Neuralink: Concerns of Brain-Machine Interfaces
By Oscar Gao
Introduction
Introduction
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Image courtesy to Nicolas Ferrando and Lois Lammerhuber, Flickr |
The concept of a brain-computer interface (BCI) is not new. As early as 1973, researchers have attempted to develop interfaces that connect brain signals to external devices. This kind of uni-directional interface is often used for patients with spinal cord injury to regain motor control. One example is Ajiboye et al.'s study (2017) in which a patient with a spinal cord injury was able to restore his hand reaching and grasping using a BCI. Elon Musk's company, however, is interested in developing a bi-directional interface by adding an inserted layer onto the brain and therefore enhancing the input and output of the brain. It allows the human to “process and generate information as fast as they absorb it” and thus would make people better at remembering and communicating with others (Winkler, 2017).
I will address the concerns of privacy, coercion, and personhood of this futuristic interface in this post.
Privacy
There are gaps in legislation regulation of BCI data (Trimper, Wolpe & Rommelfanger, 2014). BCI data, which can potentially contain elements and indications of one's memory, personal preference, and emotional inclination, should be tightly regulated. Musk’s company is registered as a medical research company for now, but Elon Musk has stated the ambition of creating potential non-medical applications of enhancing able-bodied humans. There are standard guidelines and regulations in place for BCI clinical trials, but there is currently no legislation for its non-medical/clinical research application. Legislators should regulate how the BCI related neuro-data is stored and used to protect consumers’ neuro-privacy.
Coercion
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Image courtesy to Tom Mesic, Flickr |
Personhood
According to Starner in the NPR interview, he claimed to be better with people when carrying Lizzy; however, the interview did not feature perspectives from friends and colleagues of Starner. How BCI can alter self-perception needs to be examined. Is the BCI an extension of the user or is it merely a tool? How does it influence or interact with the user's personality? To what extent is the user responsible for the decisions made by the interface (Tamburrini, 2009)? For example, who is to blame if a person commits a crime under the influence of the interface she is carrying? Companies such as Musk’s Neuralink, along with legislators, need to address these questions when developing brain-computer interfaces.
Conclusion
Musk and his team are not vocal about their project at Neuralink, leaving the public in speculation of how far they have left to go in building a “direct cortical interface” to enhance human function (Winkler, 2017). "We are at least 10 to 15 years away from the cognitive enhancement goals in healthy, able-bodied subjects," argued Pedram Mohseni, a professor of Case Western Reserve University, when talking about BCI’s future application (Marsh, 2018). However, it is not too early to consider ethical standards for the unavoidable prevalence of bi-directional brain-computer interface, as suggested by Musk (Marsh, 2018). “It’s really important to address these issues before they come up, because when you try to play catch-up, it can take a decade before something’s in place,” says Karen Rommelfanger, director of the Neuroethics Program at Emory University, to the New York Times (Zimmer, 2015).
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My name is Oscar. I am from China. I am a senior at Emory majoring in Neuroscience, and I will go to Georgia Tech next year to pursue an engineering degree. I am interested in brain-related technologies.
References
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Want to cite this post?
Gao, O. (2018). Neuralink: Concerns of Brain-Machine Interfaces. The Neuroethics Blog. Retrieved on , from http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2018/11/neuralink-concerns-of-brain-machine.html