Sir

Although I appreciate the legitimate bioethical concerns of emerging neurogenetic and neuroimaging technology, I do not believe the slope is quite as slippery as Jean-Pierre Changeux and Denis Le Bihan suggest (see Nature 391, 316; 1998). Neuroimaging hardly seems capable of “invasion of personal liberty, control of behaviour and brainwashing”, and the assertion that neuroimaging can “almost read people's thoughts” is scientifically ridiculous and philosophically naive.

They paint a frightening picture of a post-apocalyptic Big Brother neuroscientist armed with pocket magnetic resonance imaging that works at a distance in real time on moving subjects engaged in God-knows-what cognitive and metabolic activity and meaningfully translates these signals into a universal language revealing the subjective thoughts of the individuals scanned, only then to control their minds and behaviour. Such broadcasting of thoughts and mind control sound like the results of schizophrenic processes rather than bioethical enquiries. Of course, I'm probably just a pawn in the conspiracy.