The risk of neurotechnology as an instrument of colonialism

Abstract

A new path to address neurologic and mental health disorders beyond pharmacological and behavioural interventions has been carved by neurotechnology. The path includes both invasive, intracranial interventions and non-invasive wearable ones. These are systems that record brain signals, stimulate areas of the brain and spinal cord, or both, through open loop systems that feed information to external sources, or closed-loop internal feedback mechanisms. The majority involve various forms of artificial intelligence (AI), and to date, questions about the responsibilities that developers shoulder towards users of these technologies for either medical or non-medical purposes have primarily focused on self-determination, access and human rights. Although the engagement of and with Indigenous Peoples in neuroscience research and innovation has been accelerating over time, little attention has been paid to how advances with neurotechnology may beneficially or dangerously reshape communities whose identities are deeply rooted in traditional beliefs about brain and mind, whose views on neurology and mental health are more about wellness than disease, and who have significant reasons to mistrust Western science and medicine given neglect and abuses of the past.