In his state of the union address on February 12, 2013, President Obama said:
"Now, if we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy -- every dollar. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. We need to make those investments."
Five days later, a New York Times article vaguely detailed a new Obama administration initiative to build a comprehensive map of brain activity, bringing together the brightest minds in neuroscience today. The project is estimated to cost around $3 billion over the next ten to fifteen years. Specific details may be released by the White House as early as March.
To discuss the potential benefits and concerns around the yet-to-be unveiled brain activity map project, I sat with HuffPost Live host/producer Jacob Soboroff in the Los Angeles studio. We were joined via Google Hangout by New York University research psychologist Gary Marcus, who wrote a New Yorker article on the same topic.
Watch the video above and don't forget to join the conversation in the comments section below. Come on, talk nerdy to me!
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