01.23.09

Dem Affen ins Hirn geschaut

Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Neuro, Technology at 7:24 am by rheil

Dem Affen ins Hirn geschaut (Telepolis, Andrea Naica-Loebell 22.01.2009)

„Funktionelle Magnetresonanztomografie (fMRT): Das Leuchten ist nicht immer, was es zu sein scheint

Die bildgebenden Verfahren haben die Diagnostik in der Medizin revolutioniert. Sie erlauben auch einen Einblick in die Aktivitäten menschlicher Gehirne. Es leuchtet in den grauen Zellen, wenn das Hirn arbeitet. Was aber genau auf den schönen Bildern zu sehen ist, sollte immer wieder hinterfragt werden. Eine neue Studie verdeutlicht, dass Affenhirne offensichtlich komplizierter funktionieren, als es die bunten Abbildungen suggerieren.“ [zum Artikel]

01.08.09

How the city hurts your brain …And what you can do about it

Posted in Neuro at 7:56 am by rheil

How the city hurts your brain …And what you can do about it (bostom.com)

„Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control. While it’s long been recognized that city life is exhausting — that’s why Picasso left Paris — this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.“ [read original article]

01.04.09

Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience

Posted in biotech, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:32 am by rheil

Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience (Edward Vul, Christine Harris, Piotr Winkielman, Harold Pashler)

„The newly emerging field of Social Neuroscience has drawn much attention in recent years, with high-profile studies frequently reporting extremely high (e.g., >.8) correlations between behavioral and self-report measures of personality or emotion and measures of brain activation obtained using fMRI. We show that these correlations often exceed what is statistically possible assuming the (evidently rather limited) reliability of both fMRI and personality/emotion measures. The implausibly high correlations are all the more puzzling because social-neuroscience method sections rarely contain sufficient detail to ascertain how these correlations were obtained. We surveyed authors of 54 articles that reported findings of this kind to determine the details of their analyses. More than half acknowledged using a strategy that computes separate correlations for individual voxels, and reports means of just the subset of voxels exceeding chosen thresholds. We show how this non-independent analysis grossly inflates correlations, while yielding reassuring-looking scattergrams. This analysis technique was used to obtain the vast majority of the implausibly high correlations in our survey sample. In addition, we argue that other analysis problems likely created entirely spurious correlations in some cases. We outline how the data from these studies could be reanalyzed with unbiased methods to provide the field with accurate estimates of the correlations in question. We urge authors to perform such reanalyses and to correct the scientific record. [...]

Voodoo-Korrelationen in den Neurowissenschaften?

Posted in biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:24 am by rheil

Voodoo-Korrelationen in den Neurowissenschaften? (Jörg Auf dem Hövel, Telepolis, 03.01.09)

Eine Forschergruppe zweifelt die diversen Studien an, die starke Zusammenhänge zwischen menschlichen Verhalten und Aktivitätsmustern im Gehirn nachgewiesen haben wollen

„Seit einigen Jahren ist es möglich, dem Menschen mittels bildgebender Verfahren quasi beim Denken zuzusehen. Es entstand das Feld der sozialen Neurowissenschaften: Wissenschaftler bringen sichtbare Vorgänge im Gehirn in Zusammenhang mit Verhalten, Entscheidungen und Emotionen. Eine Forschergruppe um Edward Vul vom MIT und Harold Pashler von der Universität von Kalifornien in San Diego hat nun 54 der wichtigsten solcher Studien aus den vergangenen Jahren untersucht und behauptet in einem Aufsatz für die Perspectives on Psychological Science, der vorab online veröffentlicht wurde: Eine Vielzahl dieser Leitstudien beinhaltet statistisch unmögliche oder falsche Korrelationen, die Autoren sollten nachbessern. [...]

Freigabe von “smart drugs” für Schüler und Studenten?

Posted in biotech, Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:19 am by rheil

Freigabe von “smart drugs” für Schüler und Studenten? (Florain Rötzer, Telepolis, 03.01.09)

„Es gebe genügend Beweise, dass Medikamente wie Ritalin oder Provigil Konzentration und Leistung verbessern können, sagt der Bioethiker Harris. [...]

Let students take drugs to boost brainpower, says leading academic

Posted in biotech, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:14 am by rheil

Alexandra Frean, Education Editor, from Times Online, January 1, 2009

Let students take drugs to boost brainpower, says leading academic

„Students should be allowed to take “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin, to help boost their academic performance, a leading academic has suggested.

John Harris, professor of bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, said the government and medical profession should “seriously consider” making cognition-enhancing drugs available to students without prescription, or allowing them to be prescribed for non-therapeutic purposes, such as studying. [...]

