Technologies on the stand

Overview

Neurotechnologies, such as functional Mangetich Resonance Imaging and Deep Brain Stimulation, are used in the health sector for research, diagnosis, and therapy. But, neurotechnologies could also be used for human enhancement, for instance, to improve cognitive functions. Moreover, insights from neuroscience are increasingly used for legal purposes, for instance, to determine a suspect's responsibility for his actions or to distinguish truthful from deceptive statements. These three domains of application raise different, important ethical and legal questions that require further discussion. Similarly, the application of robotics and autonomous technologies in various (social) situations - in the home, hospital environments, traffic, and war - raises a number of ethical and legal issues. These include questions, such as what are the ethical implications of applying robots in the health sector with regard to our ideas about human dignity and autonomy? What are the consequences of using robotics in war? And, can we hold robots liable if they play an ever more important role in our daily lives? This book, which was created in light of a conference on the topic that was held in Spring of 2011 at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, brings together 19 papers on the fascinating developments in neuroscience and robotics, and the legal, ethical, and consequences these developments may have.