction, and how the medical, insurance, and governmental leaders will face them. Embracing their daunting task, the participants took part in lively discussions in the first of what is sure to be many such meetings.

The conference saw the emerging themes of enhancement, free will and the promise and peril of technology. What you are about to read are portions of actual transcripts from the meeting, allowing you to see what the participants discussed, in their own words.

More than 150 people attended the Neuroethics Conference in Presidio National Park in San Francisco. Credit: Scott Lasky