Karin Rondea - 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

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 publi@kbs-frb.be or bestellingen@rathenau.nl 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

Index 215 Index of names 217 Index of words 218

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 current 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 citizens panels seeks to involve citizens from nine European countries in the debate on societal issues raised by developments in the brain sciences.

The workshop in Amsterdam was sponsored and organised by the co-ordinator of the ECD project, the King Baudouin Foundation, in collaboration with the Rathenau Institute, which is the Dutch national Technology Assessment organisation and part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. One reason why the King Baudouin Foundation asked the Rathenau Institute 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 psychotechnology 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-surgery 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.