How Neurotech Start-Ups Envision Ethical Futures: Demarcation, Deferral, Delegation.

Like many ethics debates surrounding emerging technologies, neuroethics is increasingly concerned with the private sector. Here, entrepreneurial visions and claims of how neurotechnology innovation will revolutionize society-from brain-computer-interfaces to neural enhancement and cognitive phenotyping-are confronted with public and policy concerns about the risks and ethical challenges related to such innovations. But while neuroethics frameworks have a longer track record in public sector research such as the U.S. BRAIN Initiative, much less is known about how businesses-and especially start-ups-address ethics in tech development. In this paper, we investigate how actors in the field frame and enact ethics as part of their innovative R&D processes and business models. Drawing on an empirical case study on direct-to-consumer (DTC) neurotechnology start-ups, we find that actors engage in careful boundary-work to anticipate and address public critique of their technologies, which allows them to delineate a manageable scope of their ethics integration. In particular, boundaries are drawn around four areas: the technology's actual capability, purpose, safety and evidence-base. By drawing such lines of demarcation, we suggest that start-ups make their visions of ethical neurotechnology in society more acceptable, plausible and desirable, favoring their innovations while at the same time assigning discrete responsibilities for ethics. These visions establish a link from the present into the future, mobilizing the latter as promissory place where a technology's benefits will materialize and to which certain ethical issues can be deferred. In turn, the present is constructed as a moment in which ethical engagement could be delegated to permissive regulatory standards and scientific authority. Our empirical tracing of the construction of 'ethical realities' in and by start-ups offers new inroads for ethics research and governance in tech industries beyond neurotechnology.

Las ambiciones de la neuroética: fundar científicamente la moral / As ambições da neuroética: fundar cientificamente a moral / The ambitions of neuroethics: to find the scientific fundament of morals

Los progresos recientes en neurociencias han desembocado en problemas éticos. La neurociencia de la ética investiga los mecanismos neurales que posiblemente subyacen a los conceptos y prácticas éticas. El método científico moderno excluye de entrada todos los objetos posibles de investigación científica que no puedan ser reducidos a fenómenos sensoriales observables y mensurables. Pero la esencia del hombre no es ser-ante-los-ojos, sino “existencia”. Contrariamente a todas las otras criaturas, el ser humano se caracteriza por ser comprensor del ser. Como ser-en-el-mundo el hombre está perdido en su cotidianidad en una disipación óntica. Él escucha a su voz de la consciencia cuando lo llama a la autenticidad, es decir, hacia su potencialidad más propia y a aceptar su finitud constitutiva.

The recent progress in neuroscience has led to ethical questions. The neuroscience of ethics investigates the neural mechanisms that may possibly underlie ethical concepts and practices. The modern scientific method rules out in advance as possible objects of scientific investigation all phenomena that cannot be reduced to observable and measurable sensory phenomena. But the essence of man is not “entity” as such (present) but “existence”. Like no other creature awareness of being characterizes him most profoundly. As being-in-the-World humans are lost in their everyday life in ontic dissipation. He listens to the voice of conscience when this call to authenticity, that is, unto its own proper potentiality, and unto accepting his constitutive finitude.

Os progressos recentes em neurociências têm desembocado em problemas éticos. A neurociência da ética investiga os mecanismos neurais possivelmente subjacentes nos conceitos e práticas éticas. O método científico moderno exclui de entrada todos os objetos possíveis de investigação científica que não podem ser reduzidos a fenômenos sensoriais observáveis e mensuráveis. Porém, a essência do homem não é ser-diante-dos-olhos, senão “existir”. Contrariamente a todas as outras criaturas, o ser humano se caracteriza por aquele que compreende o ser. Como ser-no-mundo o homem está perdido em sua cotidianidade numa dissipação ôntica. Ele escuta a voz da consciência quando o chama à autenticidade, ou seja, para a sua potencialidade mais própria e a aceitar a sua finitude constitutiva.

[Biologism controversy: ethical implications for psychiatry]. / Biologismus-Kontroversen: Ethische Implikationen für die Psychiatrie.

Current biological psychiatry, it is frequently claimed by its opponents, is "biologistic" and unduly narrows psychological disorders to neurobiology and molecular biology. They deem a complete neuroscientific reduction of the mental phenomena to be impossible because of the impossibility of reducing certain phenomena, such as the individual subjective experience. If such a reduction is nevertheless undertaken it is ultimately to the disadvantage of the patients. We argue in this article that the very term "biologism" has to be put under scrutiny in the first place. As a result it becomes obvious that "biologism", as a subclass of "philosophical naturalism", is ultimately quite unproblematic. Biologism is dangerous only if it implies an eliminative rejection or an inappropriate underestimation of the relevance of the psyche. On closer examination it gets evident that such implications do not follow necessarily from biologism but cannot be precluded either. To better identify and possibly prevent such dangers, a more differentiated terminology seems helpful.

Avances en enfoques multidisciplinarios y en diversas especies para el examen de la neurobiología de los trastornos psiquiátricos / Advances in multidisciplinary and cross-species approaches to examine the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders

Los enfoques actualmente utilizados para analizar la neurobiología molecular de trastornos neuropsiquiátricos complejos, como la esquizofrenia y la depresión mayor, han sido criticados con razón por no aportar un beneficio a los pacientes. La mejora del potencial translacional de nuestros trabajos requerirá el desarrollo y perfeccionamiento de mejores modelos de la enfermedad, que tengan en cuenta una amplia variedad de factores contribuyentes, como la variación genética, las interacciones entre gen y entorno, la determinación del endofenotipo o el fenotipo intermedio, el análisis en distintas especies, las diferencias entre sexos y las etapas del desarrollo. En el transcurso de una reunión específica de expertos del European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), celebrada en Estambul, abordamos las oportunidades y los fallos existentes en los modelos animales translacionales actuales de los trastornos psiquiátricos y acordamos una serie de guías y recomendaciones clave que pensamos que serán útiles para orientar la ulterior investigación en este campo (AU)

Current approaches to dissect the molecular neurobiology of complex neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major depression have been rightly criticized for failing to provide benefits to patients. Improving the translational potential of our efforts will require the development and refinement of better disease models that consider a wide variety of contributing factors, such as genetic variation, gene-by-environment interactions, endophenotype or intermediate phenotype assessment, cross species analysis, sex differences, and developmental stages. During a targeted expert meeting of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) in Istanbul, we addressed the opportunities and pitfalls of current translational animal models of psychiatric disorders and agreed on a series of core guidelines and recommendations that we believe will help guiding further research in this area (AU)

Bridging autism, science and society: moving toward an ethically informed approach to autism research.

Recent developments in the science of autism have provoked widespread unease among autism activists. Drawing on the findings of a major international gathering of researchers, ethicists, and activists, this paper presents the first major analysis of the ethical questions arising from this unease. We outline the scientific developments that have provoked the most discomfort, analyze the response to these developments from within and without the autism community, and trace the current state of the ethical debate. Having done so, we contend that these ethical questions are unlikely to be resolved as they depend on fundamentally conflicting assumptions about the nature and desirability of neurocognitive difference. We conclude by arguing for a new range of democratic mechanisms that could enable the scientific community, autistics, and other concerned parties to respond collectively to such entrenched ethical disputes.