What if it were possible to transfer wisdom by means of a brain implant? Would the implant have a moral status? These were among the questions explored in a talk on the frontiers of neuroethics at The Hastings Center’s annual “World of Bioethics” seminar.

The speaker was James Giordano, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, philosophy, and ethics at the University of Oxford, and director of the Center for Neurotechnology Studies at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Va.

The talk, which took place on December 4 at Rockefeller University in New York, surveyed the rapid pace of research on the mind, including prospects of enhancing brain function with drugs and stem cell transplants, and creating a "brain in a box" – a machine with the capability of acquiring and transfering information.

Despite the ethical questions raised by such work, “less than 5 percent of neuroscience research is devoted to looking at the ethical ramifications,” said Giordano. “We must deal with this realistically and responsibly.”

He advocated for ethical evaluation that anticipates research outcomes, rather than responds to them when "the cat is already out of the bag." (See The Hastings Center work on synthetic biology, as an example of such upstream ethical inquiry.)

He proposed some basic questions for ethical exploration of neuroscience: What is known about the possible risks of a particular line of research? What are the ethical, social, and legal issues? What tools can be used for risk analysis and ethical assessment?

While the idea of a brain in a box sounds like science fiction, Giordano said it is a real project under development by the U.S. military. “In six months you will hear about a ‘silicon self,’” he told the audience.