Research Project (TdR)

More or less nine months later we will have to hand over our research project. This is a project that is made in Catalonia by batxillerat students. We have to hand over it in the middle of the next course so for this reason we start it this year while we are still doing first of batxillerat. This project is important to us because the mark will average with batxillerat and university entrance exam marks. 

We started the most difficult task in march when we had to choose our project theme. It’s very important choose one that you really like and with you could make a good work, too. First they give us some suggestions and if we don’t like any of them we can try to propose our own theme. Personally I think it is better to try to find your own theme because that means that it really interests you. 

I have said that it is the most difficult task because at first I didn’t know what can I do and I didn’t know what subject would choose. At the prime moment, I thought to do something related to biology but all that interested me weren’t possible because of the material or because of the complexity. I can say that until the last moment I didn’t have a project, yet. In the end appears to me one theme that it really enthusiasm me. 

When everybody have their theme we are allocated one teacher who will supervise us our work and who will help us.  And then we are ready to star our project. 

Well, this is how it works but I would like to explain what my project is about and what I’m going to do. 

I have said that at first I didn’t know what to do but I end up with a very interesting theme. My first project was about the improvement of the human, but then we find something more amazing: the neuroethics and more accurate the “neuroenhancement”. We know about a European project called Nerri (Neuro-Enhancement: Responsible Research and Innovation) where the Pompeu Fabra University is involved, too. And, what is more, there are two companies in Barcelona which works in the production and development of new products and services related with neuroenhancement. (This is one of the companies).

Nodaway, thanks to the refinement and improvement of new technologies, we are doing great discoveries in the way that our brains work. The brain is the main controller of our body, instincts and feelings. And thank our brains the human race have a conscience. It has allowed us to create communities, cultures and be the dominant species on the planet. But at the same time the brain is the biggest mystery from our body.

In the brain, we have all kind of mental processing and understand them could be essential to see why we are what we are, why we do something or why we act in one way. And in the last years we have discovered amazing things. 

But this isn’t all for what new technologists can use in this field. The knowing of some of the essential functioning of the brain and the knowing of where are some specializations are located give us the opportunity to change them and modify what we consider as an inconvenient. Let’s take an example related with the memory: there is a pill that doesn’t let brain save traumatic memories. It has been used in the USA army for the military in some wars where they had to kill people. When you take this pill you are not as conscience as you could be and your “mechanism” to detect when kill somebody are affected, too. So you can kill somebody who is innocent. 

There thousands of psychoactive which works in different ways. I can say it’s a multidisciplinary field because it not only affects the world of science or philosophy. In it there are involved all kind of aspects related with the future of our society and the humanity. Neuroenhancement are not only involved in “scientific” themes, they also affect all of us because they can change our sight of what is the man, where are they limits if there is any, or if not more, they will be very present in our next future. 

I have already started my project but I really like it and I‘m finding it very interesting.