BRAIN SURGERY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 669, 2 May 1952, Page 20

BRAIN SURGERY

Sir -The talk from 3YA, April 6, was an interesting, convincing, if slightly grisly presentation of the marvel of modern brain surgery. Distressing and destructive obsessions are removed, the personality altered, and, maybe, lifelong confinement in a mental hospital avoided. Those doing these things are moved by the highest motives. But could there be another side? Charles Morgan in his book Liberties of the Mind thinks so. He became alarmed when an American scientist told him that the world can look" forward to the production of "atomic milk" because cows take up too much room; that by atomic means you could "put out" a selected part of the brain, transforming a potential criminal into a good citizen; mental deficiency and héreditary faults could be corrected. Morgan thought: "If that can be done, what isto prevent the ‘reconditioning’ of children’s brains so that we get a population of: docile slaves accepting the

commands of unscrupulous rulers and devoid of the faculty of resistance?" The scientist had a fair retort when he said that "Any progress is open to abuse"; and that "To put a mind ‘in’ was a diffent story from neutralising a selected part of brain." Mr. Morgan may be prematurely and unduly alarmed, yet we must not forget that the potential benefits of the motor¢ar have crystallised into the destruction of the tank; that the beneficial potentialities of the aeroplane have developed into supersonic rockets, guided missiles and the bomber with an atomic load that could extinguish all life on an entire continent; that the beneficial potentialities of the radio and literature are being used to enslave millions. It is once again the risk of discovery outrunning moral responsibility.

J. MALTON

MURRAY

(Oamaru).