Neurotechnology: Power or threat to humanity?
By: Gabriela Jiménez Ramírez, Minister of Popular Power for Science and Technology of Venezuela (Mincyt) and Vice President of the Bioethics Commission before UNESCO.
The development of neurotechnology and scientific research on thought decoding have led to remarkable progress in understanding and treating neurological disorders.
Furthermore, they have sparked the controversial possibility of enhancing human-machine interaction.
Neurotechnology encompasses a broad spectrum of techniques, methods, and devices used for recording, diagnosing, analyzing, and modifying the activity of the nervous system.
The advancement of technologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCI) has gained significant momentum, enabling substantial progress in communication through electronic devices.
Innovation and Potential.
The use of these novel tools will contribute to a deeper understanding of brain and mind functions, provide assistance to patients, and generate beneficial opportunities.
However, it also entails potential challenges and risks to our mental privacy.
Neurotechnologies are susceptible to being employed for external self-regulation enhancement, through interventions in human processes via power relationships, which entails violations of cognitive liberty, mental privacy, mental and psychological integrity, autonomy of will, and personal self-determination, promoting principles foreign to universality in favor of systems of domination.
Such practices must be unequivocally identified and rejected.
In this context, there is an urgent need to recognize neurotechnologies as a social right, ensuring their accessibility across diverse fields, including health and education.
This approach stands as a catalyst for the integral development of populations, guaranteeing their well-being and prosperity without exception.
Neurotechnology cannot be addressed from a simplistic perspective that reduces it solely to the “nervous system” and the “brain.”
This view fragments the complexity and wholeness of the “human being” across multiple dimensions, resulting in a limited and reductionist understanding.
Rights and Accessibility.
This fragmentation of the human condition constitutes a form of dehumanization.
Indeed, the brain is merely one component of a vast network known as the “nervous system.”
The “nervous system” includes the brain and spinal cord, as well as the connections between them and the body’s organs.
This system regulates bodily and mental functions from birth to death.
The “nervous system,” as an integrated and continuous network, constitutes an uninterrupted communication mechanism between the brain, spinal cord, and the rest of the organism.
The functional and operational interdependence among these structures is such that their analytical dissociation becomes an unlikely exercise, given their intricate and joint participation in various functions, actions, and responses.
Complexity of the Nervous System.
Therefore, it is imperative to transcend toward a broad, profound, complex, and holistic vision of the “human being” in the face of the neurotechnology challenge, both individually and collectively.
It is crucial to recognize our capacity as conscious individuals and as part of a whole, as well as our responsibility in the joint production of knowledge, solidarity, and love.
Moreover, the invitation is to be recipients of the benefits arising from the application of these technologies.
Thought, by its abstract nature, is characterized by its intangibility—that is, its incapacity to be physically perceived or manipulated.
Nevertheless, this intangibility does not exempt the possibility that thought generates tangible effects, such as the actions that result from it.
Thought is an exclusive property of human beings that distinguishes us from other species.
This cognitive capacity grants us the faculty to process information, imagine, create, reason, and solve problems, directly influencing our feelings and the daily transformation of our personal identity, fostering autonomy and critical awareness.
The Value of Thought.
Finally, as demonstrated, neurotechnology emerges as a tool with vast potential to improve human health and well-being, addressing neurological and mental disorders, with applications in various fields such as education, work, among others. It can also be enhanced alongside AI.
On the other hand, its use and development raise significant ethical, legal, and social concerns related to safeguarding human rights, privacy, autonomy, and equity, including issues related to cognitive warfare, underscoring the urgent need for close supervision and ethically rigorous regulation.
René Descartes’ famous maxim, “I think, therefore I am,” stands as an enduring reminder of the relevance of thought to ensure human existence.
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