The Ethical Imperative for Neuro-Entrepreneurs

摘要

As argued by Ana Maiques in her piece, "To be or not to be involved in Neuroethics: an entrepreneurial perspective," the ethical dimensions of neurotechnology should be a significant concern for entrepreneurs building companies in this field (Maiques 2019). Maiques is a neuro-entrepreneur, CEO of Barcelona-based Neuroelectrics, which manufactures noninvasive neural signal recording and stimulating devices. Her article is a manifesto for an awakening to neuroethics among entrepreneurs. This publication comes on the heels of the July 16, 2019 announcement by Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain-machine interface company, viewed around the world on YouTube livestream and certain to rank among the highest-profile public events related to neurotechnology to date. Many commentators in our communities - the worlds of neurosurgery and neuroethics - have associated this publicity not only with Musk's celebrity, but with a societal perception that the brain-machine interface is an idea whose time has now come. In the first week after the Musk press conference, 9,270 news stories were published about Neuralink (Google Search 2019a). Only a small minority (1,720) of these stories included the keywords "ethics, ethical, moral, safety, neuroethics, neuroethical, bioethics, bioethical, risks, or risk," demonstrating the degree to which discourse surrounding the ethical implications of novel neurotechnology lags its overall public awareness (Google Search 2019b). This is the problem that Maiques aims to correct.