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Project

The implications of neurotechnological developments on the protection of the human mind. Are we in need of an updated human rights framework?

Although neurotechnologies are still in their infancy, they are expected to rapidly expand, resulting in an ever-wider range of applications and an unprecedented intrusion into the human mind. Largely novel risks related to the monitoring, manipulation, and even control of the mind will raise significant challenges for our human rights framework. Currently, the debate on this issue is very fragmented and dominated by non-legal perspectives. My research will be the first to engage in a comprehensive legal analysis, aimed at answering the question as to whether the current human rights framework is able to adequately respond to the challenges raised by neurotechnological developments, or whether it needs to be amended. The overarching goals are: (1) to examine the implications of neurotechnological developments for the human mind; (2) to determine whether and, if so, how these implications are addressed by the human rights framework; (3) to assess on that basis the adequacy of the existing human rights framework; and (4) to examine whether there is a need to clarify existing human rights or, alternatively, to supplement them with neuro-specific human rights to improve the human rights response and to make it future proof.
Date:1 Nov 2021 →  Today
Keywords:HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Disciplines:Human rights law, Bioethics