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The Present and Future of Brain Science What Is Possible, What Is Desirable?

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The Present and Future of Brain Science What Is Possible, What Is Desirable? CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY The present and future of brain science what is possible, what is desirable? European Workshop 22 and 23 April 2004 Amsterdam The Netherlands Proceedings and Synthesis report CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY The Present and Future of Brain Science what is possible, what is desirable? International Workshop 22 and 23 April 2004 Amsterdam The Netherlands Proceedings and Synthesis report Colophon Connecting Brains and Society The Present and Future of Brain Science: what is possible, what is desirable? International Workshop, 22 and 23 April 2004, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Proceedings and Synthesis report THIS IS A JOINT PUBLICATION OF the King Baudouin Foundation (Brussels, Belgium) and the Rathenau Institute (The Hague, The Netherlands) WRITERS AND EDITORS Peter Raeymaekers • Ph.D. Molecular Biology, science writer Karin Rondia • Medical Doctor, science journalist Marjan Slob • MA Philosophy, publicist PROJECT MANAGERS Sara Heesterbeek • Rathenau Institute Rinie van Est • Rathenau Institute Ann Nicoletti • King Baudouin Foundation Tinne Vandensande • King Baudouin Foundation TRANSLATION AND LANGUAGE REVISION Barry Brennan, Kings Translation & Copywriting Linguanet, Brussels Roger Thurman, English Text Company, The Hague PHOTOGRAPHY Sara Heesterbeek, p. 107 LAYOUT Megaluna+Triumviraat, Brussels PRINTING New Goff ISBN: 90-5130-478-1 Legal Depot: D/2004/2893/27 This publication is available free of charge: On-line via www.kbs-frb.be or www.rathenau.nl By e-mailing [email protected] or [email protected] Or by phoning the King Baudouin Foundation office Tel: +32-70-233 728 Fax: +32-70-233 727 With the support of the Belgian National Lottery December 2004 © King Baudouin Foundation, Rathenau Institute Table of Contents Foreword 9 Introduction 11 Executive Summary 14 Part I - Workshop proceedings 17 Aims and expectations 19 Programme 23 Session 1: State of the art as regards scientific, medical and technological developments in brain sciences and prospects for the near and distant future 25 Introduction 25 Psychopharmacology and the future: beyond traditional boundaries by The Baroness Susan Greenfield 27 Advances in psychiatry by Professor Roland Jouvent 34 Genetic vulnerability to neurological and psychiatric brain disorders by Professor Christine Van Broeckhoven 40 Cognitive neuroscience by Professor Richard Morris 42 Brain imaging, the present, the future and societal consequences by Professor Mark van Buchem 52 Neurosurgery by Professor Jan Willem Berkelbach van der Sprenkel 58 Brain research deserves a better (funding) fate by Professor Jes Olesen 64 Session 2: Plenary discussion concerning the possible role of brain science in society and future developments in brain science 69 Session 3: Views on developments in brain science from a societal perspective 75 Introduction 75 Statement by Professor Steven Rose 77 Statement by Dr Zoltan Nemes 80 Statement by Dr Berit Faber 82 Statement by Dr Ian Ragan 84 Statement by Professor Paolo Lucio Morselli 87 Statement by Mr Alistair Newton 90 Statement by Dr Wrye Sententia 92 Statement by Professor Flavio Keller 95 Statement by Professor Jochen Oehler 98 Statement by Professor Demosthenes Agrafiotis 100 Statement by Dr Andreas Roepstorff 102 Statement by Dr Bernard Reber 105 Voting session 107 Summarizing mapping matrix 108 Session 4: Discussion sessions 111 Plenary discussion of the ‘Limits of normalcy’ with an opening statement by Professor Steven Rose 111 Plenary discussion of ‘Reductionism’ with an opening statement by Professor Detlef Linke 123 Plenary discussion of ‘Responsibility and free will’ with opening statement by Professor Johan den Boer 131 Closing session 137 Plenary evaluation of the outcomes of the first European workshop ‘Connecting brains and society’. 137 General Conclusions and Close 139 Part II - Synthesis Report 141 Introduction 143 Limits of Normalcy 145 Medicalisation 145 Enhancement 149 Personal Identity 154 Reductionism and clashing vocabularies 157 Responsibility and Free Will 160 Social justice 164 Privacy and personal freedom 167 Ethics of research 174 Dialogue and information exchange 178 Appendix I - Glossary 183 Brain fingerprinting 185 Brain plasticity 185 Brain sciences, a working definition 185 Computed tomography 186 Consilience 186 Deep brain stimulation 186 Electro- and magneto-encephalography 187 Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing 188 Gene therapy 188 Genetic engineering 188 Hypersonic sound 189 Magnetic resonance imaging 189 Model organism 190 Molecular biology 191 Nanotechnology 191 Neurotrophic factors 191 Pharmacogenetics 192 Positron emission tomography 192 Psychotherapy 192 Stem