Neuroethics

Bill Safire introduces his readers to the field of neuroethics, the examination of the benefits and dangers of treating and manipulating our minds. Safire’s involvement in politics and language are well known; fewer people are aware of his profound interest in brain science, expressed through his active role in the Dana Foundation. The questions he poses have no easy answers.

“How about a future use of imaging to pinpoint a brain area indicating a traumatic memory — should we expunge a victim’s ability to recollect, say, a rape? Do we outlaw implantation of a memory of an event that never happened? Should brain imagers give law enforcement a “lie detector” far more reliable than the mechanical polygraph , and if so, is the reading of a mind of a resistant terrorist akin to torture?”

And Safire is surely right to say it’s of the utmost importance that discussions about these issues are open and public, rather than confined to a room of experts.