Unethical Abuses of Mapping The Brain

Technology nowadays is advancing so rapidly that scientists can now create a computer that can “read” our minds. This sounds unbelievable but it is definitely an exciting truth. However, this ability of mapping the brain and reading our minds has also brought some inevitable ethical issues.

The first thing is that when such mind reading technology becomes common, our privacy will be easily violated as we cannot even “think silently”. The technology might become so advanced that with a single “scanner”, every single pedestrian’s mind are exposed upon passing over it. People with malicious purpose might use the technology to retrieve important information such as one’s bank account information. Although some of these situations are just pure imagination by now, it is not totally impossible.

Besides, using the technology could violate natural rules. There might be a future when parents try to give their children a brain test. By using the testing results, they determine how they are going to raise their children. What if a brain test tells that a child is very stupid? Are the parents going to give up on him? This is unfair to the children. Their lives might be determined by a single brain test. The parents will lose the invaluable natural experience of raising their children up.

As a result, restrictions must be set up for the use of the brain mapping technology. Only highly authorized institute such as those concerned with national security and research can use the technology. Public should not have access to the technology as they should have no proper purpose to use such sensitive technology. Human right should be taken as the first consideration when using the technology. However, standard becomes unclear especially for a situation that involves interest of two nations instead of benefits of people.

In fact, brain mapping technology should not directly be used to really read people’s mind. Instead, it should be served as a powerful tool to aid research in several fields, such as medical research. With a better understanding of the brain by using the technology, therapy for fatal brain diseases might be possible in the future. A new generation of computer based on our brain could become a reality too.

In conclusion, a new cross-age technology is always very likely to face ethical issues. The same thing happens to genetic engineering too. The final effect of the technology does not depend on how good it is, but on how are the people going to manipulate it.