The Future of the Brain: The Promise and Perils of Tomorrow's Neuroscience

Steven Rose, a founding member of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science, has 40 years of publishing in neuroscience behind him. Since the 1960s he fought against "On Aggression," "The Territorial Imperative," "The Naked Ape" and has combated a whole succession of varieties of social Darwinism and biological determinism up to the current batch of snake oil salesmen marketing pharmaceutical solutions to social problems. "The Future of the Brain" summarises the achievements and limitations of the great progress that neuroscience has made over recent decades, from one of the few neuroscientists who have appropriate modesty about what their science can tell us about the human condition and what it can't. If you have read any of the current crop of books on the mind, then you absolutely must read this book. If Rose is right, then we face grave dangers: not so much because neuroscience will enable a futuristic dystopia of thought-control or eugenic manufacture of super-brains, but rather that ill-advised and counter-productive medical intervention will enrich the pharmaceutical industry at the cost of increasing human suffering. Rose gives a much more nuanced understanding of what the mind is, how it is enabled by our biology and shaped by our lives and those of our evolutionary and social forebears.

Neurobiologist Steven Rose goes to great lengths to correct common misperceptions about the explanatory potential of current genetics, evolutionary psychology, and molecular neuroscience. Ultimately, only the last two chapters cover the "future" of the neurosciences, delving into topics like transcranial magnetic stimulation, pharmacological cognitive enhancement, and neuroethics. But before telling us where we're headed, Rose spends 10 chapters telling us where we've been, both in terms of cognitive change across the lifespan, the cascading processes of synaptogenesis and apoptosis seen in utero and in early childhood, and the changes in brains both across species and across evolutionary time. If "The Future of the Brain" could be said to have a central principle, it's that "the past is the key to the present," and it is here that Rose's talents as a writer truly shine: he integrates the histories of neurons, individuals, psychopharmacology, sociobiology, cognitive psychology and genetics into a coherent narrative, with both appropriate subtlety and engaging clarity. Rose begins with theories of the origins of life, proto-cells, and nucleic acids. He uses this broad introduction to debunk the simplifications we often make without hesitation: thinking of humankind as the highest on some evolutionary scale of nature; considering organisms to be passive players in evolution; believing that evolution strives for increased complexity as time continues. As he writes, "all living forms on earth ... are more or less equally fit for the environment and life style they have chosen. I use the word chosen deliberately, for organisms are not merely the passive products of selection; in a very real sense they create their own environments ... The grand metaphor of natural selection suggers from its implication that organisms are passive, blown hither and thither by environment change as opposed to being active players in their own destiny." In this way, Rose complicates the popular notion of causality frequently seen in news articles, where researchers claim to have discovered a gene "for" this or that; to Rose, every result has multiple causes, both genetic and environmental. After reviewing how neural nets may have initially developed in the first multicellular animals (Coelenterates), Rose describes the development of the mammalian cortex during gestation as autopoesis, the process of continual self-creation. The reader is whisked from fertilisation to the embryonic formation of the neural groove, to the birth of neurons and glia in the neural tube, to the migration of neurons as they follow concentration gradients of neural growth factors. We then follow changes in brain structure seen in hominins, then hominids, and finally homo sapiens. The later chapters document the development of psychopharmacology and the rise of Big Pharma, from aspirin to valium and now Ritalin and Strattera. Rose winds up with fascinating predictions about the future of neurot

The brain has traditionally been studied by chemists and behavior by psychologists; but modern scientific advancement is interlacing these disciplines into a unified field of neuroscience, which also includes researchers in biology, genetics, physiology and other disciplines. The Future Of The Brain: The Promise And Perils Of Tomorrow's Neuroscience considers the pros and cons of this marriage between genetics and information science, surveying temptations to treat and control different aspects of behavior, surveying some already-dangerous trends of diagnosis of ADD and other diseases, and discussing how new technologies affect consumers on both a physical and philosophical level. Steven P.R. Rose is a professor of biology at the Open University: his title outlines many concerns.

Any discussion of mind control or alteration of the brain causes most great anxiety, and justifiably so. We all like to believe we are in total control, whether in fact this is the case. Free will is taken to be an axiom, giving personal comfort and confidence in one's autonomy and freedom, and any perceived threat to personal identity is steadfastly avoided. Philosophical doctrines are developed that hold to a "diamond theory" of mind and personality: one where the mind cannot be altered and is rigid and inflexible. Contrary to these claims and fantasies of thought, research in neuroscience and neuropharmacology has indicated that the thought patterns of the brain can be altered temporarily by drugs or permanently by lesions or surgery. Pharmaceutical companies, the military, marketing firms, and the educational establishment have expressed a great interest in neuroscience and the products that are based on it. The interest of all these institutions is perhaps disconcerting, so one needs an objective and honest overview of neuroscience in order to check whether this anxiety is indeed justified. The author of this book has given a critical discussion of the technologies of neuroscience, differentiating those that are currently available from those that are projected to arise in upcoming decades. He also gives a thorough overview of brain science and anatomy, geared toward a "semi-popular" readership, and which allows a deeper appreciation of the technologies used to "modulate" the brain. The author does not shy away from philosophical musings, but he keeps them at a reasonable abeyance, and does not let thought experiments and armchair speculation get in the way of practical, scientific discussion. His materialistic worldview is refreshing and is resonant with some very new views of consciousness, namely that it evolved and adapted to the needs of human survival. Sometimes though the author lets his distaste of alternative points of view detract from the rational dialog that he predominantly engages in throughout the book. The field of `evolutionary psychology' for example, is subjected to harsh criticism, which for the uncommitted reader, such as this reviewer, detracts from the quality of the book. He also takes aim at the "meme" idea of Richard Dawkins, exclaiming that those who hold to the idea "should know better." This kind of rhetoric, again, does not serve a useful purpose to anyone who is genuinely interested in the subjects that are discussed in this book. Also criticized in the book is the modular or `architectural' view of mind, which holds that the mind is a collection of modules each one of which has a different function. The proponents of the modular theory of mind assert that these modules have evolved independently (or nearly so) and have remained unchanged for quite some time. The author does not agree at all with this theory, believing that there is more to the mind/brain than mere information processing. The mind/brain i

This five-star book details the transformation of neuroscience to neurotechnology, with its attendant delivery of power over our daily lives to the pharmaceutical- and military-industrial complexes, which include DARPA, NASA, the CIA, and their equivalents in the UK, Europe, Russia, Japan, and now China. Rose is a bench neuroscientist with thorough knowledge of the nature and status of brain research, unlike those Nobel Awardees who strike at the lure of Consciousness in their bids for a second prize. He describes recent accomplishments in designing drugs to enhance brain function, fielding rovers on Mars, deciphering the genetic codes, and applying the knowledge in genetic engineering for agriculture, medicine, and mood control. These are all spin-offs of the underlying brain-inspired computer revolution, which he sees as accelerating not stabilizing. Rose is well equipped to distinguish fact from fantasy and give exaggerated claims the skepticism they deserve. He gives no easy answers to manifold problems; instead he calls for ethical oversight of these inexorable developments by informed citizens, whose children and grandchildren will have to accept the world that neuroscientists are wittingly or unwittingly remaking. His book is best read starting with his last chapter, Ch. 12 on Neuroethics, working forward to the earlier chapters cited there for whatever information one needs to heed this call for informed consent and proaction to deal with the impending changes.