The latter half of the 20th century has seen the development of pharmacological agents to treat what have traditionally been classified in medicine as "functional" as opposed to "organic" disorders: conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders and psychotic illnesses. The efficacy of such agents confirms that the mental/physical dichotomy is a spurious one: all mental activity is, if not identical with brain activity, at least supervenient on brain activity.

Currently available psychopharmacological agents, although they can be very effective, are relatively crude and non-specific in their targetting of various neuronal receptor proteins. They are also usually limited to the treatment of conditions which qualify as "mental illness". The future will bring molecules that are increasingly specific, have fewer side-effects, and can be used to make subtle changes to personality and cognition, giving the user the sort of mind he or she always wanted.