National Capital Area Skeptics

Neuroscience -- Brains, Minds, and Selves:
What is it like to be a bat, and what does it matter?

Saturday, February 20, 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm

James Giordano Ph.D, M.Phil., Director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies, and Chair of Academic Programs at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Arlington, VA

National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA (Map)

The field of neuroscience has achieved considerable insight to the workings of the brain. While the most essential question – how brains produce consciousness and mind – remains enigmatic, what is becoming increasingly evident is that even simple brains enable a variety of complex functions – including the capacity to think, feel pain and be self-aware. Thus, it appears that if an organism has the neurological “wetware” – that is, a brain of some sort – it is likely, if not probable that they will be able to run a “program” that produces a mind.

In this lecture, Dr. James Giordano, a neuroscientist and neuroethicist, argues that the cornerstone question is not if other organisms have a mind, but what kind of mind they have. He discusses whether neuroscience and technology can provide some insight to philosopher Thomas Nagel’s metaphorical query, “what is it like to be a bat?” In other words, now that science has privileged a realization that non-human minds can exist, will technology allow us to know what it is like to be another being, and what can we -or perhaps more importantly, should we do with such knowledge?

Dr. Giordano discusses key questions and issues that have arisen in, and from modern neuroscience, including: “Do all brains give rise to minds?”; “Do all minds give rise to a “self”?; “How much brain is required to evoke and sustain a mind or self?”and “How much brain must be changed to change a mind or self?” He discusses how both these questions and their potential answers really do matter, as they force us to confront long-held, somewhat dogmatic views about the nature of consciousness, what it means “to be”, the uniqueness of humans, the ubiquity of pain, and the moral implications and consequences of our regard and actions.

Giordano addresses how things “neuro” can be misinterpreted, misperceived and misused by the public, market and socio-political agendas. In cautioning against such misdirection, he argues for a neuroethics that enables science and society to use current knowledge in ways that prudently inform and guide our treatment of both human and non-human “selves”.

James Giordano Ph.D, M.Phil., is Director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies, and Chair of Academic Programs at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Arlington, VA, and is Senior Research Associate of the Wellcome Centre for Neuroethics, and Uehiro Centre for Practical Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK. He is IGERT Professor of Science, Technology, Ethics and Policy at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Neuroscience and Neuroethics at Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelm’s Universität, Bonn, Germany, and is Chair of the Capital Consortium on Neuroscience, Ethics, Legal and Social Issues (www.ccnelsi.org).

Dr. Giordano’s most recent books include Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives in Neuroethics (with Bert Gordijn, Cambridge University Press); Pain, Mind, Meaning and Medicine (PPM Press), and Pain Medicine: Philosophy, Ethics, and Policy (with Mark Boswell; Linton Atlantic Books). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journals Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, and Synesis: A Journal of Sceince, Technology, Ethics and Policy; Associate Editor of the international journal Neuroethics, and Series’ Editor of Advances in Neurotechnology: Ethical, Legal and Social Issues, published by CRC Press. The author of over 130 papers on neuroscience, neurotechnology, and neuroethics, Dr. Giordano’s ongoing research is focused upon the neuropathology of chronic pain, and the moral, ethical and social issues evoked by the use of novel neurotechnologies in the study and treatment of pain.

He and his wife Sherry, a naturalist, writer, and artist, “commute” between Old Town Alexandria, VA and Oxford, UK. (For further information, please see: www.neurobioethics.org

Creation - The Movie

UPDATE:

On Saturday January 23, the Landmark E Street theater will host a discussion--after the 7:30pm show--featuring Toni Van Pelt, Director of Public Policy for the Center for Inquiry. The Center promotes science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. CFIDC.org

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"Creation", the new film about Darwin starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, premieres on Friday, January 22, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, DC.

The movie is based on "Annie's Box" ("Creation: Darwin, His Daughter & Human Evolution" in the U.S.), written by Randal Keynes, Darwin's great-great-grandson. As you can imagine, creationists are already starting to huff and puff about the film. But as NCSE's Genie Scott notes, "Creation" is a "thoughtful, well-made film that will change many views of Darwin held by the public--for the better."

Olivia Judson, in the New York Times, adds: "Too often, Darwin is depicted as a kind of fossil: an old man with a huge beard looking as though he’s 350. It’s refreshing to see him looking young and handsome...more to the point, Bettany shows Darwin as a man rather than icon, imbuing him with life and love, gentleness and anxiety, tears and laughter. This alone makes it an important film."

Author Randal Keynes sums up his great-great-grandfather: "[Darwin's] love for his wife; his observations of his children; his friendships with gardeners, schoolteachers and pigeon fanciers; his fears about death, revolution, bankruptcy, inbreeding...all these things found their way into his theory. He was the most inclusive of thinkers."

