Did Your Brain Make You Do It?

There seems to be a phenomenon prevalent across much of Western society. People don't like to accept responsibility for their own actions when they've done something wrong. They'd much rather say it that their actions were due to "a complex sequence of chemical reactions within my brain", over which they, supposedly, had no control, and therefore it's not their fault - they're innocent. Of course, the premise is true - we, and all our actions, are the result of various biochemical reactions throughout our bodies. However, that doesn't mean that they're not in our control. That's loosely analogous to saying, "Oops, my car lost control and killed someone - but it was the road conditions; there was nothing I could do." (Yes, it makes no sense)

But what about if our driver had lost control, but instead of killing someone, had collided with another car and changed it's course, when that other car would otherwise have hit a pedestrian? It's unlikely then that the driver would attribute the events to road conditions out of their control. No, they would claim it was their own fast thinking, bravery and heroism that saved the pedestrian's life.

It's nothing new, this phenomenon. It's part of a standard sixth-form psychology course, dubbed 'situational factors' vs 'dispositional factors', or 'self-serving bias'.

However, this likely only applies to Western societies - more collectivist societies would likely attribute their errors to themselves (that is, if they knew that their every move is the result of the workings of the brain). That is because they have a more utilitarian approach; they care more about the good of the society than the consequences they themselves may face. 

My point is, it's a cultural phenomenon, not a neuroscientific one. It's about whether people see themselves as a living being forming a part of a group of living beings for which they are partly responsible; or as an individual biological organism reacting with other individual biological organisms. Of course, both views are true - thus, neither are valid as an argument. You can never say "my brain made me do it" and you can never say "it was my fault, not my brain's", since both are equally true. It just depends how you look at it. 

Pointless argument, really. 

(N.B. I'm referring to adults here, not adolescents whose brains may or may not have fully developed self-control abilities. But this poses a further question - who decides what "fully developed self-control abilities" are? All brains are different, ergo, people have varying "self-control abilities". Do people turn 18 and suddenly reach a baseline level of self-control?)

The Future of Neuroscience: Changing The Brain to Enhance…

I thought I’d write a post concerning my disapproval of this article. It seems to be a running theme that I disagree with articles from PsychCentral.

“Changing The Brain to Enhance Well-Being, Happiness” 

http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/04/19/changing-our-brain-to-enhance-well-being-happiness/37566.html

The article basically states what has been long known – that physical exercise, certain forms of psychological counseling (for some people) and meditation can all increase our well-being. That’s all well and good.

Then comes the part I don’t like: 

“The study reflects a major transition in the focus of neuroscience from disease to well-being.”

I think neuroscience is a great, fascinating subject which has a promising outlook for the near future, with beneficial applications such as the treatment of disease and the study of the human brain/mind. However, when we start using neuroscience to improve our “well-being”, we introduce a plethora of potential dangers and moral issues.

The goal is “to use what we know about the brain to fine-tune interventions that will improve well-being, kindness, altruism. Perhaps we can develop more targeted, focused interventions that take advantage of the mechanisms of neuroplasticity to induce specific changes in specific brain circuits.”

Not only is this sort of research reducing the time spent researching treatment for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (which is much more important at the current time) it also represents the start of a revolution – the designer-brain revolution. Digressing from the article (although relevant), it won’t be long until we can purchase “add-ons” to enhance our well-being, intellect, kindness, altruism etc. “Add-ons” could also be developed to add “additional-features” to the brain, much like add-ons for Firefox.

People will be purchasing these add-ons to enhance their ability; to gain the upper-hand and improve their lives. However, it can be dangerous to modify nature, especially when it comes to the brain. Since the brain is such a complex organ and is fundamental to our conscious existence, tinkering with it could be dangerous in both the short-term and long-term. Of course there will be years of testing before these add-ons are released, but every brain could react differently, and we might not know the long-term dangers until it’s too late.

More importantly, the moral implications are huge. I can imagine various religious groups objecting to the “designer-brain” revolution on the grounds that it is “playing God”. Although I’m not religious myself, I can see where they’re coming from. We are, in effect, tinkering with thousands of years of evolution. Sure, there are many ways in which the human brain/body can be improved for the better. This, however, is a far beyond therapeutic applications.

For a start, the first to get their hands brains on these “add-ons” will surely be the rich. Instantly, we can see that those in power with modified super-brains could leave us all slaves to the authority. Politics would undoubtedly see a shift to the right. However, once these “add-ons” become more readily available, anyone will be able to buy them. At first, it’ll require surgery to install them; but soon enough, you’ll be able to install them yourself at home. Also, much like add-ons for Firefox, there could be a whole market of 3rd-party add-ons (“Make Me Happy V1.0″, designed by “dodgydesigner666″ on “BrainBay”, for example). Whether illegal or not, a black market of brain add-ons would undoubtedly lead to numerous deaths. Plus, your purchased add-ons could be riddled with viruses which upload your thoughts/personal informations to a crook’s (or government’s) inbox. This might be taking the computer-brain analogy a little too far, but you see my point.

Back to the ethical implications, the “designer-brain” revolution could lead to a break-down of society. People would be purchasing these add-ons to “better” themselves intellectually. This would lead to a social divide between those who can access the add-ons (who would become super-intelligent, with the highest-earning careers) and those who can’t (who, well, wouldn’t). People might also purchase these add-ons to improve their well-being. I’m not sure how to put this, but that just doesn’t seem right. There are reasons we don’t always feel great. Negative emotions can be a positive thing – they can help us to realise errors we may have made, and thus we can begin to work on amending them. With these add-ons, we may not feel the need to amend our mistakes, and they’d be repeated. For example, if a person experiences negative emotions as a result of failure, these emotions will (eventually) give them the motivation to make the change, and work on amending their mistakes and achieving to the best of their abilities. Also, to me, achieving to the best of our ability is something we should have to work for. If one person can purchase an add-on to increase their chances of success, then of course that’s unfair on those who haven’t  purchased the add-ons, whether due to choice or not.

This brings me onto my next point. If people are purchasing these add-ons and becoming super-intelligent, sooner or later people will realise that they need to buy them in order to keep up. It doesn’t become a choice anymore, it becomes an obligation to artificially modify your brain. There comes a time when free-will is out the window. With everyone installing “add-ons” into their brains, who’s to say their designers couldn’t be paid to design the add-ons so that their users can be manipulated, and their personal information shared with crooks/the government? We like to think that these things couldn’t, and wouldn’t, happen – but in reality, of course they can.

As Dieter Birnbacher, a philosopher at the University of Düsseldorf in Germany, says: 

"There are risks in technological self-improvement that could jeopardise human dignity. One potential problem arises from altering what we consider to be “normal”: the dangers are similar to the social pressure to conform to idealised forms of beauty, physique or sporting ability that we see today. People without enhancement could come to see themselves as failures, have lower self-esteem or even be discriminated against by those whose brains have been enhanced”, Birnbacher says.

He stops short of saying that enhancement could “split” the human race, pointing out that society already tolerates huge inequity in access to existing enhancement tools such as books and education.

Everybody will enhance theirself to fit what they believe to be correct – what they believe is best for them and society. However, this would drastically affect relations between different cultures – some cultures will be much more advanced than others, and cultures would be much more separated than they are today. This would not only jeopardise international relations, but also the global economy.

I realise that some of my points may be a little far-fetched, but nonetheless, you can see my point. This is all potentially possible.

The world as we know it is changing. (Can you keep up? Buy the latest add-on to inhibit your anxieties and denial and induce a zombified state of acquiescence)