The limits and the ethics of consumer profiling

Abstract

An ethics of neuroscience is inexorably linked to the discovery of prediction limits and to the influence these sciences could have on us. Almost following in Kant’s footsteps, we could say that once we know how much we can learn, we will also know how far we can take our action. And once we know how far we can take our action, we will be able to make some ethical guidelines that can regulate the fundamentals of human existence. The necessity of setting rigorous standards for consumer profiling in the neuromarketing field is due not only to the future potential threats and the present potential of technology, but also to the tendency of neuromarketing to rapidly extend further to insufficiently mapped ethical areas. We are basically confronted with a situation of cultural lag and it is not clear how this can be ameliorated. Due to the fact that it is not an academic field, even though it sometimes converges with it, neuromarketing is not subject to a restrictive ethics. It is rather difficult to develop a proper and rigorous ethics both because of the fast pace of change and of the misunderstanding of the neuroscience potential in general and that of neuromarketing in particular. It is possible that in the near future computers will execute complex automated profiling operations the criteria and mode of operation of which may remain unknown to the human mind. This will lead to an increase in the complexity of the profiling/process, thus requiring accurate ethical solutions.