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Complete video at: fora.tv British gerontologist, author and cultural critic Raymond Tallis addresses questions regarding free will and the brain. —– “Battle of Ideas: My Brain Made Me Do It” at the 2007 Battle of Ideas conference hosted by the Institute of Ideas. With the politics of behaviour in the ascendancy, there is increasing interest in what science can tell us about why people behave the way they do. The British government is funding the creation of the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners, with the express aim of training a ‘parenting workforce’ to provide science-based child-rearing advice to parents. In the USA, the MRI scanner and the neuroscientific community are entering the court room to give evidence about whether defendants can be regarded as being responsible for their alleged crimes. UK policymakers cite scientific ‘evidence’ to explain new interventions on everything from early years’ education to the alleged impact of school dinners on academic performance. The science of nutrition now informs earnest discussions about how children’s diets improve their classroom behaviour, in order to justify policing lunchboxes and putting school meals at the top of the political agenda. Studies of teenage brain development now regularly inform social debates about the impact of new technologies on young people. But how much can science tell us about behaviour? Do scientific findings justify the government’s many interventions into the early years of …

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