Deep Brain Stimulation: A Conversation with Frederic Gilbert

Ethics in Action Podcast

In this sixth episode of our series on brain-computer interfaces, we are joined by Frederic Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert is an Associate Professor in Ethics and the Head of the Discipline for Philosophy at the University of Tasmania. His research focuses on the ethics of novel implantable brain-computer interfaces operated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Dr. Gilbert is a pioneer in various aspects of human-computer interaction, particularly the effects of AI on an individual's sense of control, autonomy, agency, and self, including during treatment for neurological and psychiatric conditions such as dementia, epilepsy, severe depression, Parkinson's disease, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In this episode, we discuss several aspects of Dr. Gilbert’s wide-ranging work, focusing on deep brain stimulation (DBS). We talk about the phenomenological effects of DBS on the user’s sense of agency and autonomy, psychiatric versus neurological use cases of DBS, the BCI companies Neuralink and Synchron, neurorights, informed consent for having a brain-computer interface (BCI) explanted (as opposed to implanted), the burden of abnormality, deteriorative versus restorative estrangement following DBS, predictive neurotechnology, the media and academic hype surrounding mind-reading in neurotechnology, among other topics.