There’s an interesting article in the June issue of Portfolio Magazine which discusses the emerging ‘brain sciences’ industry. The most interesting question that arises for me from this article is: at what point in altering our brain functions and chemistry, do we stop being human and start being post-human? Or, put another way, what mix of chemicals defines our humanity and what mix of chemicals defines our mutation into something else/less/more?

The other thing that was really interesting to me was the breakdown the article provided on the amounts of money currently spent worldwide on drugs to treat depression, anxiety and psychoses–approx. $65 Billion dollars. When you couple this with the separate statistic I heard in an interview that 14% of Americans (10% are women 4% are men) are prescribed at least one anti-depressant medication, you get the idea that keeping people happy and psychosis-free is big business.

Chart showing expenditures:

http://www.portfolio.com/graphics/2008/05/Where-the-Money-Is