ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The 21 Questions That Will Shape Neuroscience in the 21st Century

Updated on April 13, 2020

Understanding how the human brain works is perhaps one of the most fascinating subjects of psychology, philosophy and the human sciences. It is a subject that has been pursued for centuries. Theories have been formed and dismissed over the ages but perhaps neuroscience forms the zenith of our attempts to unravel the mechanisms of thought; and places the science of the brain on the very boundary of knowledge.

Discovering the most intimate secrets of brain function, using all the tricks of neuroscience, is perhaps the foremost concern of our age. A team absolutely dedicated to the task is The Brain Mind Forum, which is compiling a list that will define some of the most difficult intellectual quests of the 21st century. Inspired by the 23 questions declared by the German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900, the current ambition is to construct the research focus of neuroscience for the remainder of the century and beyond. A starting list of over 200 questions concerning the mind, (broken down into 21 general questions) has already been assembled with the hope that, by asking the right questions, researchers will arrive at some paradigm changing answers. If nothing else, increasing our understanding of neurology and of the thinking process is fundamental if we ever wish to some of the 1000 or so illnesses of the brain.

And so the Brain Mind Forum is engaging with academics, corporations and the public in order to ascertain what are the great neuroscientific questions of the century. A taxonomy of questions will be compiled based upon this consultation process.

The current 21 general areas of interest are examined below, and cover such questions as physiology, attributes and capabilities of the mind, identifying the future beneficiaries of brain science, the pathways to solutions and how success will be measured. The list is not exhaustive and is presently an open document that will be rewritten with public input, however, at the end of the process a definitive set of questions will be formed. So here goes, the current highlights of the list as it stands:


1. Questions about how the Brain works.

2. Questions about the attributes and functions of the Mind.

A selection of the key concerns in this section Includes such questions as:

2.1. How do we learn from experience?

2.4. Which brain processes make something meaningful?

2.5. What are intelligence and thinking?

2.10. What is conscious awareness?

And the parallel questions:

2.12. How does the Brain process time?

2.13. How do we observe, describe, define and measure qualia?

Associated General Questions

3. What makes a Brain Mind normal or abnormal?

4. What is the significance to the Brain Mind of nutrients and energy?

5. What are the definitions of ‘life’ and the relevance to our understanding of the Brain Mind?

The Way Ahead

6. What can Brain science offer society?

7. Who are the beneficiaries?

8.What are the paths to finding solutions? What road maps can we construct? How can we track progress and measure success? To bring the full power of the scientific method to bear do we need to develop definitions, notations and means to measure the features of the brain we observe.

The full unabridged list can be viewed at BrainMindForum.

It will be interesting to see the final list as it emerges and then track the developments in the field. It may just be the case that we witness an intellectual breakthrough this century to match the renaissance and quantum breakthroughs of the past. Whatever happens, it is almost certain that the questions we ask ourselves will be re-framed over the next 100 years, meaning that new answers will be available and new challenges will arise.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)