NEUROETHICS INITIATIVE

The next decade of brain science has the potential to reshape the human experience.

If we are passive, the coming brain revolution will either fall short of its potential or drift towards negative outcomes. With BrainMind’s vision to form a new vital connective tissue between the lab and society, our responsible innovation initiative considers how to encourage decision-making that maximizes the potential benefits and minimizes the unintended hazards that accompany rapid innovations in brain science.

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ASILOMAR FOR THE BRAIN AND MIND

In 2025, BrainMind will convene a sector-defining summit: "Asilomar for the Brain and Mind." This global, multi-sectoral meeting will focus on the research, development, distribution, and use of near-term innovations in brain science. Regulation will never keep pace with technological innovation. We need to build neuroethics into the culture. Influential leaders across brain science sectors must come together to adopt unified ethical principles and practical tools for responsible neuroinnovation.

This meeting will not reinvent the wheel. Neuroethics principles and guidelines have already been developed in committee meetings internationally (US BRAIN Initiative, OECD, IEEE, GNS, others) but most of the people translating ideas out of the lab are either unaware of these guidelines and standards or don’t know how to use them in their day-to-day decision-making. Asilomar will catalyze adoption of practical tools and methods to navigate ethical questions throughout the innovation process.

Examples of practical neuroethics tools to be disseminated at Asilomar:

1. “Points to Consider” questionnaire for funders to screen candidate companies and researchers

2. Practical benchmarks for entrepreneurs and scientists such as bylaws for responsible neurotechnology companies, and codes of ethics created by exemplar labs, funds, and companies

3. Other implementable frameworks such as a Neuroscience ESG

PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT

The Asilomar conference will include deep engagement with private sector stakeholders, including investors, entrepreneurs, philanthropic organizations, and life science and tech leaders. Tremendous private and corporate investments have been directed into brain research in recent years and commercialization of brain technologies will have an unprecedented influence on individual lives and societies. 

BrainMind is uniquely suited for a convening role at Asilomar because of our capacity to engage leaders in the private sector. Our 3,000-member community includes individuals at the highest reaches of their respective industries: Midas list investors, widely revered technology entrepreneurs, past and future Nobel laureates. These leaders are making strategic decisions at the most influential institutions in the world. BrainMind has already organized several world class Summits since 2018, at Stanford, MIT, and at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

PLANNING and ADVISORY MEETINGS

SPECIAL BREAKOUT SESSION AT THE BRAINMIND SPECIAL FORUM ON NEUROMODULATION, BCI, AND AI 2024

The First Brain Data Law Just Passed. What Do You Need to Know – and What’s Next?

It is essential that leaders in neurotechnology—companies, investors, scientists, and more—know about and shape public policy and industry standards. Dr. Rafael Yuste, along with Jamie Daves, came together for a behind-the-scenes briefing on the latest developments in U.S. and global regulation and industry practices. The session covered the precedent-setting Colorado neurotech legislation and highlighted what was expected next in the U.S. and worldwide. Dr. Karen Rommelfanger moderated an interactive discussion on strategies stakeholders could use to navigate the emerging regulatory and industry environments, advance innovation, and foster public trust. Participants were encouraged to pose questions, share experiences, and engage in debate. The session provided a critical opportunity for stakeholders to learn more and get involved in determining what would come next.

ETHICS AND BRAIN SCIENCE SUNSET TEA PARTY 2024

Co-hosted with UNESCO and the MIT Media Lab

The purpose of this gathering was to discuss the recent UNESCO draft for a global standard on the Ethics of Neurotechnology, providing feedback and insight that was then used to guide the final draft. Nataliya Kosmyna, Ph.D, Expert Group Member, UNESCO Neuroethics, Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab, led the discussions. This was a unique experience to listen to our community and gather individual voices to help establish comprehensive guidelines and protocols globally.

