WIE ILC 2022 - Wrapping Your Head Around Mind Control: Ethical Implications of Neurotechnology

Neurotechnology is being increasingly deployed across a wide range of applications. This panel addresses the frameworks needed to evaluate the ethical, legal, social, and cultural implications that may arise with these deployments.

About the Panelists:

- Dr. Laura Cabrera is the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neuroethics. She is an Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Philosophy at Penn State University. She is a Research Associate at the Rock Ethics Institute, and affiliated with the Center for Neural Engineering. She is also Faculty Affiliate at Neuroethics Canada, University of British Columbia. Dr. Cabrera is an honorific member of the Mexican Neuroethics Society, chair of the IEEE Brain Neuroethics Subcommittee, and member of the International Neuroethics Society (INS) Board of Directors. Dr. Cabrera's interests focus on the ethical, societal and cultural implications of neurotechnologies used for treatment as well as for non-medical purposes.

- Jennifer French is the Founder and Executive Director of Neurotech Network, a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and advocacy of neurotechnologies. She is an early user of an experimental implanted neural prosthesis for paralysis and is the President and Founding member of the North American SCI Consortium. Jennifer has been featured in several media outlets and is an accomplished writer and speaker. French has helped launch successful divisions in such organizations as Bombardier Capital and Connection, as well as several nonprofit organizations and patient engagement programs. She serves on several advisory boards including the IEEE Neuroethics Initiative, NINDS Common Data Elements, OpenMinds platform and the American Bionics Project. She is the current Chair of the CDMRP Spinal Cord Injury Research Program programmatic committee. She is the author of On My Feet Again (Neurotech Press, 2013) and is co-author of Bionic Pioneers (Neurotech Press, 2014).

- Nicole Martinez-Martin is a biomedical ethicist, with a background in law and social sciences. Her research interests include neuroethics, the ethics of AI and digital psychiatry, and the ethics of emerging technologies applied to the brain sciences, with a particular focus on equity, privacy, and fairness.

- Mark A. Vasquez (moderator) is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) with over 25 years of experience in association management at IEEE. He currently serves as the senior program manager for IEEE TechEthics, a program that drives conversations about the ethical and societal impacts of technology. In this capacity, he works to develop relationships with others in the technology ethics community, produces events, convenes thought leaders, and more. Mark is an engineering graduate of The Cooper Union.

Produced in partnership with IEEE Brain (https://brain.ieee.org) and IEEE TechEthics (https://techethics.ieee.org).