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Hank Greely: I think neuroscience is going to be the most fascinating science of this
coming century.. and it's going to be the most socially important.
Announcer: Professor Hank Greely is the Director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences
at Stanford University and a recent speaker at the National Institute of Mental Health
in Bethesda. Greely certainly accentuates the positive goals that drive neuroscience
and the study of brain disorders. But he also sees a future filled with tough questions.
Science may one day be able to predict mental illness in individuals but with scientific
advancements come social challenges.
Hank Greely: I think issues of prediction, of mindreading, of responsibility, of treatment...
with scare-quotes around it... and of enhancement are the issues that neuroscience is going
to bring to us. The prediction issues are really what got me into the field because
they are so similar to the issues in genetics. Most of the social issues of genetics come
from the ability of genetics to predict the future for the living person, for a fetus,
etc.
Announcer: For example, Greely looks at the possibilities surrounding Alzheimer's research.
Greely believes science may one day... perhaps ten to fifteen years from now... be able to
reasonably predict which maturing individuals will eventually be diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Hank Greely: But it raises tough questions. Questions...legal questions about discrimination,
personal questions about family dynamics, psychology and so on. And I think one of the
things neuroscience will do is, as we learn more about the natural history of disease,
whether it's Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, conditions like psychopathy, we will be able
to predict better who will show those conditions in the future and that knowledge will have
social consequences.
Announcer: In singling out psychopathy and its potential for violent behavior, Greely
sheds light on a classic challenge. How to protect society at large, while at the same
time protecting the rights of individuals.
Hank Greely: About one percent of adult males in the U.S. are psychopaths. But if you do
that test in prisons about thirty percent of prisoners are psychopaths. Psychopaths
seem to commit a disproportionate percentage of crime. What if we could figure out which
ten out of a thousand twelve year old boys were going to be psychopaths? What would we
do with that information? Would we lock them up and throw away the key? Would we do nothing?
Would we treat them but we don't know what treatment works... if any. Would we put a
G.P.S. bracelet on them? Or would we warn the neighbors? If we can predict than that
information causes a pressure to do something with it. It's very hard for us to get information
and not do anything with it. But what we do with it has implications that we really just
beginning to think about.
Announcer: In the end, Greely believes neuroscientists can, and should, help influence... and exercise
caution regarding the ways their technologies and insights are used.
Hank Greely: You know, I'm sure that there are vast advances going on in the understanding
of the liver or the heart... and those are great for medical purposes. But when you understand
the brain it's not just for mental illness and neurological disease, our brains are in
some important way us. And everything we learn about how brains affect and change human behavior
affects all of our society.