Before convening, participants were asked to read the UNESCO draft for a global standard on the Ethics of Neurotechnology, and come prepared to discuss and lend their unique opinion. Diverse stakeholders were gathered, from students to entrepreneurs to investors, in order to gather more comprehensive feedback and insights.

BrainMind-OECD Neuroethics Advisory Committee

VIRTUAL ADVISORY MEETINGS (2021)

In 2021 and into 2022, BrainMind has convened sector-specific advisory meetings on practical neuroethics engagement in a virtual setting. These sessions helped us to better understand the incentives driving decision-making by stakeholders across neuro-innovation.

BrainMind has been building an active forum for deep discussion on responsible innovation across traditionally siloed disciplines, uniquely connecting neuroethicists with neuroscientists, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders to an unrivaled degree. An immediate outcome has been increased sense of community and enthusiasm for neuroethics amongst our stakeholders, not to mention increased momentum and enthusiasm for an Asilomar-style summit. As we prepare to host “Asilomar for the Brain and Mind,” we are building clear plans for engagement and simultaneously attracting aspirational participants to join the initiative.

ADVISORS and CONTRIBUTORS

First Neuroethics Advisory Committee

PURPOSE

The goal of this advisory committee meeting was to begin designing the agenda for BrainMind’s global neuroethics summit focused on the research, development, distribution, and use of existing and near-term innovations in brain science, to be convened at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in California. With this summit, we envision the collaborative creation of ethics guidance for members of the BrainMind ecosystem and its partners, including neuroscientists (basic to clinical), entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, major industry stakeholders, and policymakers. Over the 1.5-day meeting, we asked this group to help identify the most important and practically relevant topics for discussion within neuroethics, to suggest individuals and organizations to be included in the summit and further planning efforts, and to help think through how to implement the resulting output in the real world. The findings from this meeting has been collated into a report that will guide future advisory sessions with key international and business stakeholders.

TOPICS

Topics of discussion for the BrainMind Neuroethics Summit will be focused on practical guidelines around neurotechnology and science likely to significantly impact human beings in the next ten years. In the effort to advance neuroscience for the benefit of humanity, we will look closely at the intersections among neuroscience, technology, brains, and minds with respect to such areas as memory and memory editing, narrative identity, psychological continuity, agency, moral responsibility and legal culpability, brain computer interfaces, mind-reading, embryo selection and genome editing for cognitive ability or other mental traits, boundaries between normal variation and mental illness, and ethical considerations for both philanthropic and commercial investment in research that touches these neuroethical issues.

OUR APPROACH

Experts have suggested that the neuroscience community (and scientists in general) tend to associate the term “ethics” with restrictive regulatory oversight, leading to avoidance of the subject. BrainMind’s neuroethics initiative will not focus on restricting innovation, nor will it revisit long-discussed bioethics issues concerning the brain, such as nonhuman primate research limitations and protections for human subjects. The health of the intellectual endeavor depends upon taking special care with terms like “governance” as this type of language tends to alienate the groups we hope to engage. Regulatory matters have been and continue to be ably handled by bioethicists and IRBs in consultation with experts such as those serving on our national advisory board.

OUTCOMES

The vision of the BrainMind neuroethics initiative is to create an active forum for deep discussion on neuroethics across traditionally siloed disciplines, connecting neuroethicists with neuroscientists, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders, as well as philanthropists and the broader community. Small multi-sectoral advisory meetings will build trust and a shared vocabulary across professional communities. This collaborative discourse will empower BrainMind ecosystem members who have little exposure to neuroethics to engage with their work with a healthy understanding of its potential impact on society.

A planned virtual roundtable series to follow the Advisory Committee meeting in 2020 will yield significant insights that will shape the agenda for the large Asilomar Summit.

SUPPORTERS

The BrainMind National Neuroethics Advisory Committee Meeting was made possible with sponsorship from The Kavli Foundation and the Charles A. Dana Foundation, with co-hosting support from the Duke Initiative for Science and Society.