Baroness Prof. Dr. Susan Greenfield (University of Oxford) - The Future of Brain, the Brain of the Future

The Future of Brain, the Brain of the FutIs human nature about to change forever? Can we envisage a world where everything we take for granted about ourselves - imagination, free will, love, learning, memory, - becomes obsolete?

At the beginning of the 21st Century, we are standing on the brink of a mind makeover more cataclysmic than anything in our history. The science and technology that are already at the heart of our lives will soon come to transform not just the way we live, but the way we think and feel. And as we learn to appreciate the dynamism and sensitivity of our brain circuitry, the prospect of directly tampering with the very essence of our individuality becomes increasingly likely.

This lecture will explore the prospect of a world where traditional ways of looking at our lives are challenged: reality versus the cyber world, work versus leisure, one generation versus another, and even the firewall of our own bodies with the outside world. It is hard to imagine how such basic changes will not effect our personalities and the very thought processes of future generations.ureIs human nature about to change forever? Can we envisage a world where everything we take for granted about ourselves - imagination, free will, love, learning, memory, - becomes obsolete?

At the beginning of the 21st Century, we are standing on the brink of a mind makeover more cataclysmic than anything in our history. The science and technology that are already at the heart of our lives will soon come to transform not just the way we live, but the way we think and feel. And as we learn to appreciate the dynamism and sensitivity of our brain circuitry, the prospect of directly tampering with the very essence of our individuality becomes increasingly likely.

This lecture will explore the prospect of a world where traditional ways of looking at our lives are challenged: reality versus the cyber world, work versus leisure, one generation versus another, and even the firewall of our own bodies with the outside world. It is hard to imagine how such basic changes will not effect our personalities and the very thought processes of future generations.

Baroness Susan Greenfield is Director of the Royal Institution, Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University and Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, investigating neurodegenerative disorders. Awards include 29 Honorary Degrees and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians.