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Rainey S. An Anticipatory Approach to Ethico-Legal Implications of Future Neurotechnology. Sci Eng Ethics 2024; 30:18. [PMID: 38748291 PMCID: PMC11096192 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-024-00482-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
This paper provides a justificatory rationale for recommending the inclusion of imagined future use cases in neurotechnology development processes, specifically for legal and policy ends. Including detailed imaginative engagement with future applications of neurotechnology can serve to connect ethical, legal, and policy issues potentially arising from the translation of brain stimulation research to the public consumer domain. Futurist scholars have for some time recommended approaches that merge creative arts with scientific development in order to theorise possible futures toward which current trends in technology development might be steered. Taking a creative, imaginative approach like this in the neurotechnology context can help move development processes beyond considerations of device functioning, safety, and compliance with existing regulation, and into an active engagement with potential future dynamics brought about by the emergence of the neurotechnology itself. Imagined scenarios can engage with potential consumer uses of devices that might come to challenge legal or policy contexts. An anticipatory, creative approach can imagine what such uses might consist in, and what they might imply. Justifying this approach also prompts a co-responsibility perspective for policymaking in technology contexts. Overall, this furnishes a mode of neurotechnology's emergence that can avoid crises of confidence in terms of ethico-legal issues, and promote policy responses balanced between knowledge, values, protected innovation potential, and regulatory safeguards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Department of Values, Technology and Innovation (VTI), Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
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2
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Rainey S. Rights and Wrongs in Talk of Mind-Reading Technology. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 2024:1-11. [PMID: 38362894 DOI: 10.1017/s0963180124000045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
This article examines the idea of mind-reading technology by focusing on an interesting case of applying a large language model (LLM) to brain data. On the face of it, experimental results appear to show that it is possible to reconstruct mental contents directly from brain data by processing via a chatGPT-like LLM. However, the author argues that this apparent conclusion is not warranted. Through examining how LLMs work, it is shown that they are importantly different from natural language. The former operates on the basis of nonrational data transformations based on a large textual corpus. The latter has a rational dimension, being based on reasons. Using this as a basis, it is argued that brain data does not directly reveal mental content, but can be processed to ground predictions indirectly about mental content. The author concludes that this is impressive but different in principle from technology-mediated mind reading. The applications of LLM-based brain data processing are nevertheless promising for speech rehabilitation or novel communication methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Philosophy and Ethics of Technology Section, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
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3
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Rainey S. A gap between reasons for skilled use of BCI speech devices and reasons for utterances, with implications for speech ownership. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1248806. [PMID: 37915755 PMCID: PMC10616452 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1248806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The skilled use of a speech BCI device will draw upon practical experience gained through the use of that very device. The reasons a user may have for using a device in a particular way, reflecting that skill gained via familiarity with the device, may differ significantly from the reasons that a speaker might have for their utterances. The potential divergence between reasons constituting skilled use and BCI-mediated speech output may serve to make clear an instrumental relationship between speaker and BCI speech device. This will affect the way in which the device and the speech it produces for the user can be thought of as being "reasons responsive", hence the way in which the user can be said to be in control of their device. Ultimately, this divergence will come down to how ownership of produced speech can be considered. The upshot will be that skillful use of a synthetic speech device might include practices that diverge from standard speech in significant ways. This might further indicate that synthetic speech devices ought to be considered as different from, not continuous with, standard speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Ethics and Philosophy of Technology, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
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Ligthart S, Ienca M, Meynen G, Molnar-Gabor F, Andorno R, Bublitz C, Catley P, Claydon L, Douglas T, Farahany N, Fins JJ, Goering S, Haselager P, Jotterand F, Lavazza A, McCay A, Wajnerman Paz A, Rainey S, Ryberg J, Kellmeyer P. Minding Rights: Mapping Ethical and Legal Foundations of 'Neurorights'. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 2023:1-21. [PMID: 37183686 DOI: 10.1017/s0963180123000245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty - often framed as "neurorights" in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, are taking an active interest in developing international policy and governance guidelines on this issue. However, in many discussions of neurorights the philosophical assumptions, ethical frames of reference and legal interpretation are either not made explicit or conflict with each other. The aim of this multidisciplinary work is to provide conceptual, ethical, and legal foundations that allow for facilitating a common minimalist conceptual understanding of mental privacy, mental integrity, and cognitive liberty to facilitate scholarly, legal, and policy discussions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sjors Ligthart
- Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Denmark; Department of Criminal Law, Tilburg University, Tilberg, The Netherlands
| | - Marcello Ienca
- School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany & College of Humanities, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gerben Meynen
- Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Denmark; Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Roberto Andorno
- Institute for Biomedical Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Paul Catley
- School of Law, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Lisa Claydon
- School of Law, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | | | | | - Joseph J Fins
- Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sara Goering
- Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Pim Haselager
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Fabrice Jotterand
- Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | | | - Allan McCay
- The University of Sydney Law School, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Abel Wajnerman Paz
- Instituto de Éticas Aplicadas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Stephen Rainey
- Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section, Delft University, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Jesper Ryberg
- Department of Philosophy, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Philipp Kellmeyer
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Freiburg - Medical Center, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
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Rainey S. Neurorights as Hohfeldian Privileges. NEUROETHICS-NETH 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s12152-023-09515-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
AbstractThis paper argues that calls for neurorights propose an overcomplicated approach. It does this through analysis of ‘rights’ using the influential framework provided by Wesley Hohfeld, whose analytic jurisprudence is still well regarded in its clarificatory approach to discussions of rights. Having disentangled some unclarities in talk about rights, the paper proposes the idea of ‘novel human rights’ is not appropriate for what is deemed worth protecting in terms of mental integrity and cognitive liberty. That is best thought of in terms of Hohfeld’s account of ‘right’ as privilege. It goes on to argue that as privileges, legal protections are not well suited to these cases. As such, they cannot be ‘novel human rights’. Instead, protections for mental integrity and cognitive liberty are best accounted for in terms of familiar and established rational and discursive norms. Mental integrity is best thought of as evaluable in terms of familiar rational norms, and cognitive freedom is constrained by appraisals of sense-making. Concerns about how neurotechnologies might pose particular challenges to mental integrity and cognitive liberty are best protected through careful use of existing legislation on data protection, not novel rights, as it is via data that risks to integrity and liberty are manifested.
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Rainey S. Speaker Responsibility for Synthetic Speech Derived from Neural Activity. J Med Philos 2022; 47:503-515. [PMID: 36333930 DOI: 10.1093/jmp/jhac011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
This article provides analysis of the mechanisms and outputs involved in language-use mediated by a neuroprosthetic device. It is motivated by the thought that users of speech neuroprostheses require sufficient control over what their devices externalize as synthetic speech if they are to be thought of as responsible for it, but that the nature of this control, and so the status of their responsibility, is not clear.
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Rainey S, Erden YJ, Resseguier A. AIM, Philosophy, and Ethics. Artif Intell Med 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-64573-1_243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Rainey S, Mormina M, Lignou S, Nguyen J, Larsson P. The Post-Normal Challenges of COVID-19: Constructing Effective and Legitimate Responses. Sci Public Policy 2021; 48:592-601. [PMID: 34566494 PMCID: PMC8456178 DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scab037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 04/20/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The ongoing COVID-19 emergency clearly presents novel challenges, both in terms of difficulties for maintaining public health and in assuring that governmental responses are ethically sound. Centrally, responses must respect, as best as possible, fundamental human rights and human values. Conflicts among values arise in response to the crisis, and public officials have no choice but to prioritize some while sacrificing others. Utilizing the concepts of effectiveness and legitimacy within the framework of post-normal science (PNS), we investigate and recommend processes and measures to address COVID-19 that support increased public health, while upholding established rights and values. The effectiveness and legitimacy of science-led policymaking requires investigation of how that policy ought to be made (e.g. concepts of policymaking and PNS), as well as how it ought to interact with diversely-constituted publics (e.g. public inclusion in policymaking and policy communication).
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street, Oxford OX1 1PT, UK
| | | | | | - Joseph Nguyen
- Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street, Oxford OX1 1PT, UK
| | - Paula Larsson
- Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Oxford, UK
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Erden YJ, Hummerstone H, Rainey S. Automating autism assessment: What AI can bring to the diagnostic process. J Eval Clin Pract 2021; 27:485-490. [PMID: 33331145 PMCID: PMC8246862 DOI: 10.1111/jep.13527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
This paper examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD, hereafter autism). In so doing we examine some problems in existing diagnostic processes and criteria, including issues of bias and interpretation, and on concepts like the 'double empathy problem'. We then consider how novel applications of AI might contribute to these contexts. We're focussed specifically on adult diagnostic procedures as childhood diagnosis is already well covered in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasemin J Erden
- Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
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Abstract
Technologies controlled directly by the brain are being developed, evolving based on insights gained from neuroscience, and rehabilitative medicine. Besides neuro-controlled prosthetics aimed at restoring function lost somehow, technologies controlled via brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) may also extend a user’s horizon of action, freed from the need for bodily movement. Whilst BCI-mediated action ought to be, on the whole, treated as conventional action, law and policy ought to be amended to accommodate BCI action by broadening the definition of action as “willed bodily movement”. Moreover, there are some dimensions of BCI mediated action that are significantly different to conventional cases. These relate to control. Specifically, to limits in both controllability of BCIs via neural states, and in foreseeability of outcomes from such actions. In some specific type of case, BCI-mediated action may be due to different ethical evaluation from conventional action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
| | - Hannah Maslen
- The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
| | - Julian Savulescu
- The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
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Abstract
The incorporation of neural-based technologies into psychiatry offers novel means to use neural data in patient assessment and clinical diagnosis. However, an over-optimistic technologisation of neuroscientifically-informed psychiatry risks the conflation of technological and psychological norms. Neurotechnologies promise fast, efficient, broad psychiatric insights not readily available through conventional observation of patients. Recording and processing brain signals provides information from 'beneath the skull' that can be interpreted as an account of neural processing and that can provide a basis to evaluate general behaviour and functioning. But it ought not to be forgotten that the use of such technologies is part of a human practice of neuroscience informed psychiatry. This paper notes some challenges in the integration of neural technologies into psychiatry and suggests vigilance particularly in respect to normative challenges. In this way, psychiatry can avoid a drift toward reductive technological approaches, while nonetheless benefitting from promising advances in neuroscience and technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Suite 8, Littlegate House, St Ebbes Street, Oxford, OX1 1PT, UK.
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Rainey S, Martin S, Christen A, Mégevand P, Fourneret E. Brain Recording, Mind-Reading, and Neurotechnology: Ethical Issues from Consumer Devices to Brain-Based Speech Decoding. Sci Eng Ethics 2020; 26:2295-2311. [PMID: 32356091 PMCID: PMC7417394 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-020-00218-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Brain reading technologies are rapidly being developed in a number of neuroscience fields. These technologies can record, process, and decode neural signals. This has been described as 'mind reading technology' in some instances, especially in popular media. Should the public at large, be concerned about this kind of technology? Can it really read minds? Concerns about mind-reading might include the thought that, in having one's mind open to view, the possibility for free deliberation, and for self-conception, are eroded where one isn't at liberty to privately mull things over. Themes including privacy, cognitive liberty, and self-conception and expression appear to be areas of vital ethical concern. Overall, this article explores whether brain reading technologies are really mind reading technologies. If they are, ethical ways to deal with them must be developed. If they are not, researchers and technology developers need to find ways to describe them more accurately, in order to dispel unwarranted concerns and address appropriately those that are warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Rainey
- Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stéphanie Martin
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Andy Christen
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Eric Fourneret
- Braintech Lab (U 1205), Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
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13
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Rainey S, Bublitz JC, Maslen H, Thornton H. Data as a Cross-Cutting Dimension of Ethical Importance in Direct-to-Consumer Neurotechnologies. AJOB Neurosci 2020; 10:180-182. [PMID: 31642752 DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2019.1665134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Rainey S, McGillivray K, Akintoye S, Fothergill T, Bublitz C, Stahl B. Is the European Data Protection Regulation sufficient to deal with emerging data concerns relating to neurotechnology? J Law Biosci 2020; 7:lsaa051. [PMID: 34386243 PMCID: PMC8355473 DOI: 10.1093/jlb/lsaa051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Revised: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Research-driven technology development in the fields of the neurosciences presents interesting and potentially complicated issues around data in general and brain data specifically. The data produced from brain recordings are unlike names and addresses in that it may result from the processing of largely involuntarily brain activity, it can be processed and reprocessed for different aims, and it is highly sensitive. Consenting for brain recordings of a specific type, or for a specific purpose, is complicated by these factors. Brain data collection, retention, processing, storage, and destruction are each of high ethical importance. This leads us to ask: Is the present European Data Protection Regulation sufficient to deal with emerging data concerns relating to neurotechnology? This is pressing especially in a context of rapid advancement in the fields of brain computer interfaces (BCIs), where devices that can function via recorded brain signals are expanding from research labs, through medical treatments, and beyond into consumer markets for recreational uses. One notion we develop herein is that there may be no trivial data collection when it comes to brain recording, especially where algorithmic processing is involved. This article provides analysis and discussion of some specific data protection questions related to neurotechnology, especially BCIs. In particular, whether and how brain data used in BCI-driven applications might count as personal data in a way relevant to data protection regulations. It also investigates how the nature of BCI data, as it appears in various applications, may require different interpretations of data protection concepts. Importantly, we consider brain recordings to raise questions about data sensitivity, regardless of the purpose for which they were recorded. This has data protection implications.
