Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We are on the cusp of an explosion of cheap, consumer-ready neurotechnology - from earbuds that gather our behavioral data, to sensors that can read our dreams. And it’s all going to be supercharged by AI. This technology is moving from niche to mainstream - and it has the same potential to become exponential.
Legal scholar Nita Farahany talks us through the current state of neurotechnology and its deep links to AI. She says that we urgently need to protect the last frontier of privacy: our internal thoughts. And she argues that without a new legal framework around “cognitive liberty,” we won’t be able to insulate our brains from corporate and government intrusion.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology by Nita Farahany (nitafarahany.com/the-battle-for-your-brain)
The Battle for Your Brain offers a path forward to navigate the complex dilemmas that will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves
Computer Program Reveals What Neurons in the Visual Cortex Prefer to Look At (https://hms.harvard.edu/news/easy-eyes)
A study of macaque monkeys at Harvard generated valuable clues based on an artificial intelligence system that can reliably determine what neurons in the brain’s visual cortex prefer to see
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262631594/understanding-media/)
An influential work by a fixture in media discourse
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
The Three Rules of Humane Tech (humanetech.com/podcast/the-three-rules-of-humane-tech)
Talking With Animals… Using AI (humanetech.com/podcast/talking-with-animals-using-ai)
How to Free Our Minds with Cult Deprogramming Expert Dr. Steven Hassan (humanetech.com/podcast/51-how-to-free-our-minds)
Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology (humanetech.com/) . Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_ (twitter.com/humanetech_)
We are on the cusp of an explosion of cheap, consumer-ready neurotechnology - from earbuds that gather our behavioral data, to sensors that can read our dreams. And it’s all going to be supercharged by AI. This technology is moving from niche to mainstream - and it has the same potential to become exponential.
Legal scholar Nita Farahany talks us through the current state of neurotechnology and its deep links to AI. She says that we urgently need to protect the last frontier of privacy: our internal thoughts. And she argues that without a new legal framework around “cognitive liberty,” we won’t be able to insulate our brains from corporate and government intrusion.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology by Nita Farahany (nitafarahany.com/the-battle-for-your-brain)
The Battle for Your Brain offers a path forward to navigate the complex dilemmas that will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves
Computer Program Reveals What Neurons in the Visual Cortex Prefer to Look At (https://hms.harvard.edu/news/easy-eyes)
A study of macaque monkeys at Harvard generated valuable clues based on an artificial intelligence system that can reliably determine what neurons in the brain’s visual cortex prefer to see
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262631594/understanding-media/)
An influential work by a fixture in media discourse
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
The Three Rules of Humane Tech (humanetech.com/podcast/the-three-rules-of-humane-tech)
Talking With Animals… Using AI (humanetech.com/podcast/talking-with-animals-using-ai)
How to Free Our Minds with Cult Deprogramming Expert Dr. Steven Hassan (humanetech.com/podcast/51-how-to-free-our-minds)
Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology (humanetech.com/) . Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_ (twitter.com/humanetech_)
