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Engineering Ethics: Consciousness and Neuroethics

William A. (Trey) Brant Ph.D. & William A. (Bill) Brant, JD, PE


Course Outline

Engineering ethics must keep pace with the explosive acceleration in the mind sciences in order to prevent society from developing into elite technified  hybrid people machines and “have nots” at the lower rungs of society.  The importance of ethics can not be overstated as technology outpaces our ethics and laws.

Please, we invite you to open the course first page that illustrates the course content pictorially. 

Our brains intermediate absolutely anything we feel emotionally and tactilely, think, sense and do.  Brains function as our ultimate interfaces and as “neuromedia” to each environment consciously experienced in the universe by us.  Humankind is increasingly confronted with the task of understanding brains and minds at various levels of analysis in order for scientists to engineer their functions. 

Our ethical challenge involves directing scientific research and development for each type of rehabilitation of disorders, cognitive improvement, creation of instruments for observation or replacing lost functions of the brain.  Computer technology and engineering increased rapidly from the 1930s with brain technology and engineering using that technology, but leaving engineering ethics in their wake.

This explosive development within the neurosciences during the late 20th and 21st century requires the need for new subdivisions of ethics within the field of “applied biomedical ethics.”  These new subdivisions of applied ethics are called “neuroethics” and “ethics of consciousness.”  As with the neurosciences, neuroethics brings forth a combination of interdisplinary studies, such as biomechanical engineering, biology, medicine, law, philosophy, cognitive psychology, computer science and engineering.  Like no other ethics, this form of engineering ethics affects everyone---us.   

“Engineering Ethics: Consciousness and Neuroethics” (EECN) provides a brief analysis of three important ethical principles and theories with visual aids.  EECN applies rational ethical principles to actual problems we now face in the US and must handle within our globalizing world in the near future.  From the analysis and illustration of “global information revolutions” to the personal effects of computer chips surgically implanted within the brains of patients, we delve into the intimately personal problems that deal directly with consciousness.  We peer into who we are and how that may change soon with new technologies. 

EECN tackles the problems concerning lie detection via fMRIs with current technologies.  Advances in neuroscience and engineering will transform our criminal justice system.  The day is at hand when this technology will affect you and me, us.   Likewise, the development and research of neurotechnologies and engineering by the military, serve multiple uses and play important roles in competition and war.  What are the legal consequences and ethical considerations associated with this engineering technology? 

We provide up-to-date facts concerning significant technologies related to: artificial intelligence, rehabilitation and enhancement of various types of human performance via the neurosciences, including stimulants for soldiers or students to stay awake, robots controlled by thought and electrodes attached to the skull, and microchips implanted within the inner ear that communicate via radio waves. 

The second chapter is about consciousness; half the chapter consists of illustrations about consciousness and the mind.  Neuroscience experiments related to the “freedom of the will” or our “voluntary” aspects of behavior are set out.  Problems concerning understanding the mind and the development of consciousness are illustrated. 

We conclude that neuroscience and consciousness studies are still in their infancy and have unbounded growth potential.  Lastly, “Neuroethics, Legal Systems and Ethics of Consciousness” provides an overview of duty, virtue, consequentialist ethics and neuroethics.  Neuroethics is applied to law and war as well as issues concerning the rehabilitation and enhancement of consciousness and especially cognitive skills, which is compared to the use of steroids in sports. 

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

After the completion of our course you will have learned:

Intended Audience

Engineers interested in engineering ethics and others who are interested in minds and brains and their relationship to technology, social systems and ethics are perfect candidates for this course. 

Benefit for Attendee

“Engineering Ethics: Consciousness and Neuroethics” provides you with the skills necessary to predict and solve coming ethical problems or dilemmas rooted in the neurosciences and affecting our globalized world.  These dilemmas will dramatically reshape our conceptions of ourselves and societies within the present decade.  You learn to lead your life ethically and how to command others to do so also.  Upon the successful completion of this course you will realize what the most important problems are with the neurosciences and will hone your skills to recognize legal and ethical dilemmas before they occur, which makes you a better, more ethical, professional and leader.  

Course Introduction

Ethics is crucial for every profession, social group, family and individual in relation to animals, people and the environment as a whole.  There is, however, no moral or ethical responsibility without brains, minds, or knowledge. 

Neuroethics encompasses the science of the nervous system, which is responsible for all pain, pleasure, emotion, sensory perception and behavior as well as knowledge, minds and brains.  Engineering and neuroethicists aim to increase public awareness of problems related to addiction and social dominance as well as aid in the production of lawmaking.  These engineering and neuroethicists serve on medical ethics committees and ultimately decide “life or death” for patients with brain damage determined by engineered equipment and societal demands.   

Certain technological developments and recognition of the directions of future research provide deeply considerable reasons why future neurotechnologies will drastically change the ways we communicate, interact and deal with one another.  This course increases your awareness, hones your ability to discover and interpret moral problems, and gives you the tools necessary to apply ethics to problems in order to command changes and offer solutions. 

Course Content

The course content is contained in the following PDF file:

Engineering Ethics: Consciousness and Neuroethics

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Course Summary

Can technology aid us in our struggle to predict and control crimes and tragedies, such as the Charles Whitman University of Texas Tower sniper or other killers, without invading privacy?   Does neurobiology determine behavior, do people choose their behaviors, or is there a complex intertwining of both?  Neuroscientists hope to answer these questions of “nature versus nurture” and many others.  Attorney and engineer, Bill Brant, works together with philosophy professor, Trey Brant, in “Engineering Ethics: Consciousness and Neuroethics,” combining the intimately personal aspects of conscious experience with computational, technological and engineering innovations to provide an ethics about people in a globalized world with wars, laws and neurosciences. 

Past, present, and future issues of social behavior and ethics involve slow responses to neuroscience technology, leaping forward at unprecedented speeds.  We will all be affected by neurosciences in the coming months and years.  We must become aware of its rapid growth and make certain we live within an ethical society in our globalized world. 

References

Course references, endnotes, websites, and acknowledgments are provided with the Course Content. 

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

Take a Quiz

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.