Neuromarketing
BrightHouse Neurostrategies Group (http://www.thoughtsciences.com/) is based in Atlanta and studies the brain responces to ads and other messages. Despite the fact that the research isn't very far along and brain imaging tools arn't catching-up with their hype, there are thousands of the world's well-funded best and brightest scientists and engineers trying to remedy that. So just because the research is basic now, and primative compared to a good advertiser's intuition, doesn't mean its not a serious issue because all indications say that this research will get a lot better before we know it. So are their ethical problems with public relations people and marketers understanding with great precision how to craft advertisments or propaganda for maximum impact? Such ethical concerns don't get your research funded or get you promoted if you are a brain scientist however. The only ethical concerns with currency are primarily medical.
Brain imaging research is very expensive. Who can afford to fund this research? Primarily governments, big business. That is already the case with PET scanning. Thus research is oriented along the goals of these instituions. Marketing, public relations and military psychological opperations (propaganda), criminal justice and institutionalization (brain images are used in insanity defences), and psychiatry. Despite what public relations departments want you to think, knowledge gained is not merely good in and of itself. What knowledge is pursued and in whose interests and to what purposes it may be used are more important.
This is an important dimension to any technology- to what extent does a technology require centralized or wealthy institutions in order to be used? So instead of the hype and cheerleading for brain imaging technologies that you typically get in Newsweek or the newspaper that emphasizes only the future medical benefits of the research, seriously consider the ethical.
What might a future look like with powerful neuromarketing and neuropropaganda? Military strategist currently consider hearts and minds as one of the foremost of the military's missions.
Here is a decent article on it:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/etc/neuro.html
Here is a site with a number of links:
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/issues/neuromarketing.html
Brain imaging research is very expensive. Who can afford to fund this research? Primarily governments, big business. That is already the case with PET scanning. Thus research is oriented along the goals of these instituions. Marketing, public relations and military psychological opperations (propaganda), criminal justice and institutionalization (brain images are used in insanity defences), and psychiatry. Despite what public relations departments want you to think, knowledge gained is not merely good in and of itself. What knowledge is pursued and in whose interests and to what purposes it may be used are more important.
This is an important dimension to any technology- to what extent does a technology require centralized or wealthy institutions in order to be used? So instead of the hype and cheerleading for brain imaging technologies that you typically get in Newsweek or the newspaper that emphasizes only the future medical benefits of the research, seriously consider the ethical.
What might a future look like with powerful neuromarketing and neuropropaganda? Military strategist currently consider hearts and minds as one of the foremost of the military's missions.
Here is a decent article on it:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/etc/neuro.html
Here is a site with a number of links:
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/issues/neuromarketing.html