Neurotech’s Battles Impact Our Brains’ Future
upstart writes:
Mental sovereignty, says author Nita Farahany, is no longer a given:
Neurotechnologies today-devices that can measure and influence our brains and nervous systems-are growing in power and popularity. The neurotech marketplace, according to Precedence Research, is worth USD $14.3 billion this year and will exceed $20 billion within four years. Noninvasive brain-computer interfaces, brain stimulation devices, and brain-monitoring hardware (measuring alertness and attention at work, for example) are no longer just laboratory experiments and technological curios. The societal and legal implications of widespread neurotech adoption may be substantial.
Nita Farahany, professor of law and philosophy at Duke University, has written a new book, [...] which explores how our lives may be impacted by the use of brain-computer interfaces and neural monitoring devices.
Farahany argues that the development and use of neurotech presents a challenge to our current understanding of human rights. Devices designed to measure, record and influence our mental processes, used by us or on us, may infringe on our rights to mental privacy, freedom of thought, and mental self-determination. She calls this collection of freedoms the right to cognitive liberty. Spectrum spoke with Farahany recently about the future and present of neurotech and how to weigh its promises-enhanced capabilities, for instance, including bionics and prosthetics and even a third arm-against its potential to interfere with people's mental sovereignty.
An interview with Farahany is in the linked article.
Does neurotech's future fill you with optimism for a better world, or dread of what might follow?
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.