01.01.09

Researchers’ vision: restoring sight through artificial retinas

Posted in biotech, Future, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:59 am by rheil

Researchers’ vision: restoring sight through artificial retinas

December 30th, 2008 By Robert S. Boyd in Technology / Engineering (PhysOrg.com)

„Scientists are testing artificial retinas that they hope can restore partial sight to people who’ve lost their vision to the most common causes of blindness. [...]

Cognitive enhancement

Posted in biotech, Critics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:55 am by rheil

Cognitive enhancement

By Judith Warner (Herald Tribune), Published: December 30, 2008

„What if you could just take a pill and all of a sudden remember to pay your bills on time? What if, thanks to modern neuroscience, you could, simultaneously, make New Year’s Eve plans, pay the mortgage, call the pediatrician, consolidate credit card debt and do your job – well – without forgetting dentist appointments or neglecting to pick up your children at school?

Would you do it? Tune out the distractions of our online, on-call, too-fast ADD-ogenic world with focus and memory-enhancing medications like Ritalin or Adderall? Stay sharp as a knife – no matter how overworked and sleep-deprived – with a mental-alertness-boosting drug like the anti-narcolepsy medication Provigil?

I’ve always said no. Fantasy aside, I’ve always rejected the idea of using drugs meant for people with real neurological disorders to treat the pathologies of everyday life. [...]

12.21.08

Call for papers: Transhumanism? (Re-Public)

Posted in biotech, Evolution / Genetics, Future, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 7:45 am by rheil

Call for papers: Transhumanism? (Re-Public)

We invite contributions for our upcoming special issue entitled “Transhumanism?”. Is there a new challenge about to dominate our world? A challenge that appears more pressing than the fight against climate change, as demanding as the one against poverty, more complex than our current questions around bioethics.

Are we in a position to redefine, to drastically transform our very human nature?

This is a question formed in the last 20 years by an international movement, deriving from a scientific current, advocating that if the human is a result of an evolution process of millions of years time, nothing rationally preempts its conclusion. On the contrary, transhumanism proposes that the convergence of nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, information and cognitive sciences provide us with a new opportunity, as well as, the responsibility to collectively participate and assume this evolution: it is, more than ever, possible to “form a better humanity” meaning better health for individuals, longer life expectancy, a more effective control of themselves, through enhanced skills, capacities and capabilities.

The special issue will attempt to investigate the influence of transhumanism and the new questions that its poses. […]

12.18.08

Better than human

Posted in biotech, Critics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology, Transhumanism at 9:38 am by rheil

Better than human – Why is the world’s most prestigious science journal peddling the snake oil of cognition-enhancing drugs? (Michael Cook, Mercator Net)

Publication in the British journal Nature is the acme of academic achievement, a byword for quality and the touchstone of scientific opinion. So when its editor co-authors an article putting the case for a technology which has been called the world’s most dangerous idea, you’ve got to ask: what have these dudes been smoking? […]

12.12.08

New Ways to Boost Memory

Posted in Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Transhumanism at 10:15 am by rheil

New Ways to Boost Memory – Enhancing neuron gene expression may improve memory.

By Emily Singer (Technology Review)

Scientists are developing new ways to selectively boost gene expression in the brain, in the hope of treating psychiatric and neurological disease. A growing pool of evidence shows that compounds that target this mechanism can improve learning and memory in rodents. But existing drugs, which were not developed for this purpose, are relatively weak and unselective, and their long-term safety is not yet clear. […]

12.09.08

Ritalin für alle!

Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Ethics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:21 am by rheil

Ritalin für alle!

Laurin Rötzer 08.12.2008 (TP)

Medikamente können unsere geistige Leistungsfähigkeit steigern. Ist das Einnehmen dieser „kognitiven Enhancer“ ethisch korrekt, sollte es jeder tun können?

Diese Fragen stellen sich die Autoren eines in Nature vorab online veröffentlichten Essays: [extern] Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy Es gibt einige Medikamente, die die geistige Leistungsfähigkeit steigern können. Das bekannteste dürfte Methylphenidat (Ritalin) sein, welches vor allem für Kinder mit dem Aufmerksamkeitsdefizitsyndrom (ADHS) verschrieben wird. Andere sind Amphetamine und Modafinil. Sie haben gemeinsam, dass sie die Konzentration von bestimmten Neurotransmittern im Gehirn variieren und so längere und intensivere Aufmerksamkeitsspannen ermöglichen. […]

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy

Posted in Ethics, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Politic, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:17 am by rheil

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy

Henry Greely, Barbara Sahakian, John Harris, Ronald C. Kessler, Michael Gazzaniga, Philip Campbell & Martha J. Farah

Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that ‘enhancement’ is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.

