White House defends brain research initiative's $100 million price tag
The cost of President Barack Obama's new $100 million BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) announced Tuesday is far outweighed by the benefits gained, the White House argued later in the day.
The initiative—a subject the president first referenced during his State of the Union address in January—would support technologies that map the brain in order to gain greater understanding of a variety of diseases. The hope is this will lead to new cures, prevention and treatment, as well as fuel the economy.
"The potential here is enormous. And the investment here is relatively small compared to the potential," White House press secretary Jay Carney said at Tuesday's press briefing, responding to questions about the program's cost.
The $100 million in government funds being spent on the program will be included in Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget to be released April 10. The funding breakdown includes: $40 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); $50 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is part of the Department of Defense; and $20 million from the National Science Foundation.
Support will also be provided by private sector foundations.
During his unveiling Tuesday at the White House, the president championed the program's medical benefits, but also promoted the initiative as an economic effort.
"Every dollar we spent to map the human genome has returned $140 to our economy," Obama said.
The president argued that efforts such as the BRAIN Initiative keep America ahead in innovation and help produce new discoveries that might otherwise be made in countries such as "China, India or Germany."
"Ideas are what power our economy," he said. "We do innovations better than anyone else."
Obama asked observers to imagine technology improving the lives of billions of people by reversing the effects of Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and traumatic brain injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder for military veterans.
"There is this enormous mystery waiting to be unlocked" within the human brain, Obama said. "And the BRAIN Initiative will change that."
But some suggested Tuesday that the country needs to focus on federal funds already being spent on this subject and took issue with the price.
"Mapping the human brain is exactly the type of research we should be funding, by reprioritizing the $250 million we currently spend on political and social science research into expanded medical research, including the expedited mapping of the human brain," Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said in a statement. "It's great science."
On the other hand, some critics have suggested that the cost of the program is inadequate when compared with other research programs. But in a phone call with reporters following the president's unveiling, Francis Collins, NIH director, said the amount is "substantial ... considering this is the first year" of the project.
It's a "pretty good start for getting this project off the ground," Collins said.
Support from the program Tuesday came from one politically unlikely source: former House speaker and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. Gingrich is a fiscal conservative but strongly supports science and specifically promoted brain science on the 2012 campaign trail.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-introduce-brain-mapping-initiative-132407332--politics.html
Sounds like there is a payoff in this for somebody - a few million here and a few million there, but no real big money involved! :o Just more taxpayer money to launder around to the team, for upcoming election contributions (tax payer dollars back at work for the administration)
I do have an idea - - - with $1,000 and the right brain (POTUS Obama), there is no telling what advances they might come up with for the medical field!!
I wonder if this has anything to do with DARPA's new
project to teach computers to think?
Coincidence?
Quote from: burntheships on April 03, 2013, 04:11:49 AM
I wonder if this has anything to do with DARPA's new
project to teach computers to think?
Coincidence?
With this administration, everything - EVERYTHING - that is done is simply a facade for all to see and witness. However the reality of the intended results are ever-over-reaching and beyond whatever the original gratuitous original previews/teasers of the proposed actions. And they are self-serving to the political ideals of the POTUS. >:(
We still don't know why DHS is buying 2 billion (or so) hollow point rounds of pistol ammunition!!!!!!
"For target practice" is pure B.....................S!
Quote from: burntheships on April 03, 2013, 04:11:49 AM
I wonder if this has anything to do with DARPA's new
project to teach computers to think?
Coincidence?
DARPA? Are they involved? :P
DARPA Combines Human Brains and 120-Megapixel Cameras to Create the Ultimate Military Threat Detection System (http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/2012/09/darpa_combines_human_brains_an/)
DARPA's new 'Brain-Computer Interface' makes you a pattern recognition machine (http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/this-is-your-brain-on-silicon/)
DARPA's Ultimate Goal: A Borg Army of Killer Robots (http://indigosociety.com/showthread.php?65888-DARPA-s-Ultimate-Goal-A-Borg-Army-of-Killer-Robots)
DARPA Borg System COLUMBIA, WISCONSIN UNIVERSITIES
INVOLVED IN BIZARRE PROGRAM TO PROGRAM SOLDIERS' BRAINS (http://tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/EPISPASM/message/59?var=1)...yeah just coincidence..
::)
Resistance is Futile(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jR7hwFsZrcg/TVlNeXbyg8I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/uQabgRBjMxg/s1600/borg76.jpg)
Don't forget the last time the government messed around in our brains...
...they gave us THIS
(http://errantsubjects.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lobotomy.jpg)
Hmm, it's not like they've haven't already inspected/mapped/altered/created the Human brain through use of the black budget.
It's probabley a PR stunt to account for a few million, or they're just throwing us a bone in the Science field.
Don't forget this isn't black budget.
Humans are living longer and longer. The thing that isn't happening yet is that our brains are not lasting long enough. How many of you know someone with dementia or worse who are otherwise healthy?
We need to research ways of helping our poor brains last as long as our bodies, otherwise we will have lots of people with functional bodies but dysfunctional brains.
Well for sure, the human brain is one of the most amazing things on this planet. And maybe even more amazing is how much we don't know about the brain's almost unlimited capabilities. So, yes, much could be gained from real directed and enhanced research on every aspect of brain function.
However, because of this president's demonstration of inability to speak the truth about anything, to many whatever he proposes is SUSPECT for politics and agenda purposes.
I personally believe the human brain is most likely "the most untapped resource" on planet Earth, as it is far more generally capable than what we see as the "norm". For some "reason" we only see real brain potential demonstrated by just a very small number - Einstein, and the few others of historic record who have exhibited tremendous thinking/knowledge relative a very broad range of subjects.
It is my thought that every brain has the potential of the "few", if we could just learn how to get them "wired/connected" properly. A primary demonstration of actual such "rewiring" has been seen as a result of accidents resulting in brain damage - - after brains have healed from such, some have shown unbelievable/remarkable new abilities in various functionalities.
So, that said, we might all have genius capability, but some of us are just not wired right............yet! ;)