Authors:
Maria Cernat
1
;
Dumitru Borțun
1
and
Corina Sorana Matei
2
Affiliations:
1
Communication and Public Relations Department, National School of Political Science and Administration, Romania
;
2
Communication and Public Relations Department, Titu Maiorescu University, Romania
Keyword(s):
Human-Computer Interaction, Political Economy of Scientific Discoveries, Ethics of Computer Science Research, Commodification of Scientific Discoveries.
Abstract:
In an experiment presented to the public, a monkey with a Neuralink inserted in its brain is able interact directly with the computer. The Neuralink experiment opens the door to an extremely complex debate with questions ranging from ontology to epistemology. We explore the political economy of these cutting-edge technologies. What we aim to investigate are ethical questions, namely: is it ethical to install such a device in someone's brain and connect it to a computer? And who controls the computer, since it is plausible to assume that the communication could be bidirectional? We argue that this is in fact the key question we, as social scientists, IT specialists, and computer science specialists, have to ask and attempt to find answers to. Oftentimes, scientific discoveries could lead to disasters and in the era of "surveillance capitalism" we could easily imagine a scenario where companies are competing to gain access to our consciousness, and where our decisions are being markete
d and sold to the higher bidder. Scientific discoveries do not occur in a purely rational society and questions of power, access, and control are vital for a future where technology and society are not at odds.
(More)