ABSTRACT
Until recently, progress in neuroscience has occurred in relatively silent, yet steady, and robustly incremental steps. The past 20 years have borne witness to an accelerated pace of neuroscientišc advancement in part because of both (1) the expansion within its constituent disciplines (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology), and (2) the conjoinment of new disciplines (both within the natural and physical sciences, e.g., genetics, nanoscience, cyberscience; and the social sciences and humanities, e.g., sociology, anthropology, philosophy, ethics) under a broadening rubric. In the years 2005-10, the overall investment volume in neuroscience and the neurotechnology industry increased at annual growth rates of 25 to 30 percent, reaching $200 billion overall worth in 2008, and generating $143 billion in revenues in 2010 alone (Neuroinsights 2010). As the Neurotechnology Industry Report 2010 has illustrated, brain-related illness has become the largest unmet medical market, affecting approximately 2 billion people worldwide (Lynch 2007b) and incurring $2 trillion in costs (Duncan 2008). It is predicted that neurotechnological innovation in response to health care demands will increase by an average 10 to 20 percent throughout the coming years, such that the neuroindustrial complex will be estimated to be worth more than $300 billion by 2015 (Lynch 2007a). Additionally, brain science and neurotechnological innovations are regarded as increasingly critical to national security,
Neuroscience and Neurotechnology: Innovation, Progress, and Problems ........... 233 Technological versus Social Progress .................................................................... 235 Neuroethics: Bridging Technological and Social Dimensions .............................. 236 Humans in Culture: Ecological Validity of Neuroscience and Neuroethics .......... 238 Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................240 References ..............................................................................................................240
with viable applications in the health, safety, and performance improvement of military personnel, intelligence augmentation, and neurologically focused weapons’ systems. The U.S. Department of Defense and other national security agencies invested approximately $500 million in neurotechnology research in 2009 (Kruse et al. 2010), re¢ecting a trend toward expanded engagement and support of neuroscience and neurotechnology, which despite cutbacks in federal funding, is expected to continue in coming years. This has led to an interweaving of the military-industrial complex and civilian (i.e., academic) groups dedicated to neuroscientišc projects and has prompted growing concern, discourse, and debate within both the scholarly community and the public about the potential uses, misuses, and abuses of neuroscience and neurotechnology-both at present and in the future (Giordano and Gordijn 2010).