cells 193 Transcranial magnetic stimulation 194 Appendix II - Contributors Biographical Information 195 Appendix III - The Partner Consortium ECD 205 Index 215 Index of names 217 Index of words 218 CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY | 9 | Foreword | Recent years have shown a strong increase in interest in the ethi- cal and societal aspects of the brain sciences. One landmark event was the conference Neuroethics: Mapping the Field, which was organised by the Dana Foundation in San Francisco in May 2002. We would like to see the workshop ‘Connecting Brains and Society: The Present and Future of Brain Sciences: what is possible, what is desirable?’, held in April 2004 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as the European follow-up to the San Francisco conference. The aim of the Amsterdam workshop was to give an overview of the cur- rent status of and expectations for the brain sciences and their related ethical and social issues. It initiated dialogue between natural and social scientists on the one hand and stakeholders on the other in regard to these topics. The workshop also served as a kick-off meeting for the ambitious European Citizens’ Deliberation on Brain Science (the ECD project), which by means of citizen’s panels seeks to involve citizens from nine European countries in the debate on societal issues raised by develop- ments in the brain sciences. The workshop in Amsterdam was sponsored and organised by the co-ordi- nator of the ECD project, the King Baudouin Foundation, in collaboration with the Rathenau Institute, which is the Dutch national Technology Assess- ment organisation and part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. One reason why the King Baudouin Foundation asked the Rathenau Insti- tute to co-organise and host the ‘Connecting Brains and Society’ workshop was that the Institute had been engaged in the study of the societal issues related to the brain sciences since the beginning of this millennium. At that time, developments in the field of neurosciences, biotechnology, and information technology had led to the expectation that many new technologies for influencing human behaviour would become available in the mid-term. The Rathenau Institute used the term ‘psychotechnolo- gy’ to pack together these various developments. The initial focus was on using medicines to intervene in behaviour. The report Pills and Psyche (2002) outlined the development of (new) anti-depressants for adults and Ritalin for hyperactive children. Two years later it was followed by a book, An Other Self written by the philosopher Marjan Slob. This book describes a range of technologies, from pharmaceuticals and neuro-sur- gery to neuro-imaging and genetics, that may alter our understanding of our brains and may even be used to intervene directly in the human personality. An Other Self also reflects on the social and ethical questions that are related to these developments. 10 | FOREWORD Since the beginning of this century, the term brain sciences has become an established expression and has come to the attention of social scien- tists, journalists, science museums and technology assessment and fore- sight organisations. Cognitive sciences have also come to be acknowledged as a key technology alongside nanotechnology, biotechnology and infor- mation technology. The idea that these technologies are converging and strengthening one another has come to the fore under the abbreviation NBIC as a new paradigm for looking at the development of the natural sciences. It is important that society be informed about and engaged with these developments in science from the onset. Of the four named key technologies, the brain sciences is the one that has received the least public attention. So, this seems to be the right time to get the public in- volved in the field of brain sciences, which, like no other scientific field influences the way we look at our fellow humans and ourselves. The European Citizens’ Deliberation on Brain Science project is precisely trying to promote this. The Rathenau Institute is pleased to have been able to host the workshop ‘Connecting Brains and Society’ and would like to thank all participants for their contributions. It would also like to thank the people who orga- nised it within the space of just three months: Marjan Slob, Karin Ronda, and Peter Raeymaekers (the science journalists who besides organising, also mediated the workshop and wrote the proceedings), Gerrit Rauws, Tinne Vandensande and Ann Nicoletti (King Baudouin Foundation), and Sara Heesterbeek, Corine Wildschut and Rinie van Est (Rathenau Insti- tute). We would like to continue our pleasant co-operation in the future, and hope that the results of the whole ECD project will be as relevant and inspiring as those of the Amsterdam workshop. Jan Staman Director Rathenau Institute CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY | 11 | Introduction | ‘Connecting
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