Wednesday, March 8 at 7 PM EST. A Virtual Conversation with Nita A. Farahany, Author of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
David Levine
A Virtual Conversation with Nita A. Farahany, Author of The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
Wednesday, March 8 at 7 PM EST on Zoom
A new dawn of brain tracking and hacking is coming. Will you be prepared for what comes next?
Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, your thoughts can be used as evidence of a crime, and your own feelings can be held against you. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions.
Neuroscience has already made all of this possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the “universal controller” for all of our interactions with technology. This can benefit humanity immensely, but without safeguards, it can seriously threaten our fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination.
On March 8, SWINY co-chair David Levine (@dlloydlevine) will talk with Nita A. Farahany (@NitaFarahany), professor of philosophy at Duke University, about her new book, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology (March 14, St. Martin’s Press). One of the world’s foremost experts on the ethics of neuroscience, her book offers a path forward to navigate the complex legal and ethical dilemmas that will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves.
About Nita A. Farahany
Nita A. Farahany is a leading scholar on the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies. She is the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School, the founding director of Duke Science & Society, the faculty chair of the Duke MA in Bioethics & Science Policy, and principal investigator of SLAP Lab.
Professor Farahany is a frequent commentator for national media and radio shows and a regular keynote speaker. She presents her work to diverse academic, legal, corporate, and public audiences including at TED, the World Economic Forum, Aspen Ideas Festival, Judicial Conferences for US Court of Appeals, scientific venue including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Neuroscience, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, and by testifying before Congress.
Her current scholarship focuses on the implications of emerging neuroscience, genomics, and artificial intelligence for law and society; legal and bioethical issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; FDA law and policy; and the use of science and technology in criminal law.
In 2010, Professor Farahany was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and served until 2017. She is an appointed member of the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for Neurological Disease and Stroke, an elected member of the American Law Institute and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, past President of the International Neuroethics Society, an ELSI (ethical, legal, and social implications) advisor to the NIH Brain Initiative and to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an appointed member of both the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders and the Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and a member of the Global Future Council on Frontier Risks and Expert Network for the World Economic Forum.
Professor Farahany received her AB in genetics, cell, and developmental biology from Dartmouth College, an ALM in biology from Harvard University, and a JD and MA from Duke University, as well as a PhD in philosophy. In 2004-2005, Farahany clerked for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, after which she joined the law faculty at Vanderbilt University. In 2011, she was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Stanford Law School.
Have a question for Professor Farahany you would like answered? Submit it here.
When:
Wednesday, March 8, 7 to 8 pm EST
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uRCJPjbATf-HzFMt-X0qBw