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Mapping the Brain

mak2

mak2

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Pure science. This is a very important venture.

Obama seeks $100M to unlock mysteries of the brain - CNN.com

President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a $100 million initiative to unlock the "enormous mystery" of the human brain in hopes of boosting the understanding and treatment of brain disorders.
 
Awesome. People have been allowed to patent human genomes. Letting them patent the human brain is the logical expansion of this. Don't think about it or you will need to pay royalties.
 
Understanding the physical brain is important for medicine but IMO looking for consciousness in the brain is like looking for the radio announcer in the radio. We will continue to unlock biochemical, receptor meditated mysteries but I doubt it will get us any closer to knowing what consciousness is or where it resides.
 
mak2 said:
Pure science. This is a very important venture.

Obama seeks $100M to unlock mysteries of the brain - CNN.com

President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a $100 million initiative to unlock the "enormous mystery" of the human brain in hopes of boosting the understanding and treatment of brain disorders.
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it's a great idea. most of my career has been dedicated to fundamental research like this, though the focus in my lab is neuromuscular research. i fully support this initiative.
 
The government has $100 million dollars for this, but it can't afford free tours of the White House because the sequester needs to be felt by the average person? How is that???
 
Which do you think is more important?
The Man said:
The government has $100 million dollars for this, but it can't afford free tours of the White House because the sequester needs to be felt by the average person? How is that???
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mak2 said:
Which do you think is more important?
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That's not the question. The question is: How can the government afford $100 million for this when they can't afford FREE tours of the White House?
 
I think it's more important for the government to spend money on stuff that is actually required by the Constitution.
 
Priorities. I really did not see how anyone could be anti on this one.
The Man said:
That's not the question. The question is: How can the government afford $100 million for this when they can't afford FREE tours of the White House?
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Mycroft said:
I think it's more important for the government to spend money on stuff that is actually required by the Constitution.
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True. But this is the type of useful and relatively cheap thing I could actually support.
 
mak2 said:
Priorities. I really did not see how anyone could be anti on this one.
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I'm not anti, I'm all for it... If they have the money to pay for it, and apparently they don't.
 
Great.

Our knowledge of the brain could use some expansion.
 
Northern Light said:
Understanding the physical brain is important for medicine but IMO looking for consciousness in the brain is like looking for the radio announcer in the radio. We will continue to unlock biochemical, receptor meditated mysteries but I doubt it will get us any closer to knowing what consciousness is or where it resides.
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Exactly. Brain mapping =/= mind mapping. There really isn't much "mystery" to the brain at all. The mind is another matter, and I highly doubt it can be discovered scientifically.
 
Anagram said:
True. But this is the type of useful and relatively cheap thing I could actually support.
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I wonder how many furloughed jobs that $100 million could cover...if we didn't have to borrow the money, of course.
 
The Man said:
That's not the question. The question is: How can the government afford $100 million for this when they can't afford FREE tours of the White House?
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Free tours are not actually free for the people who have to provide security, clean, and run the tours. You do know that when you get free stuff it costs money. In that case it is a little more beneficial to us all to have an understanding of the human mind over a tour of the president's house.
 
Northern Light said:
Understanding the physical brain is important for medicine but IMO looking for consciousness in the brain is like looking for the radio announcer in the radio. We will continue to unlock biochemical, receptor meditated mysteries but I doubt it will get us any closer to knowing what consciousness is or where it resides.
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I don't think i even saw the word consciousness mentioned in the article so how did you get that as the purpose? brain mapping has helped us to already understand things like visual anomolies brought about by damage to the visual cortex. it has helped up to start to develop interfaces for mobile prosthetics that work off of signals so people without limbs can have mechanical ones, and it has an unlimited sort of potential in medicine for helping people. This idea that the only reason for mapping the brain is to find something that boils down to the soul is uninformed. Yes, i am sure there are people who do that, but the brain has a very important physical role in how our bodies operate.
 
Ummm....are some of you thinking this is a new idea? Neurologist have doing this research for decades. 100s of millions of dollars have already gone towards this and will continue after this. And sorry to burst some bubbles, brain mapping and mind mapping aren't exclusive. In fact, they can't be exclusive. Part of brain mapping experimentation is utilizing brain imaging while stimulating various cognitive functions. Neuroscience and psychology more often than not walk hand and hand.
 
tererun said:
I don't think i even saw the word consciousness mentioned in the article so how did you get that as the purpose?
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I was just adding my thoughts based on what came to mind? Thanks.
 
Fisher said:
Awesome. People have been allowed to patent human genomes. Letting them patent the human brain is the logical expansion of this. Don't think about it or you will need to pay royalties.
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That's one tax the republicans won't have to worry about
 
sangha said:
That's one tax the republicans won't have to worry about
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That will cost you 50 cents. Please pay at the door. Change for a dollar will cost you another 50 cents. Don't argue with the bouncer--that Nancy Pelosi is a mean wench.
 
Is it going to cure unemployment, help our stagnant economy, prevent our possible collapse of our economic system thanks to continued over spending? How about canceling a $billion dollar contract on something else to at least cover for it?


mak2 said:
Priorities. I really did not see how anyone could be anti on this one.
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The Man said:
That's not the question. The question is: How can the government afford $100 million for this when they can't afford FREE tours of the White House?
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Um... It seems to me that White House tours do little to further the health, education or welfare of Americans whereas good science does everything to further the health, education and ultimately the welfare of Americans. It seems to me governments priorities, in this limited view of tradeoffs anyway, is spot on.
 
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