You're Messing With My Mind

A growing field full of ethical worries is the area of 'neuroethics'. As science and technology advances, specifically in the area of brain research, new ethical dilemnas are presenting themselves. And fairly quickly onto the scene with little notice from the public. Today there is this article which points out what some of the ethical issues are.

"Neuroscientists are making such rapid progress in unlocking the brain's secrets that some are urging colleagues to debate the ethics of their work before it can be misused by governments, lawyers or advertisers.

The news that brain scanners can now read a person's intentions before they are expressed or acted upon has given a new boost to the fledgling field of neuroethics that hopes to help researchers separate good uses of their work from bad.

The same discoveries that could help the paralyzed use brain signals to steer a wheelchair or write on a computer might also be used to detect possible criminal intent, religious beliefs or other hidden thoughts, these neuroethicists say."