Emerging neuroscience and technology: towards a globally relevant neuroethics

Published on August 30, 2022   32 min

A selection of talks on Neuroscience

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0:00
I'm Dr. James Giordano. Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry and Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC., The United States. Join us this time, if you will, for part two our ongoing discussion about the capabilities and the contingencies fostered by the methods and tools of the brain sciences as multinational enterprises.
0:27
We've been talking about what the science and technology can do. In so doing, raised questions, issues, capabilities, and constraints about perhaps what the science and technology should do, and what we as the developers and users of said science and technology should or should not do to guide and govern the technology on the global stage. Join us today, the second part of this two-part series as we discuss the process toward globally relevant neuroethics.
0:56
Our research group has likened this to, if you will, a superspeedway, a Formula One race, an international Formula One race. The neuro-engineering superspeedway. The analogy obtains. Think of Formula One. Think of the international race circuit, the Grand Prix. Think of it historically, from the early part of the 1900s through to the present. Examine the entries, examine the technology, examine the prizes, examine the prizes and examine those who are not only on the track, but those who are in the pits. Those who support the development of the race teams, and the benefits that are yielded outside of the race track arena. Not just the prizes to those who win, but the translation of the science and technology into the everyday driver. The analogy obtains and metaphor works. The neuro-engineering speedway of 21st century global stages has multiple lanes with multiple entries, with diverse technologies. The pace is fast. At this point speaking to you right now in 2022, the developmental trajectory, the time course, to realize technological readiness is anywhere between 48-60 calendar months. Let me explain what that means. We can go from a concept, an idea, to a construct, a workable tool, method, and practice, within 4-5 years. It's astronomically fast. Contingent upon that rapidity of pace is not only cooperation within the teams, but competition between various technologies and between various teams. Competition for very big prizes, not at least of which is the prize to be able to affect the human condition, to be able to modify and alter human flourishing in some ways that are more culturally specific, and in others that are interculturally broad. But with any prize also comes the relative risk, if not threat, of not just loss, not just failure to achieve the win, but the inherent and, in some cases, the derived dangers that go along with multiple lanes and multiple entries and are at a very rapid pace that's fueled by both cooperation and competition.

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