# Presentation: 279789

## BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES FROM BENCH TO HEADLINE

**Eric Racine, PhD**
- Center for Biomedical Ethics
- Stanford University

**Cognitive Systems: Human Cognitive Models in System Design**
- Sandia National Laboratories
- University of New Mexico
- United States Naval Research Laboratory
**Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 6-8, 2005**

**Neuroethics** **Imaging Group**

## Introduce to ethics in neuroscience research

Identify and analyze potential pitfalls and solutions in science communication

Discuss the role of communication and public involvement in ethics

- Identify and analyze potential pitfalls and solutions in science communication
- Discuss the role of communication and public involvement in ethics

**OBJECTIVES**

## Background
Neuroethics
Science communication
Case analysis
Ratbot case
Preliminary results
Implications
Revisite traditional model of science communication
Explore implications

- Neuroethics
- Science communication
**Case analysis**
- Ratbot case
- Preliminary results
**Implications**
- Revisite traditional model of science communication
- Explore implications

**PLAN**

## NEUROETHICS & SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

## FRONTIER NEUROTECHNOLOGY

| NEURO-TECHNOLOGY | DESCRIPTION | SAMPLE ISSUES |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brain-Machine Interfaces | Advances in functional interfaces.  | Safety, reliability.
Consent of vulnerable patients.
Access to BMIs. |
| Neuro-pharmacology | Development of specific molecules. | Smart drugs, enhancement of normal function and cosmetic neurology. |
| Neurogenetics | Development of 
neurogenetic tests. | Stigma of psychiatric and neurological diseases.
Discrimination.  |
| Neuroimaging | Advances in structural and functional imaging. | Incidental findings.
Respect for privacy. |

## HOW WE USUALLY THINK OF 

**Public**
**and Stakeholders**

**HOW WE USUALLY THINK OF **
**SCIENCE COMMUNICATION**
**EXPERTISE MODEL**

## CASE STUDY

## S.K. Talwar, S. Xu, E.S. Hawley, S.A. Weiss, K.A. Moxon & J.K. Chapin. Rat navigation guided by remote control (May 2, 2002). Nature 417: 37-38

**Subtitle**: “Free animals can be 'virtually' trained by microstimulating key areas of their brains”.
**Findings/Implications**: “Combined with electronic sensing and navigation technology, a guided rat can be developed into an effective 'robot' that will possess several natural advantages over current mobile robots. Moreover, the ability to receive brain sensory activity remotely and interpret it accurately could allow a guided rat to function as both a mobile robot and a biological sensor”.

## T. Clarke. Here come the ratbots. (May 2, 2002). Nature 

**Subtitle**: “Desire drives remote-controlled rodents”.
**Findings/Implications**: “Remote-controlled rats could soon be detecting earthquake survivors or leading bomb-disposal teams to buried land mines. Signals from a laptop up to 500 meters away make the rats run, climb, jump and even cross brightly lit open spaces, contrary to their instincts. (...) "They work for pleasure," says Sanjiv Talwar (...) "The rat feels nirvana," (...) Then 'ratbots' equipped with satellite positioning tags could be used as smart sensors. The research arm of the US defense department is funding the work”.

## WHY THIS STORY?

- Brain-machine interface research
- Leading research team
- Dual-use R&D
- Study published in a highly visible journal
- Covered by *Nature*’s news service
- Highly-publicized case and availability of coverage
- Distance in time
- Led to debate on research ethics, researcher responsibility and BMI research

## PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

**Sample**
*LexisNexis Academic*
- Keyword searches
- N=43 original articles

**Coding**
*Media coverage*
- Origin of article
- Type of article
- Source of publication
- Funding source
- Qualifications
- Quoted people
*Content*
- Focus of article
- Benefits
- Ethical issues
- Tone

## COVERAGE

**COVERAGE**

## NEWS WIRES HEADLINES

- Ratbots: Here they come to save the day!, *Cox News Service*, May 1, 2002.
- US scientists use remote control to guide rats, *Agence France Presse*, May 1, 2002.
- 'Remote controlled rats could lead to rodents searching disaster sights or tracking land mines,' says Drexel researcher, *Business Wire*, May 2, 2002.

