In his 2013 State of the Union Address, President Obama
cited brain research as an example of how the government could and in fact should literally “invest in the
best ideas.”[1] He cited the $140 return to the economy from every dollar
that had been invested to map the human genome, and added that funding the Brain
Activity Map would be a job-creating investment in science and innovation. In
terms of comparative economic advantage, he said, enlarging the “knowledge economy” would be a good strategy for maintaining a formidable standard of living. As laudatory as more knowledge of the human brain is, Obama's perspective suffers from economic reductionism and a lack of political basis.
The full essay is at "Economic Reductionism of Society and Federal Government."
1. John Markoff, “Obama
Seeking to Boost Study of Human Brain,” The
New York Times, February 17, 2013.
