An Exploration of the Societal Impact of Neuroethics in Scientific and General Communities
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Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2015 An Exploration of the Societal Impact of Neuroethics in Scientific and General Communities Katelyn Marie Edel Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons Recommended Citation Edel, Katelyn Marie, "An Exploration of the Societal Impact of Neuroethics in Scientific and General Communities" (2015). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 847. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/847 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. 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An Exploration of the Societal Impact of Neuroethics in Scientific and General Communities A Capstone Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University Katelyn Marie Edel Candidate for Bachelor of Arts and Renée Crown University Honors May 2015 Honors Capstone Project in Neuroscience Capstone Project Advisor: ___________________________ William Peace, Professor in the Renée Crown University Honors Program Capstone Project Reader: ____________________________ Paul Prescott, Part-Time Assistant Professor Philosophy, Syracuse University Honors Director: __________________________________ Stephen Kussisto, Director Date: April 22nd, 2015 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………i Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..v Chapter One – Introduction: Why are Neuroethics Important?.......................................................1 Study: Highlights of a Crucial Question that Neuroethics Can Answer ………………….1 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Neuroethics, an Interdisciplinary and Dynmaic New Field…………………………….....4 Bold Neuroethics and its Relationship to Bioethics………………………………………….....6 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Neuroethics’ Introduction to Society…………………………………………………….10 Bold Chapter Two: Treatment, Technology, and Safety Concerns……………………………………13 A History of Psychosurgery……………………………………………………………...13 Contemporary Surgery Techniques……………………………………………………...14 The Balance of Beneficence and Nonmalficence………………………………………..16 The Technological Imperative…………………………………………………………...17 Study: Herr, Human Improvement, and the Threat to Humanity?....................................19 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Chapter Three – Brain Privacy, and Neuroimaging, and Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Autonomy………………………………..21 Bold, Not Italic Neuroimaging and its Clinical Significance……………………………………………..21 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Beyond the Clinical Use of Brain Scans…………………………………………………22 Bold, Not Italic Neuroethics and Brain Scans…………………………………………………………….23 Brain Imaging and Personal Autonomy………………………………………………….24 Privacy and Discrimination………………………………………………………………26 Imaging and Personhood…………………………………………………………………29 Study: Herr and Personhood……………………………………………………………..30 Chapter Four – Neuroenhancement and Social Justice…………………………………………..33 Neuroenhancment - Possibilities and Perils……………………………………………...33 Cognitive Enhancement and Social Justice Concerns…………………………………...34 Potential Effects of an Uneven Distribution of Resources………………………………36 A Distinction Between Treatment and Enhancement……………………………………37 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Study: Herr, Lifestyle Ailments, and Slippery Slopes…………………………………...39 Other Thoughts on Neuroenhancement …………………………………………………40 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman Formatted: Indent: First line: 0" Chapter Five – Society and Neuroethics…………………………………………………………42 The BRAIN Initiative and the Government……………………………………………...42 The Importance of Public Awareness and Discussion…………………………………...44 Formatted: Indent: First line: 0" What is the Role of Neuroethics Right Now? …………………………………………...47 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Chapter Six – What is the Future? ………………………………………………………………50 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Revisiting The Treatment/Enhancement Debate………………………………………...50 Bold Where is the Dependence on Technology Leading Us…………………………………..51 Concluding Thoughts and Questions…………………………………………………….55 References Cited…………………………………………………………………………………57 Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold, Not Italic Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold, Not Italic Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, Not Bold Abstract Neuroethics serves as a roadmap for maneuvering the difficult and often personal concerns that arise concurrently with advancements in neuroscience. It is important to consider these issues at present and to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach towards assuaging fears and hesitations related to the quickening applications of neuroscience into the non-scientific community. This Capstone explores recent suggestions made by prominent scholars in the neuroethics field related to the integration of neuroscience into society. Three cogent issues in neuroscience are discussed, with a focus on the possible effects that neuroscientific advancements have on society. Using a framework of human enhancement, which is a pressing philosophical question facing society today, this Capstone explores the fundamental and crucial nature that neuroethics plays in the regulation of scientific practice. Seving as a roadmap for the next decade of science, neuroethics intimately links concerns of privacy, social justice, and a protection of the greater good. With the understanding that society has reached a point in which science is accessible by those outside of the professional scientific community, the Capstone focuses on the development of an intimate connection between science and society with the hope that expanded discussion will serve to highlight the foundations of neuroethical guidelines. i Executive Summary Both popular culture and the scientific field have determined the twenty-first century to be the age of neuroscience. Over the past fifteen years, vast improvements have rendered the field indispensible in future understandings of the human body, the human mind, and human thought. The promise of neuroscience as a field began with the rapid rise of neuroimaging technologies, from the first rudimentary electroencephalogram (EEG) design, which measured electrical activity in the brain, to the now sophisticated functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, or fMRI, which creates detailed images of neural activation patterns. Further understanding in the connections and mechanisms underlying brain signaling patterns have led to astute developments in both the pharmaceutical industry and in the surgical field, leading to further groundbreaking and seminal discoveries. Overall, these changes have culminated in the advancement of neuroscience as a field, and neuroscience has come to be recognized as a discipline with great promise and potential. However, as with any powerful force, the advancements in neuroscience also have brought potentially problematic issues to the forefront, especially in terms of the effects on society at large. Neuroethics is the discipline that has arisen as a result of the concerns over the possible implications of neuroscience within a larger, diverse society. The field combines bioethics, philosophy, neuroscience, and plays a role in healthcare, law, and government. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, neuroethics as a field is equipped to answer difficult questions that are currently facing the neuroscience, medical, and general communities. This Capstone project explores the role that neuroethics can play in answering some of the most difficult questions facing our society today, including that of the role that technology should play in medicine. The world has reached a point, both practically and psychologically, in i which the ability and the desire to use technology for augmentation rather than for treatment has arrived. In the past, medicine’s sole purpose was to cure disease and treat pathologies. Over the past decade however, and coupled especially with the advancements in neuroscience and related technologies, the goals of medicine have evolved; instead of treatment, medicine can now serve to enhance, making otherwise healthy humans better, faster, and stronger. One of the most pressing ethical issues of today is whether or not this shift in medical ideology is a moral one, and whether or not human enhancement should be readily accepted into society. By examining three pressing issues in neuroscience – the use of surgery to treat psychiatric conditions, privacy and brain imaging, and cognitive enhancement - and examining case studies related to the wider problem of human enhancement, this Capstone outlines various dimensions of several neuroethical conflicts. Neuroethics is especially