From Total Recall to Inception, science fiction has always taken an interest in the potential to read, manipulate and control minds, thoughts and dreams.
The envisioned technology is not quite there yet, but it is advancing, prompting some to call for the pre-emptive establishment of citizen ‘neuro-rights’.
These rights would potentially apply to technologies of different kinds, whether they are bionic implants, virtual reality (VR), algorithms or as-yet-unknown devices that could “increase, diminish or disturb” a person’s mental integrity without their knowledge or consent.
Chile is aiming to be the first country to introduce such rights, with lawmakers expected to support a bill that introduces constitutional reform to that effect.
Senator Guido Girardi, one of the bill’s authors, believes that it is necessary in order to protect human autonomy, freedom and free will.
The bill addresses four main areas: protecting data within the mind; limiting neuro-tech that is able to read and especially write in the human brain; ensuring equitable access to the technologies as they develop; setting limits on neuro-algorithms and what they are able to do.
The benefits and dangers of neuro-tech
Advances in neurotechnology have plenty of potential benefits.
The US has set up an initiative known as BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neuro-technologies), which looks at the causes of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.
Patients with Parkinson’s have been treated with electrode stimulation of the brain to ease symptoms, while deaf people have been treated with cochlear implants that also stimulate relevant parts of the brain.
Brain computer interfaces (BCIs), meanwhile, are able to ‘read minds’ by registering and interpreting activity inside the brain and converting it to words or commands.
This could help people who are paralysed to use computers, or people who have lost limbs to control next-generation prosthetics.
As has been the case with the digital revolution, however, there can also be potential dangers if legal safeguards and frameworks do not keep pace with the technology.
In one experiment, scientists were able to implant images of unfamiliar items into rats’ brains and have them accept them as part of their natural behaviour.
Rafael Yuste, an expert in this field from Columbia University in New York, told AFP that if you are able to stimulate or inhibit the processes of the brain in such a way, you could potentially change people’s decisions, preferences or consumption patterns.
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