Avoiding "Neuromania" (BSP 109)
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I have spent the last 7 1/2 years sharing and promoting neuroscience and while it has been encouraging to see the field grow in popularity, there has also been a disturbing trend toward increased hype. One goal of the Brain Science Podcast is to provide accurate information that helps the average listener enjoy the science and avoid pseudoscience. BSP 109 was inspired by several excellent books that have documented the hazards of what some writers are calling "neuromania" or neurocentrism, which is the tendency to see the brain as the only path to understanding.
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This episode is based on:
Neuromania: On the limits of brain science by Paolo Legrenzi and Carlo Umilta
Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity by Raymond Tallis
Neuro: The New Brain Sciences and the Management of the Mind by Nikolas Rose and Joelle M. Abi-Rached
Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience by Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld (audible link)
Additional References:
Addiction: A Disorder of Choice by Gene M. Heyman
Satal, S. "Addiction and Freedom." The New Republic, March 15, 2010.
Leshner, AI. "Addiction is a Brain Disease, and It Matters." Science 278, 5337: 45-47. 1997
A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves by Robert Burton (Burton is interviewed in BSP 96)
Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga (Discussed in BSP 82)
Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life by Dr. Michael Merzenich PhD (Merzenich was interviewed in BSP 54 and BSP 105)
Additional references are available in the episode transcript.
Announcements:
The latest episode of Books and Ideas is an interview with Dr. Michael Saag, author of Positive: One Doctor's Personal Encounters with Death, Life, and the US Healthcare System. Be sure to check your podcast feed for the full corrected version of this podcast.
I will be speaking at The Amazing Meeting in July and I will also be attending Podcast Movement 2014 in August.
Next month I hope to interview Dr. John Ratey who was featured in BSP 33 and BSP 45.
In July 2014 I am starting a Fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine. I will keep you posted on how this will effect the Brain Science Podcast.
