Self-Nominations Due March 31 for NCAS Board Election

The annual election of NCAS Board directors is fast approaching. NCAS members who want to take a leadership role are encouraged to nominate yourself by sending a brief bio sketch by email to ncas@ncas.org by March 31, for inclusion in the forthcoming ballot for NCAS Board Directors.

Hearing through the smoke and mirrors

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

Poppy Crum, Ph.D., Research Scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

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

Making sense of the natural world often leads us to live in a constant state of illusion. For example, if one hears a crying baby in a noisy environment or rustling leaves in a forest as a bear lumbers nearby, the brain has a daunting task. It must determine which frequencies of the acoustic waveform belong to the baby or nearby grizzly, identify where these auditory events are located, integrate this information with cues from other sensory modalities - such as the visual location if available, and finally determine what sort of action is required (e.g. both require some worry and likely generate a shift in one’s heart rate, but reacting inappropriately in one instance could have much more complicated consequences!) The problem of scene analysis in a busy visual and acoustic environment is complex, and offers many possibilities for our sensory systems to get it wrong.  But, maybe getting it wrong is a way of making sure we get it right when it matters most – and the grizzly bear is left foraging for his berries.

This talk will focus on how we have evolved to experience a non-veridical world and the contextual fluidity of perceptual hearing.

Poppy Crum is a research scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Her work investigates neural circuits in the auditory cortex involved in hearing in a complex acoustic environment. Dr. Crum completed her PhD at the University of California Berkeley with an emphasis in neuroscience and psychoacoustics and her masters degree at McGill University with an emphasis in auditory scene analysis. She also holds a degree in violin performance through studies at the University of Iowa and McGill University. During this time she spent many hours involved in the recording arts as both a performer and engineer. In addition to her scientific research, Dr. Crum frequently presents lectures at national and international conferences that offer an understanding of psychoacoustic phenomena through an integration of the underlying anatomy and physiology of the auditory system.

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.