Towards the Governance of Neuroscience: Neuroethics in Japan with Special Reference to Brain—Machine Interface (BMI)

摘要

Neuroscience in Japan has been rapidly growing during this decade.Interdisciplinarity and application oriented approach are two major tendencies of that. These are clearly observed in the recent launched big projects of neuroscience organized by departments and/or agencies of the Japanese government such as MEXT, NEDO and JST. We report the details of the project of Brain-machine Interface (BMI) as the typical example, which include research teams of ELSI and public relation besides the R&D bodies. Out trial of Benchside Research Ethics Consultation shows it is an effective and constructive way to realize mid-stream modulation of emerging technology. We also discuss how to bridge the gap between the expert and public perception for BMI.