On 2/21/2013 11:05 AM, Immortalist wrote:
What if our thoughts could be plumbed by a brain scanner and memories
manipulated with the flip of a genetic switch? These science fiction–
like scenarios could become reality because new technologies may soon
allow unprecedented access to our brains. ...a future in which we can
decipher others' private emotions and ideas as well as sculpt designer
minds. Scientists can already decode single words and reconstruct
mental images using functional MRI. We also tinker with brain activity
on a daily basis by consuming mood-altering chemicals, such as
caffeine and alcohol. More targeted neural enhancements, which might
involve inserting new genes or modifying existing ones, could improve
not only our cognition but also our personality, fashioning more law-
abiding citizens or devoted spouses.

One day, among other things, we may be able to record and share
dreams, buy artificial experiences -- 'mind movies' -- and take self-
improvement to a new level by editing unwanted thoughts and desires.

The human person thus needs to be considered. Technologies which
directly scan or manipulate brains cannot be neutral tools, as open to
commercial exploitation as any new gadget. The brain supremacy offers
chances to improve human dignity, but it also risks abuse.

Privacy is an example. What if the claims already being made for
neuroimaging's ability to read minds can be extended to portable,
covert surveillance? If we've already revealed ourselves on Facebook,
would it matter if companies could scan our brains in real time,
observe that we're hungry, and change their targeted marketing
accordingly? Would those companies be obliged to tell us, or our
insurers, if they found evidence of brain disease -- or of dubious
beliefs? Would governments be justified in having ideologically
hostile individuals 'adjusted' before they committed any terrorist
act? And so on.

Funds are pouring into brain research.

The rate of transfer from science fiction to science fact is amazing,
and accelerating. Scientists can now probe individual atoms, see
objects round corners, put a robot on Mars, and much else besides.

These examples come from physics. In our science-saturated world,
however, the balance of power is shifting towards the life sciences,
and especially brain research. With modern neuroimaging techniques
like fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), plus advances in
genetics, and greater computer power, the study of human brains is at
last becoming a fully-fledged science. Neuroscience has grown from a
subdiscipline of biology to a field in its own right, with its own
proliferating subdisciplines. In coming decades, it will rival and
then surpass the influence of the older physical sciences. This is the
era of the brain supremacy.

There's a problem, though. The ethics developed by doctors, over
centuries, to deal with human suffering, are different from those
developed by scientists trying to understand how the world works.
They're still more different from the ethics of businesses keen to
cash in on the new technologies, for example by marketing fMRI 'lie-
detectors.' And as the products of the brain supremacy have begun to
move from clinic and lab to marketplace, the ethical principles don't
necessarily move with them. Techniques created to heal can also be
employed for other purposes, and the ability to get data from living
brains is a holy grail for many interested parties other than
neuroscientists and doctors.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rain-supremacy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathle...b_1909556.html

DeadUsenet What Can I Say?

Exciting, but scary!
What does it mean to be "human" now?
What does it mean to be "me"?
Could I experience what it's like to be a bat, etc?
Can I become You....or be cloned to be "whoever"("what"ever?)
suits the brain-controllers' agenda?
Would that kind of brain alteration be reversible?