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Stahl BC, Rainey S, Harris E, Fothergill BT. The role of ethics in data governance of large neuro-ICT projects. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2019; 25:1099-1107. [PMID: 29767726 PMCID: PMC6077829 DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocy040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2017] [Accepted: 04/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective We describe current practices of ethics-related data governance in large neuro-ICT projects, identify gaps in current practice, and put forward recommendations on how to collaborate ethically in complex regulatory and normative contexts. Methods We undertake a survey of published principles of data governance of large neuro-ICT projects. This grounds an approach to a normative analysis of current data governance approaches. Results Several ethical issues are well covered in the data governance policies of neuro-ICT projects, notably data protection and attribution of work. Projects use a set of similar policies to ensure users behave appropriately. However, many ethical issues are not covered at all. Implementation and enforcement of policies remain vague. Conclusions The data governance policies we investigated indicate that the neuro-ICT research community is currently close-knit and that shared assumptions are reflected in infrastructural aspects. This explains why many ethical issues are not explicitly included in data governance policies at present. With neuro-ICT research growing in scale, scope, and international involvement, these shared assumptions should be made explicit and reflected in data governance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernd Carsten Stahl
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
| | - Stephen Rainey
- Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Emma Harris
- Communications Department, Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| | - B Tyr Fothergill
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
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Maslen H, Rainey S. "A Steadying Hand": Ascribing Speech Acts to Users of Predictive Speech Assistive Technologies. J Law Med 2018; 26:44-53. [PMID: 30302972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Neuroprosthetic speech technologies are in development for patients suffering profound paralysis, such as can result from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These patients would be unable to speak without intervention, but with neurotechnology can be offered the chance to communicate. The nature of the technology introduces a neuroprosthesis that mediates neural activity to generate synthesised speech. How word prediction coheres with speaker intentions requires scrutiny. Some future forms of prostheses, using statistical language models to predict word patterns, could be thought of as participating with communicative intent - not merely channelling it. Concepts relating to vicarious liability, may serve to clarify these issues. This column shows how technology might interact with speaker intent in cases of delegated action, and how it should be seen as participating in the implementation of user "instructions".
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stephen Rainey
- Research Fellow, The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford
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Stahl BC, Wakunuma K, Rainey S, Hansen C. Improving brain computer interface research through user involvement - The transformative potential of integrating civil society organisations in research projects. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0171818. [PMID: 28207882 PMCID: PMC5313172 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2016] [Accepted: 01/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) often aims to provide solutions for vulnerable populations, such as individuals with diseases, conditions or disabilities that keep them from using traditional interfaces. Such research thereby contributes to the public good. This contribution to the public good corresponds to a broader drive of research and funding policy that focuses on promoting beneficial societal impact. One way of achieving this is to engage with the public. In practical terms this can be done by integrating civil society organisations (CSOs) in research. The open question at the heart of this paper is whether and how such CSO integration can transform the research and contribute to the public good. To answer this question the paper describes five detailed qualitative case studies of research projects including CSOs. The paper finds that transformative impact of CSO integration is possible but by no means assured. It provides recommendations on how transformative impact can be promoted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernd Carsten Stahl
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Kutoma Wakunuma
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen Rainey
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Christian Hansen
- Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
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Eberhardt JE, Rainey S, Stevens RJ, Sowerby BD, Tickner JR. Fast neutron radiography scanner for the detection of contraband in air cargo containers. Appl Radiat Isot 2005; 63:179-88. [PMID: 15963428 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2005.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2005] [Revised: 04/18/2005] [Accepted: 04/18/2005] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
There is a growing need to rapidly scan bulk air cargo for contraband such as illicit drugs and explosives. The Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have been working with Australian Customs Service to develop a scanner capable of directly scanning airfreight containers in 1--2 minutes without unpacking. The scanner combines fast neutron and gamma-ray radiography to provide high-resolution images that include information on material composition. A full-scale prototype scanner has been successfully tested in the laboratory and a commercial-scale scanner is due to be installed at Brisbane airport in 2005.
