The Pros And Cons Of Brain Scanning

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to name a few. Predictions of future dangerousness have undergone much scrutiny over the past 20 years with considerable focus on the accuracy and reliability of such attestations by experts (Phillips, 2012). Psychiatrists along with other professionals in the criminal justice and medical field, have authority to take away someone’s liberty. This is often necessary in emergency situations where seconds count, but many times it can be done in a doctor’s office after careful review of a patient. The wrong decision could be made in either circumstance and sometimes someone is liable for damages. The United States Constitution allows the government to infringe on the freedoms of persons in two ways. First, the government is responsible …show more content…
This is evident in the stories of treatment of disease and people living a more meaningful life. However, the issues raised by Neuroscience predictions are often similar to those raised by genetic predictions. The use of genetic predictions is already controversial. Brain scanning by the GNS would only add to this. The number of people who potentially could have their liberty infringed upon would only grow. Areas of current controversy involve stem cell research or the altering of how we reproduce. Brain scanning of every person in America is far beyond genetics research when you consider that a person has no option to decline such a scan and that we don’t know how the government will use the information gathered from that scan. The potential for life altering decisions made by the government, based on a brain scan, could be very …show more content…
Neuroscientific results challenge the notions of free will, responsibility, personhood, and the self (Fuchs, 2006). Privacy seems to be the area where most people will take issue. Americans already expect that their medical information will remain between them and their doctor. Obviously, in certain situations, a doctor may have to divulge information to a third party, including law enforcement or the courts. However, the GNS would threaten any privacy that a person has. The images and their interpretations could be stored or distributed for uses not beneficial to the person. If the person has no control over the findings and how they are used, then it could unethically damage their life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The GNS, a brain scan of the future, could lead to negative impacts on a person’s cognitive liberty. Fuchs (2006) stated that cognitive liberty is every person’s fundamental right of autonomy over his or her own brain states. Brain scans could be exploited for such purposes as screening job applicants, assessing insurance risks, detecting a vulnerability to mental illness, determining who qualifies for disability benefits, and so on (Fuch,