Rewiring the Brain – Dr. William Hurlbut

Jan 14, 2026

Dr. William Hurlbut, a physician and adjunct professor at Stanford, dives into the fascinating realm of neuroplasticity and neurotechnology. He explores how education and lifestyle can reshape the brain while cautioning about the risks of our digital culture and addictive behaviors. Dr. Hurlbut discusses the ethical implications of biotechnology in enhancing human capabilities, warning against the potential dangers of transhumanist goals. He emphasizes the need for a public dialogue that incorporates science, philosophy, and ethics to navigate the future of brain intervention.

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INSIGHT

Human Creativity Drives Both Progress And Peril

Human creativity and technological ascent reflect our species' distinctive adaptability and neuroplasticity.
William Hurlbut frames this ascent as both an achievement and a source of new moral peril when misapplied.

INSIGHT

Medicine’s Role Has Expanded Beyond Healing

Medicine has shifted from assisting nature to enabling liberation from natural limits.
Hurlbut warns this expands medicine's goals beyond cure to aesthetic and convenience-driven changes.

INSIGHT

Neuroplasticity Is The Basis Of Education

Natural neuroplasticity underlies education, culture, and human progress.
Hurlbut emphasizes that learning and tradition are primary, noncontroversial routes of rewiring the brain.

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Dr. William Hurlbut examines how natural neuroplasticity, education, lifestyle, and new neurotechnologies are “rewiring the brain,” highlighting both their therapeutic promise and their dangers in an age of addictive digital culture, standardized schooling, and powerful biotechnological interventions.

This lecture was given on October 27th, 2025, at University of Rochester.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

William B. Hurlbut is a physician and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center. After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford, he completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the Institut Catholique de Paris.

His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and philosophy of biology. He was instrumental in establishing the first course in biomedical ethics at Stanford Medical Center and subsequently taught bioethics to over six thousand Stanford undergraduate students in the Program in Human Biology.

Dr. Hurlbut is the author of numerous publications on science and ethics including the co-edited volume Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue (2002, Oxford University Press), and “Science, Religion and the Human Spirit” in the Oxford Handbook of Science and Religion. He has organized and co-chaired three multi-year interdisciplinary faculty projects at Stanford University, “Becoming Human: The Evolutionary Origins of Spiritual, Religious and Moral Awareness,” “Brain Mind and Emergence,” and the ongoing “The Boundaries of Humanity: Human, Animals, and Machines in the Age of Biotechnology.” In addition, he was Co-leader, together with U.C. Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna of “The challenge and opportunity of gene editing: a project for reflection, deliberation and education.”

Keywords: Addiction and Digital Media, Attention Formation, Brain Development, Brain Plasticity and Education, Dyslexia, Ethical Neurotechnology, Neuroplasticity, Pornography and the Adolescent Brain, Standardized Schooling, Technology