Transcending the brain: is there a cost to hacking the nervous system?

Abstract

Great advancements have recently been made to understand the brain and the potential that we can extract out of it. Much of this has been centred on modifying electrical activity of the nervous system for improved physical and cognitive performance in those with clinical impairment. However, there is a risk of going beyond purely physiological performance improvements and striving for human enhancement beyond traditional human limits. Simple ethical guidelines and legal doctrine must be examined to keep ahead of technological advancement in light of the impending mergence between biology and machine. By understanding the role of modern ethics, this review aims to appreciate the fine boundary between what is considered ethically justified for current neurotechnology.

Perspective of Ethical Issues Associated with Cognitive BMI

“…However, whether the extraction of a piece of mental information is intended or not, third-party access to the piece can menace the privacy of its owner. This third party can be a "brain hacker" who puts the data for criminal use [17], a large company that wants users' attitudes, preferences, and medical conditions for neuromarketing [18], or a national intelligence agent that monitors users' thoughts for surveillance [15]. This issue is not limited to BMIs that are specifically designed for "mind-reading," since the decoding of cognitive activities is a key feature of any cognitive BMI.…”

Ethical Analysis on the Application of Neurotechnology for Human Augmentation in Physicians and Surgeons

“…Neurotechnology not only has the potential to impact human rights, but is can also impact autonomy, confidentiality and protection. Note that it is possible to obtain information through BCIs that can be extracted to reveal security breaches [26]. Neurotechnology such as BCI relies on multiple types of probabilistic inference to be operationalized, for one to use any sort of probabilistic inference requires a large amount of data [19].…”

“…While it was easy to attempt to determine how pharmaceutical companies will neural data, in the case of the military, for example, is not as obvious. The US Department of Defense, for instance, is currently exploring the use of neurotechnologies and neural data [26]. It is said that in pursuing neurotechnology, they are using it with the goal of restoring function following trauma from war and to develop programs involving improving human training and performance [26].…”

“…The US Department of Defense, for instance, is currently exploring the use of neurotechnologies and neural data [26]. It is said that in pursuing neurotechnology, they are using it with the goal of restoring function following trauma from war and to develop programs involving improving human training and performance [26]. From a first glance, it seems that they are doing it to help better those within the military recover or become a better version of themselves.…”

“…From a first glance, it seems that they are doing it to help better those within the military recover or become a better version of themselves. However, from a closer look, this can be seen as the military trying to get an advantage over other countries [26]. To make neurotechnologies' use more extreme, yet more effective for the military and even politicians and corporations such as those that sell firearms, exploration of neurotechnologies such as brain implants by the military can be used in a way that create a potential for terrorism [32], leading to beneficence issues.…”