Royal Society – Brain Waves: Neuroscience, Society and Policy

Daniel Lende in Neuroanthropology:

The Royal Society has just put out the first module of its Brain Waves project, which provides a primer on the state of art in neuroscience and how neuroscience intersects with society. The ten essays cover a range of relevant topics for neuroanthropology, with an introduction written by Prof. Colin Blakemore.

The first section covers the scope and limits of neuroimaging, neuropsychopharmacology, neural interfaces, consciousness, and reward.

The second section focuses on neuroscience and society, with takes on benefits, risks, neuroethics, and governance.

All the essays, which generally range from 8 to 12 pages and are written in clear prose and have citations for further exploration, have been written almost entirely by prominent British experts. They are freely available as pdfs.

I’ve just started to explore, and based on the quality, I am sure to look at them all. Wolfram Schultz’s essay on Reward, Decision Making, and Neuroeconomics is obviously one that immediately caught my eye. Steven Rose’s Risks raises some of the critical questions relevant to many anthropologists.

More here.