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Affiliation(s)
- J E Eberhardt
- CSIRO Minerals, Private Mail Bag 5, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
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Lim CS, Tickner JR, Sowerby BD, Abernethy DA, McEwan AJ, Rainey S, Stevens R, Manias C, Retallack D. An on-belt elemental analyser for the cement industry. Appl Radiat Isot 2001; 54:11-9. [PMID: 11144240 DOI: 10.1016/s0969-8043(00)00180-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
On-line control of raw mill feed composition is a key factor in the improved control of cement plants. A new and improved on-conveyor belt elemental analyser for cement raw mill feed based on neutron inelastic scatter and capture techniques has been developed and tested successfully in Adelaide Brighton's Birkenhead cement plant on highly segregated material with a depth range of 100 to 180 mm. Dynamic tests in the plant have shown analyser RMS total errors of 0.49, 0.52, 0.38 and 0.23 wt% (on a loss free basis) for CaO, SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 respectively, when 10-minute counting periods are used.
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Affiliation(s)
- C S Lim
- CSIRO Minerals, Menai, NSW, Australia.
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Percy ME, Bauer SJ, Rainey S, McLachlan DR, Dhar MS, Joshi JG. Localization of a new ferritin heavy chain sequence present in human brain mRNA to chromosome 11. Genome 1995; 38:450-7. [PMID: 7557358 DOI: 10.1139/g95-059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Two types of ferritin heavy (H) chain clones have been isolated from cDNA libraries of human fetal and adult brain: one corresponds to the ferritin H chain mRNA that is abundant in liver and is called "liver-like" brain cDNA; the other contains an additional 279 nucleotide (nt) sequence in the 3' untranslated region and is called brain ferritin H chain cDNA. To map the 279-nt sequence, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification was carried out using DNA from rodent x human hybrid cell lines containing single human chromosomes as templates, and oligomeric primers homologous to the 3' end of the 279-nt sequence (primer A) and to a coding sequence just 5' to the 279-nt sequence. Significant PCR product of the size expected from analysis of the brain ferritin H chain cDNA clones and a genomic ferritin H chain clone (487 bp) was generated only from hybrid-cell DNA containing human chromosome 11. This PCR product and the "liver-like" brain cDNA (lacking the 279-nt sequence) both hybridized to chromosome 11 fragments that are known to define the well-characterized functional liver ferritin H chain gene and a putative pseudogene. Preliminary data indicate that primer A (and thus the 279-nt sequence) maps to the functional ferritin H chain gene fragments, but binding to the pseudogene has not been ruled out.
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Affiliation(s)
- M E Percy
- Division of Biomedical Services and Research, Surrey Place Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Brizio-Molteni L, Molteni A, Cloutier LC, Rainey S. Incidence of post burn hypertensive crisis in patients admitted to two burn centers and a community hospital in the United States. Scand J Plast Reconstr Surg 1979; 13:21-8. [PMID: 156392 DOI: 10.3109/02844317909013015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Fortynine patients of 193 admitted (25%) with second and third degree burns to 3 hospitals in different geographical areas of the United States developed a hypertensive crisis within three to four days after admission. The crisis usually lasted from 5 days to about two weeks. Serum sodium levels decreased significantly in hypertensive patients one or two days before the peak of the hypertensive crisis and, in the Center where it was measured, plasma renin activity increased in an opposite trend to the fall of sodium. BUN and creatinine reached their highest levels in hypertensive patients two days after the peak of the crisis. Autopsies were performed on 23 patients who succumbed to the injury: eleven of them (48%) were hypertensive and had marked hypertrophy of left and right heart ventricles and of the adrenal glands when compared to the normotensive burn subjects. The cells of the zona fasciculata and the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal glands were very compact at histologic examination thus suggesting hyperactivity. This data shows that the incidence of hypertension in burn subjects is twice as high as that of the US population. Further studies of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and the adrenal cortical function are indicated by the changes in plasma renin activity and the glandular weight and morphology seen at autopsy.
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