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The Era of Memory Engineering has Arrived

“We allow that our memories may fade and fail a bit, but otherwise, we go on the sanity-preserving assumption that there is one reason why we remember a particular thing: because we were there, and it actually happened. Now, a new set of experiments, led by MIT neuroscientists Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu in Susumu Tonegawa’s lab, shows that this needn’t be the case. Using a stunning set of molecular neuroscience techniques (no electrode caps involved), these scientists have captured specific memories in mice, altered them, and shown that the mice behave in accord with these new, false, implanted memories. The era of memory engineering is upon us, and naturally, there are big implications for basic science and, perhaps someday, human health and society…

…Naturally, one wonders whether these techniques might someday find human applications. Perhaps it would be possible to rebuild particularly cherished and important memories that have deteriorated with age or disease? Or perhaps, more provocatively, some might even embrace the idea of falsified memory – artificially adding in happiness where there is only remembered pain, or subtracting out enduring despair that’s long outlived its usefulness. These are some ethically tricky situations, to be sure. At the same time, though, it’s hard to not sympathize with someone, say a war veteran or a rape victim, who might want the emotional content of a specific, life-destroying memory modified.”

Gray: The Ethics and Politics of Cyborg Embodiment – Citizenship as a Hypervalue

“Cyborgs, extended and augmented by prosthetics, can be described as hyper-bodies. As human-based cyborgs proliferate in type and quantity what does this mean for ethics and politics in 21st century cyborg societies? The ontological instability of cyborgs warrants the use of political technologies such as manifestos and written constitutions in order to ameliorate the potential of cyborgization to fatally undermine political self-determination and the very idea of citizenship. A discussion of cyborg manifestos is followed by a proposal by the author for a Cyborg Bill of Rights and a new mechanism for determining citizenship based on the Turing test.”

Article Link: (Gray, 1997)

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Alzheimer’s and Personhood

“The way that people understand and relate to each other contributes towards the acknowledgement or development and maintenance of personhood. Nevertheless, being an actual person in the first place is important and determining what or who is a person involves setting boundaries (Baldwin and Capstick, 2007). Where someone falls in relation to those boundaries will determine whether s/he is considered a person or a ‘non-person’.”

Consciousness, Personhood, and Rights

What determines our personhood?

‘Artificial’ Intelligence and Personhood: a Defense by Captain Picard

What makes a being sentient? Can a computer achieve consciousness? Are human cyborgs less sentient due to their integration with inorganic technology? If people will one day be able to enhance their memory and intelligence with brain-computer interfaces, and even convert their consciousness into a computer chip, where can the line between sentient and non-sentient be drawn? Is there a point where the de-activation/destruction of a computer becomes murder?

One of the reasons why I love Star Trek TNG so much is their willingness to take on these questions. Captain Jean-Luc Picard gives a rousing argument in defense of Data’s personhood.

Peterson: Imaging God – Cyborgs, Brain-Machine Interfaces, and a More Human Future

“Recent developments in the neurosciences have made possible the advent of brain-machine interfaces, potentially altering our understanding of our relationship with technology and even the very meaning of what it is to be human. This article briefly examines some of the recent developments in neuroengineering and considers the ethical implications. Working from Jesus’ miracles as well as from a dynamic understanding of the image of God, I argue that the categories of healing and transformation should be employed in thinking through the implications of brain-machine interfaces specifically and neuroengineering generally. Although the vocabulary of the cyborg may represent the newfound freedom that this technology can bring, the category of the face may serve as a reminder of the boundedness of human nature.”

Article Link: (Peterson, 2005)

Maguire & McGee: Becoming Borg to Become Immortal – Regulating Brain Implant Technologies

“What would it be like to be an already aware individual with an ongoing history imprisoned in a child’s body?”

“Today, intense interest is focused on the development of drugs to enhance memory; yet, these drugs merely promise an improvement of normal memory, not the encyclopedic recall of a computer-enhanced mind combined with the ability to share information at a distance. The potential of brain chips for transforming humanity are astounding. This paper describes advances in hybrid brain–machine interfaces, offers some likely hypotheses concerning future developments, reflects on the implications of combining cloning and transplanted brain chips, and suggests some potential methods of regulating these technologies.”

Article Link: (Maguire & McGee, 2007)

Demetriades et al.: Brain-Machine Interface – The Challenge of Neuroethics

“The burning question surrounding the use of Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) devices is not merely whether they should be used, but how widely they should be used, especially in view of some ethical implications that arise concerning the social and legal aspects of human life. As technology advances, it can be exploited to affect the quality of life. Since the effects of BMIs can be both positive and negative, it is imperative to address the issue of the ethics surrounding them. This paper presents the ways in which BMIs can be used and focuses on the ethical concerns to which neuroscience is thus exposed. The argument put forward supports the use of BMIs solely for purposes of medical treatment, and invites the legal framing of this.”

Article Link: (Demetriades et al., 2010)

Schermer: The Mind and the Machine – On the Conceptual and Moral Implications of Brain-Machine Interaction

“Brain-machine interfaces are a growing field of research and application. The increasing possibilities to connect the human brain to electronic devices and computer software can be put to use in medicine, the military, and entertainment. Concrete technologies include cochlear implants, Deep Brain Stimulation, neurofeedback and neuroprosthesis. The expectations for the near and further future are high, though it is difficult to separate hope from hype.

The focus in this paper is on the effects that these new technologies may have on our ‘symbolic order’—on the ways in which popular categories and concepts may change or be reinterpreted. First, the blurring distinction between man and machine and the idea of the cyborg are discussed. It is argued that the morally relevant difference is that between persons and nonpersons, which does not necessarily coincide with the distinction between man and machine. The concept of the person remains useful. It may, however, become more difficult to assess the limits of the human body. Next, the distinction between body and mind is discussed. The mind is increasingly seen as a function of the brain, and thus understood in bodily and mechanical terms. This raises questions concerning concepts of free will and moral responsibility that may have far reaching consequences in the field of law, where some have argued for a revision of our criminal justice system, from retributivist to consequentialist. Even without such a (unlikely and unwarranted) revision occurring, brain-machine interactions raise many interesting questions regarding distribution and attribution of responsibility.”

Article Link: (Schermer, 2009)

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Care Facility Illegally Keeping Alzheimer’s Patient Alive

An example of the difficult ethical and moral terrain that Alzheimer’s patients, their families, their doctors, and legislators must traverse.