Intervention in the Brain: Politics, Policy, and Ethics 2013

New discoveries in neuroscience have provided unprecedented knowledge of how the brain works. Innovative research - much of it based on neuroimaging findings - suggests not only treatments for neuronal disorders, but also the possibility of increasingly precise and effective ways to predict, modify and control behaviour. In this book, Robert Blank explores the complex ethical and policy issues surrounding the new possibilities of brain intervention. After reviewing current knowledge about the brain and describing a wide range of experimental and clinical interventions - from behaviour-modifying drugs to neural implants to virtual reality - Blank discusses the political and philosophical implications of these scientific advances. If human individuality is simply the product of a network of manipulable neural cell connections, and aggressive behaviour is a treatable biochemical condition, what happens to our concepts of individual responsibility, autonomy and free will? In light of new neuroscientific possibilities, Blank considers topics such as informed consent, addiction, criminal justice, racism, commercial and military applications of neuroscientific research, new ways of defining death, and political ideology and bias.