Cargando…

Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy

'Brainjacking’ refers to the exercise of unauthorized control of another’s electronic brain implant. Whilst the possibility of hacking a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) has already been proven in both experimental and real-life settings, there is reason to believe that it will soon be possible t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pugh, Jonathan, Pycroft, Laurie, Sandberg, Anders, Aziz, Tipu, Savulescu, Julian
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6290799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30595661
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9466-4
_version_ 1783380160883458048
author Pugh, Jonathan
Pycroft, Laurie
Sandberg, Anders
Aziz, Tipu
Savulescu, Julian
author_facet Pugh, Jonathan
Pycroft, Laurie
Sandberg, Anders
Aziz, Tipu
Savulescu, Julian
author_sort Pugh, Jonathan
collection PubMed
description 'Brainjacking’ refers to the exercise of unauthorized control of another’s electronic brain implant. Whilst the possibility of hacking a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) has already been proven in both experimental and real-life settings, there is reason to believe that it will soon be possible to interfere with the software settings of the Implanted Pulse Generators (IPGs) that play a central role in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems. Whilst brainjacking raises ethical concerns pertaining to privacy and physical or psychological harm, we claim that the possibility of brainjacking DBS raises particularly profound concerns about individual autonomy, since the possibility of hacking such devices raises the prospect of third parties exerting influence over the neural circuits underpinning the subject’s cognitive, emotional and motivational states. However, although it seems natural to assume that brainjacking represents a profound threat to individual autonomy, we suggest that the implications of brainjacking for individual autonomy are complicated by the fact that technologies targeted by brainjacking often serve to enhance certain aspects of the user’s autonomy. The difficulty of ascertaining the implications of brainjacking DBS for individual autonomy is exacerbated by the varied understandings of autonomy in the neuroethical and philosophical literature. In this paper, we seek to bring some conceptual clarity to this area by mapping out some of the prominent views concerning the different dimension of autonomous agency, and the implications of brainjacking DBS for each dimension. Drawing on three hypothetical case studies, we show that there could plausibly be some circumstances in which brainjacking could potentially be carried out in ways that could serve to enhance certain dimensions of the target’s autonomy. Our analysis raises further questions about the power, scope, and necessity of obtaining prior consent in seeking to protect patient autonomy when directly interfering with their neural states, in particular in the context of self-regulating closed-loop stimulation devices.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6290799
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Springer Netherlands
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-62907992018-12-27 Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy Pugh, Jonathan Pycroft, Laurie Sandberg, Anders Aziz, Tipu Savulescu, Julian Ethics Inf Technol Original Paper 'Brainjacking’ refers to the exercise of unauthorized control of another’s electronic brain implant. Whilst the possibility of hacking a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) has already been proven in both experimental and real-life settings, there is reason to believe that it will soon be possible to interfere with the software settings of the Implanted Pulse Generators (IPGs) that play a central role in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) systems. Whilst brainjacking raises ethical concerns pertaining to privacy and physical or psychological harm, we claim that the possibility of brainjacking DBS raises particularly profound concerns about individual autonomy, since the possibility of hacking such devices raises the prospect of third parties exerting influence over the neural circuits underpinning the subject’s cognitive, emotional and motivational states. However, although it seems natural to assume that brainjacking represents a profound threat to individual autonomy, we suggest that the implications of brainjacking for individual autonomy are complicated by the fact that technologies targeted by brainjacking often serve to enhance certain aspects of the user’s autonomy. The difficulty of ascertaining the implications of brainjacking DBS for individual autonomy is exacerbated by the varied understandings of autonomy in the neuroethical and philosophical literature. In this paper, we seek to bring some conceptual clarity to this area by mapping out some of the prominent views concerning the different dimension of autonomous agency, and the implications of brainjacking DBS for each dimension. Drawing on three hypothetical case studies, we show that there could plausibly be some circumstances in which brainjacking could potentially be carried out in ways that could serve to enhance certain dimensions of the target’s autonomy. Our analysis raises further questions about the power, scope, and necessity of obtaining prior consent in seeking to protect patient autonomy when directly interfering with their neural states, in particular in the context of self-regulating closed-loop stimulation devices. Springer Netherlands 2018-07-30 2018 /pmc/articles/PMC6290799/ /pubmed/30595661 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9466-4 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Pugh, Jonathan
Pycroft, Laurie
Sandberg, Anders
Aziz, Tipu
Savulescu, Julian
Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title_full Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title_fullStr Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title_full_unstemmed Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title_short Brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
title_sort brainjacking in deep brain stimulation and autonomy
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6290799/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30595661
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10676-018-9466-4
work_keys_str_mv AT pughjonathan brainjackingindeepbrainstimulationandautonomy
AT pycroftlaurie brainjackingindeepbrainstimulationandautonomy
AT sandberganders brainjackingindeepbrainstimulationandautonomy
AT aziztipu brainjackingindeepbrainstimulationandautonomy
AT savulescujulian brainjackingindeepbrainstimulationandautonomy