Brain to Computer Communication: Ethical Perspectives on Interaction Models
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Brain to Computer Communication: Ethical Perspectives on Interaction Models Guglielmo Tamburrini
Received: 4 November 2008 / Accepted: 18 February 2009 / Published online: 11 March 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) enable one to control peripheral ICT and robotic devices by processing brain activity on-line. The potential usefulness of BCI systems, initially demonstrated in rehabilitation medicine, is now being explored in education, entertainment, intensive workflow monitoring, security, and training. Ethical issues arising in connection with these investigations are triaged taking into account technological imminence and pervasiveness of BCI technologies. By focussing on imminent technological developments, ethical reflection is informatively grounded into realistic protocols of brain-to-computer communication. In particular, it is argued that human-machine adaptation and shared control distinctively shape autonomy and responsibility issues in current BCI interaction environments. Novel personhood issues are identified and analyzed too. These notably concern (i) the “sub-personal” use of human beings in BCI-enabled cooperative problem solving, and (ii) the pro-active protection of personal identity which BCI rehabilitation therapies may afford, in the light of so-called motor theories of thinking, for the benefit of patients affected by severe motor disabilities. G. Tamburrini (*) Dipartimento di Scienze fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia, 80126 Napoli, Italy e-mail: [email protected] URL: http://people.na.infn.it/~tamburrini/index.htm
Keywords Brain-computer interfaces . BCI communication protocol . Autonomy . Responsibility . Personal identity persistence . Human-machine cooperative problem solving . Sub-personal psychology
Ethical Themes in Brain-to-Computer Communication Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs from now on) enable one to control peripheral ICT and robotic devices by processing brain activity on-line. The potential usefulness of BCI-enabled brain-to-computer communication was initially demonstrated in rehabilitation medicine: severely paralysed patients, who cannot benefit from more conventional rehabilitation therapies, were able to recover some communication and motor abilities by learning to use a BCI [1, 2, 3]. BCIactuated devices developed in research laboratories throughout the world include robotic manipulators, virtual computer keyboards, and robotic wheelchairs [4, 5, 6]. BCI research is now exploring a more comprehensive repertoire of communication and control applications for both disabled and healthy users. These applications include brain-controlled virtual simulation environments [7], computer games [8], cooperative brain-computer visual processing systems [9], and BCI-actuated robotic hands [10]— in addition to alertness detectors and neurofeedback devices that are based on BCI technologies.
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Distinctive ethical issues arise in connection with
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