Chatterjee cited an interesting poll in which people were asked whether they would give a safe drug to a child that would enhance his or her ability to learn to play the piano if they had the opportunity. Half of the respondents said absolutely not. They regarded learning the piano through persistent practice as character building and using pills as a cheat. However, the other half had no problem at all with giving kids a piano pill. What sets the stage for social and political conflict over enhancement technologies is that people on both sides in the poll were completely convinced that their view would be shared by everybody.
Chatterjee ended by joking that if his next NIH grant got turned down, he might "stop what I'm doing and open up a brain spa." Whether or not he decides to hang out a shingle, he predicted, "There will be a brain spa opening close to you in the near future."
I think they'll do good business.
