Smart devices can now read your mood and mind — they shouldn’t without consent
Should we rethink how we use recognition technology?
Humans and machines
My work explores thedynamics of how humans interact with machines, and how such interactions affect the cognitive state of the human operator.
Researchers inhuman factors engineeringhave recently focused their attention on the development ofmachine vision systems. These systems sense overt biological signals — for example, the direction of eye gaze or heart rate — to estimate cognitive states likedistraction or fatigue.
A case can be made that these devices hold undeniable benefits in certain situations,such as driving. Human factors like distracted driving, which ranks among thetop contributors of road fatalities, could be all but eliminated following an adequate introduction of these systems. Proposals tomandate the use of these devicesare being introduced worldwide.
A different yet equally important application is the one proposed by none other thanElon Musk’s Neuralink corporation. In a December 2021 appearance at theWall Street Journal‘s CEO Council Summit, Musk portrayed a very-near future where brain implants will help patients suffering from paralysis regain control of their limbs through a brain implant.
While the concept and, in fact,the reality of brain-computer interfaces has existed since the 1960s, the thought of an implanted device having direct access to the brain is disconcerting, to say the least.
It’s not only these devices’ ability to create a direct bridge between the human brain and the outside world that frightens me: what will happen to the data being harvested and who will have access to it?
Cognitive freedom
This opens up the question of what, in regard to neuroethics — the body of interdisciplinary studies exploring theethical issues related to neuroscience— is referred to as cognitive freedom.
Italian cognitive scientist Andrea Lavazza defines cognitive freedom as “the possibility of elaborating one’s own thoughts autonomously, without interference, and of revealing them totally, partially or not at all on the basis of a personal decision.” Cognitive freedom is brought to the forefront when technology has reached a point where it can monitor or even manipulate mental states as a means ofcognitive enhancement for professionals like physicians or pilots.
Or mind control for convicted criminals — Lavazza suggests that “it would not be so strange for the criminal system to require a person convicted of a violent crime to undergo [a brain implant] so as to control any new aggressive impulses.”
The ramifications that the development and deployment of biological sensors and devices like brain-computer interfaces have on our lives are at the center of the debate. Not only in neuroethics, which is witnessing the formation ofneuro-rights initiativesworldwide, but also across the broader civil spectrum where it is beingdebated whether actions undertaken with an implant ought to be governed by the same laws ruling conventional bodily movements.
Personally, I will need to take some more time weighing the pros and cons of biological sensors and devices in my everyday life. And if I am asked for permission to have my face scanned to expedite boarding a plane, I will respond with: “Let’s do it the old-fashioned way, I don’t mind waiting.”
Article byFrancesco Biondi, Associate Professor, Human Systems Labs,University of Windsor
This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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