On March 16, 2012 a special one-day symposium entitled "Neuroscience and Neuroethics: Considering Nature, Nurture and Norms" was convened at the Potomac Institute in Arlington, Virginia. The event was sponsored jointly by Institute for Science and Human Values (ISHV) and the Center for Neurotechnology Studies at the Potomac Institute. Symposium attendees were treated to cutting edge presentations of a uniformly high quality on topics ranging from free will, to natural moral intuition, to the ethical dilemmas raised by the implementations of certain neuro-scientific technologies. Science writer Ronald Bailey wrote a detailed report about the symposium called “How Does the Brain Secrete Morality?” on the Reason Magazine Website.

“We are proud to have played a significant role in organizing this important event,” said Paul Kurtz, Chairman and Founder of ISHV. “We believe that the meeting made a valuable contribution to the cultural conversation surrounding neuroscience and human well-being. Our plan is to disseminate the fruits of this gathering to all educated laypersons with an interest in the topic.” With this goal in mind, the meeting was broadcast live the day of the event via Internet streaming and selected material from the symposium will be published in The Human Prospect, the journal of ISHV.

The complete presentation (over six hours long) is now available on video. After some brief introductory comments from James Giordano and ISHV leader Stuart Jordan the event begins in earnest.

Featured speakers include:

• Gregory Berns PhD, Emory University: "Neural Mechanisms of Values"
• William Casebeer PhD, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: "Will, Narrative and Personal Responsibility"
• Patricia Churchland PhD, University of California San Diego: "What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality"
• James Giordano PhD, Center for Neurotechnology Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, University of New Mexico, University of Oxford, Symposium Chair: "Neuroethics as Meta-ethics: Avoiding Icarus' Folly"
• Eric Racine PhD, Neuroethics Research Unit , Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM): "Neuroimaging and the Values of Neuroscience"
• John Shook PhD, University of Buffalo: "The New Ethics of Neuroethics"
• and a special introduction by Paul Kurtz, PhD

Topics to be addressed include:

• Brain development and the burdens of modernity
• The nature of mind, will and action
• Neural substrates and mechanisms of values
• Gender, neuroscience and a neuroethics of standpoint
• Neuroscience of decision-making
• Neuroimaging and the values of neuroscience
• The social brain, and brain-science as a social force
• The new ethics of neuroethics
• Neuroscience and neurotechnology as demiurge, and the meta-ethical nature of neuroethics