Duke Law professor discusses her new book exploring the pros and cons of neurotechnology

April 6th, 2023

Nita Farahany, the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy at Duke University, joins “Closer Look to discuss her new book “The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.” (Photo credit: Merritt Chesson)

Nita Farahany, the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy at Duke University and the founding director of the Duke Initiative for Science and Society, says most people know their cholesterol levels and heart rate, but most people don’t know what’s happening in their own brain.

“We haven’t taken our brain health as seriously and treated it as aggressively as our physical health,” said Farahany.

Brain data, decoding your brain and cognitive liberty are some of the topics explored in Farahany’s new book “The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.”

On Thursday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Farahany — who also served as the former commissioner on the U.S. Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues during the Obama administration — discussed her book and talked about how, despite its potential benefits, without safeguards neurotechnology could severely threaten fundamental rights to privacy.

Farahany says that because the electrical activity in your brain reflects how you are thinking, what you are thinking, and how you are feeling, there are several risks when companies have access to your brain data.