## REPORTSHEADLINES

- Computer-controlled rodents to the rescue, *The Scotsman*, May 2, 2002
- Hi-tech rats soon on bomb squad, *The Advertiser*, May 2, 2002

- Remote-control rats raise ethical issues for humans, *Sacramento Bee*, May 2, 2002
- From robo-rat to mind control, *Montreal Gazette*, May 2, 2002
- The animal research I can't defend: Roborats give serious scientists the chance to draw an ethical line, *The Guardian*, May 2, 2002

## QUOTATIONS

- Articles (%)

| Quotations |  N |
| --- | --- |
|   Other researchers | 15 |
|   Ethicists & lawyers | 8 |
|   Interest groups | 4 |
|   Policy-makers | 1 |

## ARTICLE FOCUS

- Articles (%)

## LEAD PARAGRAPHS

- 	“Scientists have made remote-control rats with electrodes in their brains. They can command them to turn left or right, climb trees and navigate piles of rubble.  Fitted with video cameras, they could search for disaster survivors (*The Mirror*, May 2, 2002)”.

- Articles (%)

## BENEFITS

**TONE**

**BENEFITS**

- Articles (%)

## ETHICAL ISSUES

- Articles (%)

- Minor

- Major

## MAJOR ISSUES- ANIMAL RIGHTS -

- “Mary Beth Sweetland, vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal-rights group based in Norfolk, Va., was not impressed. **"Rats are not Tonka trucks with whiskers," she said** (*The Scotman*, May 2, 2002)”.
**“****What's creepy about the robotized rats isn't that they're unhappy. It's that they're happy doing things no autonomous rat would do **(*Slate Magazine*, May 9, 2002)”.

## MAJOR ISSUES- MIND CONTROL AND HUMAN BMIs -

- “But what if some future implant, billed as a medical miracle, were also **secretly encoded to direct thought, getting a person to think like Big Brother, or to work harder for managers at corporate control**, or to follow the orders of a Mephistopheles (*The Boston Globe*, May 5, 2002)?”
- “Yet it isn't just the paranoid who worry that such technologies could be used for brain enhancement rather than therapy, or** that the mating of mind and machine could turn people into something akin to roborats**” (USA Today, May 2, 2002)”.

## IMPACT

- Criticial letters to newspaper editors (N=7)
- Critical examination of BMI research in *Nature *and following debate
- 	Neuroengineering: Remote control. Could wiring up soldiers' brains to the fighting machines they control be the future face of warfare? (Hoag H. Nature. 2003 Jun 19;423(6942):796-8).
- 	Silence of the neuroengineers. (Editorial. Nature. 2003 Jun 19;423(6942):787).
- 	Military-funded research is not unethical (Rizzuto DS, Breznen B, Greger B. 2003. *Nature*. Jul 24;424(6947):369).
- 	Military: brain machine could benefit millions (Rudolph A. 2003. *Nature*. Jul 24;424(6947):369).

## LIMITATIONS

- Small N
- One case
- Print media
*LexisNexis*

## REVISITING COMMUNICATION & ETHICS

## HOW WE USUALLY THINK OF 

**Public**
**and Stakeholders**

**HOW WE USUALLY THINK OF **
**SCIENCE COMMUNICATION**
**EXPERTISE MODEL**

## REVISITING COMMUNICATION & ETHICS

| Assumptions of expertise model | Insights from this study |
| --- | --- |
| Communication initiated by isolated researchers | Communication leads to involvement of multiple actors |
| Researchers are experts | Researchers make “ordinary people” comments |
| Science is a community | Media can emphasize scientific controversies and debates |
| Distortion of message should be avoided | Some distortion is unavoidable |
| Scientists control content | Scientists are one source of information |

## REVISITING COMMUNICATION & ETHICS

| Assumptions of expertise model | Insights from this study |
| --- | --- |
| Science is objective | Science brings speculation and over-interpretation |
| Science is rational and free of value | Science includes applications and values sustaining them
Science brings reactions based on personal belief and culture |
| Science is driven by knowledge | Applications lead interest in science |
| Science is a discourse of experts | Science is a social discourse |
| Communication is unidirectional | Flow of information is multidirectional |

## MULTIDIRECTIONAL MODEL- ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS - 

- Understanding and attending to multiple sources of information
- Understanding the origins of ethical issues to give insight into the ethics
- Recognizing pluralism and diversity
- Promoting approaches taking into account pluralism and public discussion from the onset

## MULTIDIRECTIONAL MODEL

- Racine et al. 2005  *Nat. Rev. Neuro*.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

- Thanks to
- 	Judy Illes, PhD
- 	Sarah Waldman
- 	Neuroethics Imaging Group
- Supported by NIH/NINDS R01 #NS045831 (J.I.), SSHRC (E.R.)
**Please visit http://neuroethics.stanford.edu**

## SCIENCE COMMUNICATION & NEUROETHICS 

**Bioethics**** **
- What risks and concerns are communicated? How? By whom?** **

**Social science**
- Are there broader social issues in neuroscience communication?

**Neuroscience**** **Exciting domain of research and technology.