Towards new human rights in the age of neuroscience and neurotechnology

Abstract

Rapid advancements in human neuroscience and neurotechnology open unprecedented possibilities for accessing, collecting, sharing and manipulating information from the human brain. Such applications raise important challenges to human rights principles that need to be addressed to prevent unintended consequences. This paper assesses the implications of emerging neurotechnology applications in the context of the human rights framework and suggests that existing human rights may not be sufficient to respond to these emerging issues. After analysing the relationship between neuroscience and human rights, we identify four new rights that may become of great relevance in the coming decades: the right to cognitive liberty, the right to mental privacy, the right to mental integrity, and the right to psychological continuity.

The Autonomous Mind: The Right to Freedom of Thought in the Twenty-First Century

“…One approach to developing the right to FoT in the twentyfirst century is to suggest that the novelty of the challenges faced necessitates new rights to address them. A need has been proposed for new rights to "mental self-determination" (Bublitz and Merkel, 2014), "cognitive liberty" (Boire, 2001), and "psychological continuity" (Ienca and Andorno, 2017). In contrast, Alegre (2017) has argued that these new proposed rights represent the practical development of the contours of FoT in the twenty-first century, and that there is no need to design new rights.…”

Brain Data: Scanning, Scraping and Sculpting the Plastic Learning Brain Through Neurotechnology

“…Studies have also emerged of how neurotechnologies are being developed to augment, enhance brain function and optimise the neural correlates of behaviour and cognition, with the Morningside Group of neuroscientists, neurotechnologists and ethicists claiming, we are on a path to a world in which it will be possible to decode people's mental processes and directly manipulate the brain mechanisms underlying their intentions, emotions and decisions; where individuals could communicate with others simply by thinking; and where powerful computational systems linked directly to people's brains aid their interactions with the world such that their mental and physical abilities are greatly enhanced. (Yuste et al 2017: 160) In this context, neurotechnology development over the coming years and decades promises both to enhance the scientific understanding of the brain and to enhance the functioning of the brain too, raising significant risks and ethical challenges that are only just beginning to be addressed (Ienca and Andorno 2017).…”

“…Neurologists themselves are concerned about serious privacy risks related to brain signal recordings from 'personal neuroinformatics' 'floating around and being used and reused for various purposes' and are building new privacy and ethics frameworks to mitigate against neural security risks (Stopczynski et al 2014). The bioethicists Ienca and Andorno (2017) have further noted the potential for modification of emotions and cognition, direct manipulation of a person's neural computation, technology-induced personality change and neuromodulation of behaviours, and propose the need for new human rights frameworks in response. Neurotechnologies also raise issues of new forms of discrimination arising from neural augmentation, as pressure to expand sensory, cognitive and motor capacities potentially generates new issues of equitable access and changes societal norms regarding perceptions of normalcy and difference, and the possibility that bias could be engineered into neurotechnologies as a result of 'scientific or technological decisions … based on a narrow set of systemic, structural or social concepts and norms' (Yuste et al 2017: 162).…”

Challenges and ethical issues raised by the progress of cognitive neuroscience

“…Кога се спроведуваат истражувања за да се разбере мозочното функционирање, покрај примената на невронаучни техники се прави и интелектуално опсервирање на мозокот, а со тоа се наметнува и потребата од проширување на човековите права за да се опфати заштитата на податоците и на приватноста на невронската активност, а исто така да се обезбеди и поголема претпазливост во чувањето на податоците во дигиталните екосистеми. Во информатичките технологии приватноста опфаќа и способност за чување на личните податоци, со што се остава простор за индивидуална одговорност во заштитата на податоците (Ienca & Andorno, 2017). Ова особено ја нагласува одговорноста на истражувачите во однос на зачувувањето на приватноста на добиените податоци.…”