The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Your brain isn't so private anymore

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Guest host Sigal Samuel talks with professor of philosophy and law Nita Farahany about her new book The Battle for Your Brain. In it, Farahany details the new brain-scanning tech that has already arrived, and the risks this poses to our privacy and freedom of thought. Sigal and Nita discuss what this technology can currently do (and what it can't), how new devices might be used by corporations or governments to infringe on our rights, and the prospect of using new technologies to rid ourselves of painful or traumatic memories — even, potentially, before they've been formed.


Host: Sigal Samuel (@SigalSamuel), Senior Reporter, Vox

Guest: Nita Farahany (@NitaFarahany), author; professor of philosophy & Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law, Duke University

References: 

  • The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology by Nita A. Farahany (St. Martin's; 2023)
  • "Your brain may not be private much longer" by Sigal Samuel (Vox; March 17)
  • "BGU develops wearable advanced warning system for epileptic seizures" (Jerusalem Post; Sept. 29, 2020)
  • "Elon Musk shows off updates to his brain chips and says he's going to install one in himself when they are ready" by Ashley Capoot (CNBC; Dec. 1, 2022)
  • "Brain-implant companies balk at moves to regulate their nascent tech" by Sarah McBride (Los Angeles Times; Feb. 19)
  • "NHS trials headset that claims to zap depression" by Katie Prescott (The Times; Jan. 23)
  • "Australian man uses brain implant to send texts from his iPad" by Kristin Houser (Freethink; Nov. 12, 2022)
  • "Is 'brain fingerprinting' a breakthrough or a sham?" by Russell Brandom (The Verge; Feb. 2, 2015)
  • "China Claims It's Scanning Workers' Brainwaves to Increase Efficiency and Profits" by Samantha Cole (VICE; May 1, 2018)
  • "Incriminating Thoughts" by Nita A. Farahany (Stanford Law Review, vol. 64 (2); Feb. 2012)
  • John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty" (1859)
  • Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (1788)
  • "Non-conscious brain modulation may help PTSD patients forget their fears" by Brooks Hays (UPI; Feb. 23, 2021)
  • No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press; 2019)

     

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    This episode was made by: 

    • Producer: Erikk Geannikis
    • Engineers: Patrick Boyd & Brandon McFarland
    • Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall

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