Old minds and new brains...working together.
At the University of Washington, researchers are pioneering a field of neuroscience called "neuroengineering," which will one day involve doing things like regulating people's moods with brain implants. In this fascinating video, they explain how their work spilled over into philosophy.
The issues that these neuroengineers are tackling are going to become increasingly important in many scientific fields that touch on the human mind. Entering the Brain Age also means that lab research will be trying to answer the same questions that people in the humanities have contemplated for thousands of years. Who are we? Do we have freewill? If somebody is controlling our minds with chemicals and medical devices, how is that different from controlling us with ideology or economic incentives?
The much-vaunted "war" between science and culture seems destined to end in a synthesis, at least in cases like these.
[For a direct link to the new story, click HERE.]
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