Today, on university campuses around the world, students are striking deals to buy and sell prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin — not to get high, but to get higher grades, to provide an edge over their fellow students or to increase in some measurable way their capacity for learning. These transactions are crimes in the United States, punishable by prison. […]

11.21.08

Flux Magazine

Posted in biotech, Ethics, Future, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Nootropics, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 12:49 pm by rheil

Flux Magazine

Flux will give you a taste of the torrent of new technological developments advancing on us: from the energy issue to human enhancement, from information technology to nanotechnology. This magazine is compiled on the occasion of the conference ‘Inspiring Future Politics’ to be held by the EPTA (European Parliamentary Technology Assessment) on Monday 27 October and Tuesday 28 October in The Hague, the Netherlands. The keynote speakers at this conference – chemist Michael Braungart, toxicologist Ellen Silbergeld, sociologist Nikolas Rose and climate expert Pier Vellinga – are interviewed in Flux. No one is more aware of the shifts taking place in our society. They have, furthermore, succeeded in formulating these issues aptly and getting them on to the (political) agenda. More information about the conference is available at www.eptaconference.eu. Because we want you to share in the speakers’ stories and the conference themes, you’ll find inspiring interviews, background stories and columns in ‘Flux’. […]

10.18.08

h+ transhumanist magazine launched

Posted in AI / Singularity, Anti-Aging, biotech, Cryonic, Evolution / Genetics, Human Enhancement, Nanotechnology, Neuro, Nootropics, Online Publications, Technology, Transhumanism at 11:08 am by rheil

h+ transhumanist magazine launched

Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) has launched h+, a stylish, web-based quarterly magazine that focuses on transhumanism, covering the scientific, technological, and cultural developments that are challenging and overcoming human limitations.

Edited by the legendary RU Sirius, co-founder and editor of the seminal Mondo 2000 magazine, and beautifully designed by virtual worlds artist D.C. Spensley, the magazine’s first issue features cutting-edge ideas and interviews with leaders in longevity, neuroengineering, nanofabrication, open-source robotics, science fiction, and other breakthrough areas. [...]

05.26.08

Die Diskussion um Cognitive Enhancer

Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Nootropics, Technology at 6:59 am by rheil

Die Diskussion um Cognitive Enhancer

Jörg Auf dem Hövel 26.05.2008 (Telepolis)

Neuer Wein in alten Schläuchen

Geistig auf der Höhe zu sein wünscht sich jeder. Um den eigenen und sozialen Ansprüchen gerecht zu werden, greifen verschiedene Personengruppen zu Arzneimitteln, die in dem Ruf stehen Konzentration und Merkfähigkeit zu fördern. Die wissenschaftliche Basis für einen solchen Einsatz ist aber dürftig. Auch die neuen Chemo-Kandidaten aus den Biotech-Schmieden der USA versprechen mehr als sie halten. [...]

05.20.08

Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don’t Believe the Hype

Posted in Neuro, Technology at 9:09 am by rheil

Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don’t Believe the Hype (Wired)

By Daniel Carla

“So here’s your brain,” the doctor says, as the center of my mental life pirouettes before me, rendered in electric blues and reds. Daniel Amen, MD, manipulates the screen image with a few taps on his keyboard.

“It looks good, pretty symmetrical. Red means more activity, blue means less.”

We’re peering at a Spect scan taken a half hour ago. He takes a closer look. Spect scans are a type of brain-imaging technology that measures neural activity by looking at blood flow. “The only question I’d ask you is whether you’ve ever had a brain injury, because there is low activity in your occipital cortex and your parietal lobe, all on the left side. [...]

04.02.07

10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers

Posted in AI / Singularity, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 6:59 am by rheil

Chris Chatham: 10 Important Differences Between Brains and Computers

(»”A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on.” – G.C. Lichtenberg

Although the brain-computer metaphor has served cognitive psychology well, research in cognitive neuroscience has revealed many important differences between brains and computers. Appreciating these differences may be crucial to understanding the mechanisms of neural information processing, and ultimately for the creation of artificial intelligence. Below, I review the most important of these differences (and the consequences to cognitive psychology of failing to recognize them): similar ground is covered in this excellent (though lengthy) lecture. [...]«)

12.27.06

Florian Rötzer: Neuroprothesen ziehen in die Gehirne der Menschen ein [Telepolis, 20.07.2005]

Posted in Deutschsprachige Seiten, Human Enhancement, Neuro, Technology, Transhumanism at 8:49 am by rheil

Florian Rötzer: Neuroprothesen ziehen in die Gehirne der Menschen ein [Telepolis, 20.07.2005] – (“Brasilien will in der Anwendung der Neurotechnologie voranpreschen. In drei Jahren soll in einem brasilianischen Krankenhaus das erste Mal ein Chip in das Gehirn eines Menschen implantiert werden, mit dem eine Armprothese durch Abanhme von neuronalen Impulsen in einem Areal des motorischen Kortex gesteuert wird. Die Technik wurde von Miguel Nicolelis, der aus Brasilien stammt und gegenwärtig das Neurowissenschaftliche Institut an der Duke University leitet, entwickelt.”)

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