Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to innervate nerve cells in the brain. TMS can be very useful in numerous clinical settings, such as depression, stroke, Parkinson’s, etc. Pavon and Harvey (20 22) evaluated how noninvasive transcranial magnetic brain stimulation can treat stroke patients. TMS can help with pain, potentially help with memory (long term potentiation and cortical excitability), and revive any injured synapses (Pavon and Harvey 2022). They ultimately found that TMS can be very helpful to treat stroke, but there is limited knowledge of the parameters needed to actually be an effective, global treatment.
Transcranial magnetic brain stimulation’s growing popularity in the field of neuroscience has raised questions with how versatile the method can be. With the growth of technology, it should come as a surprise that some have considered using TMS to read and control minds. In “Mind Reading and Mind Control Technologies Are Coming,” author R. Douglas Fields aims to evaluate the ethical complications of TMS for recreational use. A neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon is trying to evaluate how to use TMS to understand what someone is thinking (Fields 2020). They believe the benefits outweigh the potential harms, as with this technological advancement, they would be able to detect how someone responds to things such as death, and they would be able to predict if someone has thoughts of suicide (Fields 2020). However, I believe that this causes so many issues, such as privacy, control, autonomy, and many more.
This problem of security and control also reminds me of Elon Musk’s brain chip, neuralink. Neuralink is a brain chip aiming to enhance the brain’s cognitive capabilities, with a focus on medical treatment. Neuralink, like TMS, could be beneficial for patients with medical ailments such as Parkinson’s, but raises the same risks, as both devices could potentially be used to read someone’s thoughts. Thus, both devices raise so many questions. Who controls how the device is used? Who has knowledge of what the other person is thinking? What gives them the authority to handle such a device? Thoughts are the most private thing we have, but with technology today, this privacy may no longer be so sacred to us anymore.
References
Fields, R. D. (2020, March 10). Mind reading and mind control technologies are coming.
Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/mind-reading-and-mind-control-techno
Hernandez-Pavon;, J. C., & Harvey, R. L. (2022, February 21)). Noninvasive transcranial magnetic brain
stimulation in stroke. Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America.
Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30954150/
Kay, G. (2022, April 25). Elon Musk says Neuralink's brain chip will be 'similar in complexity
level to Smart watches'. Business Insider. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-chip-similar-complexity-smartwatch-2022-4
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