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)

222 Pages·2004·0.72 MB·English

by  Karin Rondea

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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 LANGUAGEREVISION
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 Foundationoffice
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
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 artas 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 psychiatryby Professor Roland Jouvent 34
Genetic vulnerabilityto neurologicaland psychiatricbrain
disorders by Professor Christine Van Broeckhoven 40
Cognitive neuroscienceby Professor Richard Morris 42
Brain imaging, the present, the future and societal consequences
by Professor Mark van Buchem 52
Neurosurgeryby 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 sciencein society and future developments in brain science 69
Session 3: Views on developments in brain sciencefrom
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 ‘Responsibilityand 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
Reductionismand clashingvocabularies 157
Responsibilityand Free Will 160
Social justice 164
Privacyand personal freedom 167
Ethicsof research 174
Dialogueand 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
Genetherapy 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 Foundationin 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 dialoguebetween 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 ECDproject),
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 ECDproject, the King Baudouin Foundation, in collaboration
with the Rathenau Institute, which is the Dutch national Technology Assess-
mentorganisation and part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.
One reason why the King Baudouin Foundationasked the Rathenau Insti-
tuteto 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 Instituteused 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 developmentof (new) anti-depressants for adults
and Ritalinfor hyperactive children. Two years later it was followed by a
book, An Other Selfwritten by the philosopherMarjan 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 Selfalso 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 assessmentand fore-
sight organisations. Cognitive sciences have also come to be acknowledged
as a key technology alongside nanotechnology, biotechnologyand infor-
mation technology. The idea that these technologies are converging and
strengthening one another has come to the fore under the abbreviation
NBICas a new paradigm for looking at the developmentof 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
publicattention. So, this seems to be the right time to get the publicin-
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 Scienceproject is precisely
trying to promote this.
The Rathenau Instituteis 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 whoorga-
nised it within the space of just three months: Marjan Slob, Karin Ronda,
and Peter Raeymaekers (the science journalists whobesides 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 ECDproject will be as relevant
and inspiring as those of the Amsterdam workshop.
Jan Staman
Director Rathenau Institute
CONNECTING BRAINS AND SOCIETY | 11
| Introduction |
‘Connecting Brains and Society’ is the first event of the ambitious
European Citizens’ Deliberation on Brain Science(ECD) initiative. Its
overall objective is to design and implement a new way of interactive
governanceat European level. It aims to do so by making a concrete and
tangible contribution to the publicdeliberation on brain sciences,
research & developmentand related ethical and socio-political issues.
The ECDinitiative will engage citizens from different European national
and cultural contexts in sharing their perspectives, values and reasoning
concerning the societal consequences of brain research, in identifying
their differences as well as their commonalities, and in deliberating these
issues with relevant experts, stakeholders and policy-makers. Finally, the
citizens will address their recommendations to the scientific and research
community at the European level and to stakeholders and policy-makers
at the European, national and transnational level. As such, the initiative
aims to make relevant inputs into European policy-making and the wider
publicdebate. This innovative project is scheduled to run from 2004 to
2006.
A consortium of twelve partner organisations from nine different coun-
tries is involved, including parliamentary technology assessmentbodies,
science museums, academic institutions and publicfoundations with
substantial experience of publicparticipation, governanceand commu-
nicationrelating to science, technology and society.
The King Baudouin Foundationinitiated the ECD, in accordance with its
GovernanceProgramme and its ambition to stimulate the development
of debate and decision-making models tailored to the transnational level.
The Foundation wishes to create a stimulating environmentin which
individuals and institutions have access to new forms of social debate,
decision-making processes and political approaches. The challenge is to
give citizens a key role and encourage them to become involved in such
issues based on their own questions, concerns and capabilities. Although,
in the future the national and local levels will still be the key levels for
harmonising governanceprocesses, social challenges are becoming in-
creasingly transnational in nature. In the coming years, there will be an
even more acute need for debate and decision-making models tailored
to the transnational level.
The growing Europeanisation of politics, economic globalisationand the
need for new transnational governancepractices warrant the choice of a
European approach to the brain sciences.