Neurorights: What They Are, Types, And Legal Implications
The evolution of neuroscience is unstoppable, as is neurotechnology in parallel. It is a matter of a few decades before electronic devices are invented capable of decoding the information in our brain and entering the depths of our mind.
The use of a technology capable of such power is a double-edged sword because, although it will mean great advances in fields such as criminology, discovering whether a suspect is the author of a crime, it also raises serious ethical questions such as being able to modify our memories or manipulate our decision making.
It is for this reason that there are many neuroscientists who in recent years have been warning about the need to establish ethical limits in the use of technology capable of influencing our minds, coming into play what has been called neurorights Next we are going to see what they are and their great importance.
Advances in neuroscience, disciplines that study the functioning of the brain and seek the biological foundations of human behavior, have given rise to some concern about the use that could be made of the technologies that benefit from their findings. Neurotechnology, combined with artificial intelligence, has the potential to influence society in a profound way according to neurorights activists, a very dangerous tool to be used irresponsibly and for commercial purposes.
As a result of this concern, neurorights have been raised, a new international legal framework of human rights focused on protecting the human brain and its individuality from the irresponsible use of new technologies Although it may sound like science fiction, we are getting closer to knowing, through an x-ray or electrodes, what a person thinks, feels, believes and opines, an extremely dangerous possibility if it falls into the wrong hands, which is why why these neurotechnological rights are so necessary.
BRAIN Project and NeuroRights Initiative
One of the projects that is making the most progress in brain mapping and the analysis of behavior and its neurological foundations is the BRAIN INITIATIVE (Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), based in the United States This project was initiated by former US President Barack Obama in 2013, endowing it with a budget of nearly 4.5 billion dollars.
At the time it already gave enough to talk about, since it was a powerful program with which to meticulously track mental activity through the development of tools with which to know what a person thinks or feels based on their traceable neurological activity.. Their goal was, in fact, to take a dynamic photograph of the brain in action and better understand how we think, learn and remember.
A few years have passed since the discoveries made by those involved in this project and the information that has been collected is so great and valuable that even neuroscientists themselves warn of the great need to establish a series of universal rights that guarantee protection. of individuality and mental privacy. If neurorights with international validity are not approved, there is a risk that neurotechnologies will be very poorly used
One of the defenders of the need to establish these human rights is the Spanish neurobiologist Rafael Yuste, director of the Center for Neurotechnology at Columbia University (USA). Yuste is one of the main promoters of the BRAIN project, but also of the defense of neurorights and therefore also leads the NeuroRights Initiative, in fact focused on this task.
Neuroscientists are human beings who are very aware of the ethical implications of their advances, which is why they are the first to want neurorights to be recognized internationally. Its neuroscientific advances aim to improve people’s lives, discovering what is hidden behind diseases and disorders established in the brain such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, depression, anxiety or schizophrenia. By knowing how they occur in the brain, it will be possible to find a definitive cure
But knowledge of the brain can also lead to interests that go beyond improving the quality of life of those suffering from neurological diseases. Companies could use the most sophisticated neuroscience to manipulate individuals and, by changing their desires and interests by entering their minds, make them buy their products. It can also be a tool used by corrupt governments and totalitarian regimes, interested in identifying citizens who do not agree with their ideas, violating their mental privacy and arresting them for having certain thoughts.
Taking into account the ethical implications and potential risks entailed by advances in neuroscience, both neuroscientists and human rights activists demand that large organizations include five fundamental neurorights.
In fact, there is a campaign for these rights to be included in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights since, if achieved, it would have a real connection, forcing governments, authorities, the private sector and citizens to respect them if they were in the country. where they were.
For now, the five fundamental neurorights proposed are the following.
1. Right to personal identity
The right to personal identity calls for imposing limits that prohibit technologies from altering the sense of self This right seeks to protect the individuality and personal autonomy of individuals because, when neurotechnology can connect people with social networks, there could be a risk of blurring the line between the person’s consciousness and external technological contributions..
2. Right to free will
The right to free will guarantees that people can make decisions freely, with their own will and without being manipulated by technology This right foresees the possibility that, if our brain is connected through brain activity readers to a computer, it will not be free to make decisions or it could even be the case that someone invades our brain, hacking our mind.
3. Right to mental privacy
The neuroright to mental privacy aims to prevent any data obtained from the analysis and measurement of neuronal activity from being used without the consent of the person Added to this, it requires strict regulation of any interaction and transaction of commercial use of this data.
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4. Right to equitable access to neurocognition
Behind this neuroright, what is requested is that guidelines and directives be determined that delimit and regulate the application of all technology that allows improving brain activity. The objective of this right is to guarantee that this cognitive increase is accessible to everyone equitably and that is not reserved for a small, favored and wealthy sector of society.
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5. Right to protection against bias and discrimination
This right requests that neuroscience knowledge does not establish discrimination and distinctions by race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, creed, political opinion, national or social origin, birth, economic position or any other condition.
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Activism and legislation for the protection of our minds
The neurorights-sensitive community of neuroscientists seeks to ensure that our minds are not manipulated and that our privacy is respected. Our thoughts, opinions, beliefs, emotions and other aspects that are housed in our minds and hidden from the public eye should continue to be hidden although technologies are developed capable of removing them with a mere x-ray, electrodes or neuroimaging.
With them, what is intended is that all neuroscientific advances are directed towards achieving a better society, carried out for the common good, and that they do not lead to situations of greater inequalities or social crises.
With neurorights recognized, The work on decoding neural networks would force us to take into account the ethical and legal component of researching with the brain just as today, technological advances in mobile phones and other devices are forced to tighten current personal data security regulations.
As neuroscience unravels the mysteries of the brain, the confidentiality and protection of data that may be found in the mind must be guaranteed. The objective would be to prevent the information available about our brain from being used for purposes other than the general interest.
For now, one of the countries that has made the most progress in terms of neurorights is Chile which presented a draft reform of the Constitution so that these rights were recognized in it and becoming the first state to approve specific legislation for this purpose.
Important steps have also been taken in the European Union, announcing in 2019 the creation of a committee on Artificial Intelligence and which is exploring the viability of a legal framework on its transparency, accountability and security, managed by the European Human Rights Council.
