Sperry's concept of mind as an emergent property of brain function and its implications for the future of humankind

Sperry's proposal that subjective experience plays a major role in brain function and in the emergence of mind, consciousness and human values represent a challenge to behaviorism as the dominant force in psychology. Mind is viewed as an emergent property of the brain, generated from and dependent upon neural activity, but nonetheless separate from it. Macrodeterministic factors result in the evolution of human values, which represent a critical key to world change. Two major conferences resulted from Sperry's challenge to the scientific community. The Trieste Conference led to a 'Declaration of Human Responsibilities', presently under consideration by the United Nations as a corollary to the 'Declaration of Human Rights'. The Japan Conference inspired work toward a Network University of the Green World, in which computer networking will support international communication in areas of environmental concern.