"Creation" opens on Jan 22 at the Landmark's E Street Cinema,

555 11th St NW, Washington, DC

For more info about the movie, trailers, schedules, etc., check:

The official site
www.creationthemovie.com

The Facebook page
www.facebook.com/pages/CREATION-The-Movie/39212784860

The Twitter feed
twitter.com/Creation_Movie

Go Green: Switch Off the Shadow Light

Starting in September 2010, NCAS stopped mailing a paper version of our Shadow of a Doubt monthly calendar of events and articles. At the same time, the Shadow Light postcard was developed as a comparatively low-cost method for announcing to members and contacts the release of each new Shadow of a Doubt as posted at ncas.org and e-mailed to addresses on file.

Shadow Light recipients are invited to help NCAS "go green" by opting out of postal notification entirely. Switch off Shadow Light by e-mailing your name and postal address to ncas@ncas.org with subject line "NCAS Go Green." You'll receive each new Shadow of a Doubt and other NCAS notices in your e-mail inbox.

Non-members can receive the Shadow of a Doubt by subscribing to the NCAS-Announce e-mail list here.

Faith-based Initiatives and Charitable Choice

Saturday, Jan 9, 1:30 pm Public and FREE

Toni Van Pelt
Vice President, Center for Inquiry,
Director, Office of Public Policy,
Washington, D.C.

National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington,VA
(Map)
(Flyer)

The Obama administration recently announced an expansion of government funding for so-called "faith-based initiatives," in which taxpayer dollars are doled out to sectarian religious organizations for the performance of social service programs. This government funding raises legal and constitutional concerns that the administration has yet to address directly. In February, the Center for Inquiry produced a position paper that called for an end to government funding of faith-based programs. Because government funding is scheduled to continue, the Center for Inquiry further recommended the adoption and vigorous enforcement of specific minimum safeguards to protect church-state separation and religious liberty.

CFI performed a detailed historical study of federal funding for faith-based programs, extending from the rise of "charitable choice" legislation during the Clinton administration through the explosion of taxpayer funding for religious programs under George W. Bush's Faith Based and Community Initiative. The position paper that resulted from this study expresses deep misgivings about government funding of sectarian religious programs. CFI cited concerns that these programs may use taxpayer dollars to support or favor religious activities and beliefs; that government may give preference to particular religious organizations in doling out funds; and that under current standards, recipients of taxpayer funding for faith-based programs are allowed to engage in employment discrimination on the basis of religion.

CFI's position paper recommends that government funding of faith-based programs be eliminated entirely. CFI's paper endorses a limited exception for truly secular social services programs, such as Catholic Charities, that have some affiliation with a religious institution but are provided by independent 501(c)(3) charities. CFI maintains that such charities must conduct social service programs without religious content or materials and without engaging in religious discrimination. (Catholic Charities is a non-profit corporation separate and distinct from the Catholic Church.)

CFI's paper further recommends that if taxpayer funding of faith-based programs continues, certain minimum safeguards should be implemented and enforced. Specifically, CFI recommends that such programs should be barred from discriminating against both beneficiaries and employees on the basis of religion; that such programs should be monitored vigorously to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund religious worship, instruction, or proselytization; and that government must treat programs conducted by religious and secular organizations equally in granting funds, measuring performance, and monitoring for compliance.

Toni Van Pelt will discuss the Center for Inquiry's position paper, its recommendations, and describe how the CFI Office of Public Policy lobbies Congress on these issues.

Toni Van Pelt is Vice President and Director of Public Policy of the Center for Inquiry in Washington DC. She has successfully introduced the Center for Inquiry into the world of National legislative and policy communities. As the lobbyist for the Center she asks Congressional members and staff to base law and policy on scientific fact and empirical evidence as opposed to faith. She lobbies for state church separation; women and lesbian-gay rights; and defense of democracy and secularism. She participates in coalitions with like-minded organizations on issues of mutual concern.

Before moving to Washington, Toni was the first Executive Director for the Center for Inquiry-Florida. Before that, she was the president of Florida National Organization for Women (NOW) where she learning her lobbying with the Federal and Florida legislatures. She helped write and establish new law in Florida. She is a veteran of Congressional and state political campaigns for candidates and for ballot initiatives and on issues campaigns. She ran for national president of NOW and came within 30 votes of being elected to the office.

Toni has been interviewed by national and international media, including press, radio, internet and broadcast. Her past career as the owner of a travel agency specializing in international travel has given her the opportunity to expand her worldview through global travel. As director of the Center for Inquiry's Travel Club, she has connected her past career in travel and business with her commitment to skepticism and secular humanism.