Neurotechnology is a growing industry that includes drugs, brain imaging technology, and cyberkinetics. While some neurotechnologies are accepted in medicine, others raise ethical concerns, such as the use of drugs to alter personality and the mixing of human and machine. Military applications have also raised ethical issues.
Neurotechnology is a technology that enables the enhancement, alteration, or scanning of the brain and related neurological tissues and systems. While often the stuff of science fiction, the neurotech industry is actually thriving with various branches. Some of these neurotechnologies are accepted parts of modern medicine, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and pharmaceuticals, while others are still in their early theoretical stages.
A good example of modern neurotechnology is drugs that alter brain chemistry. Brain chemistry refers to the complex set of biochemical interactions that are produced and affect the nervous system. Many of the most popular pharmaceuticals available influence specific aspects of brain chemistry in order to change human behavior. While not often considered an example of neurotechnology, widely used drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and drugs used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) they are considered examples because they specifically alter the way the brain functions.
Another common and well-known example is brain imaging technology: Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (CT) machines were both designed in the 1970s. These machines allow medical professionals and researchers to view brain activity in detail that was unprecedented in the past. This insight may allow for the diagnosis and treatment of injuries and diseases, as well as a better understanding of how the brain works.
A more speculative example of this type of technology is cyberkinetics. Cybernetic neurotechnology is mainly concerned with mixing human nervous tissue with artificial implants, for example through a brain-computer interface or other devices. Typically, cyberkinetic technology is developed for the purpose of repairing tissue damage or, more controversially, improving normal function. Implants can be used to treat non-congenital blindness and allow prosthetic limbs to come under the control of the somatic nervous system.
While there are many innovative neurotechnologies on the market and many more are under development, some have raised ethical questions. Psychosurgeons, like prefrontal lobotomies which were an early form of neuroscience, are no longer practiced because they damage essential functions of the human psyche. Many people object to the use or abuse of drugs that alter brain chemistry, especially in children, in part on the grounds that they artificially change a person’s basic personality. However, others question the idea of reducing human behavior to its biochemical parts.
Other ethical concerns include the concept of cyberkinetics and other mixes of organic machines. Some people argue that even though technologies like prosthetic limbs can be useful, a line between humans and machines needs to be drawn somewhere as the technology progresses and becomes more and more sophisticated. Military applications of neurotechnology have also raised ethical issues. Experiments on unwitting victims using mind-altering substances – such as the acid tests conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s and 1960s – have already attracted severe outrage in the past.
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