Brain-Chipped Lawyers of the Future Will Scan Legal Documents in Record Time
Brain implants could allow lawyers to enhance their overall cognitive performance, which includes faster scanning of documents and improved memory.
This is part of advances made in the neurotechnology field that aim to bridge the gap and be on edge against artificial intelligence by focusing on reading the human brain and transmitting info to it.
While this is an interesting topic, there is an envisage of the ethical implications and other negative consequences of brain implants. This leads to debates as to whether neurotechnology carries more risks than benefits.
Nonetheless, these are assumptions and possible consequences that the government needs to look into as preparation for possible legal implications.
This article will explore neurotechnology, how it affects the law, its potential benefits to lawyers, and its ethical implications.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
What is neurotechnology?
Neurotechnology is a technology that directly interacts with the nervous system, especially the brain. It focuses on monitoring, recording, and influencing brain activities.
It also involves reading from and writing to the brain. Reading from the brain is only monitoring and identifying brain activity associated with images and commands for composing text or controlling a cursor. On the other hand, writing to the brain involves stimulation of the brain to help prevent symptoms of a disease.
Neurotechnology can either be invasive or non-invasive.
Invasive neurotechnology is a technology that is placed deep in the brain to get close to the nerve cells. This way, recordings of electrodes are more precise.
On the other hand, non-invasive methods are another way of measuring electrodes. These involve adding devices externally to the body in the form of a wristband, helmet, or headset and does not penetrate your body.
What can neurotechnology be used for?
Neurotechnology has many uses. It can be used for:
Medical conditions
One of the significant uses of neurotechnology implies applying it to improve physical, neurological (such as Parkinson’s disease), and psychiatric conditions, such as depression and other mental issues.
Neurotechnology is continuously developing to help restore hearing via auditory prosthetics, restore sight via visual prosthetics, and enhance memory through hippocampal prosthetics.
The possibilities for applications in the medical context are enormous. It is understandable why the development of neurotechnology sparks commercial excitement.
Enhancing military prowess
The military has been interested in neurotechnology because such technology is applicable in the military context both therapeutically and non-therapeutically.
The UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee has noted that neurotechnology can help treat psychiatric disorders that are caused by war. This can strengthen the military personnel’s mental health.
Neurotechnology can also enhance the military personnel’s capabilities by improving their cognitive and emotional capacities necessary on the battlefield.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense plans to enhance their warfighters through neurotechnology. They have stated in a report that neurotechnology can help augment their warfighters by improving their concentration and memory, leading to collaborative intelligence and “downloading” new skills and knowledge.
Additionally, neurotechnology can make it possible to control and manipulate physical objects, such as weapons, by thoughts alone. No need for bodily actions.
Improving performance
Neurotechnology, through its ability to improve concentration and memory, could also be beneficial in the workplace and school setting to enhance performance.
In fact, China has started using neurotechnology to record and monitor the neural activity of primary schoolchildren. They aim to check the children’s attention and concentration in class.
Aside from school performance, neurotechnology can also improve workplace performance by monitoring workers’ cognitive states, such as their alertness and concentration at work.
Some companies are even availing of neurotechnology solutions to improve their employees’ productivity. These solutions include monitoring their employees’ attention and stress levels.
How will neurotechnology affect the practice of law?
With the continuous development of neurotechnology, its usage and application can bring challenges in practicing law, such as employment, consumer protection, and criminal law.
Since there are neurotechnology devices that are used for non-therapeutic purposes, questions on whether existing human rights protection and regulatory systems are sufficient or not arise.
For instance, the criminal law requires proof of both actus reus (criminal act) and the mens rea (guilty mind) beyond a reasonable doubt during prosecution.
However, since there is a neurotechnology device that monitors and manipulates the brain, confusion on what constitutes a criminal act arises. One might question what makes a criminal act when a person injures someone when controlling a drone by thoughts alone and not by body movements, for instance.
This gets complicated because there is now a blurry distinction between what constitutes a criminal act and a guilty mind.
Additionally, the malfunction of neurotechnology devices can add to the complication of criminal law. Confusion might be created as to whether the defendant is a malfunctioning cyborg identity or a human who was using a malfunctioning neurotechnological device.
Potential benefits of brain implants for lawyers
An example of neurotechnology is a neuralink which involves the insertion of a microchip in the brain. Some lawyers might want to get a brain implant to improve their workplace performance.
Here are the potential benefits lawyers can get when they avail of brain implants:
1. Scanning through documents faster
Since the brain implant can directly stimulate the brain, The Law Society has released a report that states brain implants allow lawyers to scan through documents faster than ever. This is made possible because the brain implant can write or stimulate the brain to increase its senses, such as seeing.
2. Improved memory and concentration
Another benefit a lawyer can get from brain implants is enhanced memory and concentration. This can be achieved by electrically stimulating the brain with low intensity.
Researchers from Mayo Clinic conducted a study among patients with epilepsy that have electrodes implanted in their brains. They chose people with epilepsy because memory problems are common among these people.
In the research, they found that patient’s ability to recall words improved after stimulating the brain’s lateral temporal cortex, which is located in the temple area of the head. One patient reported that it was easier to remember the words with low intensity of electrical stimulation.
Similarly, Michael Kahana created a Mayo Clinic device that monitors brain activity and predicts the formation of lasting memory. The device will provide a small zap if there is lower brain activity to signal and facilitate memory formation. The findings showed that the device consistently improves memory by 15% to 18%.
3. Reduced number of lawyers for a case
Since brain implants already significantly boost their work performance, lawyers would be able to perform their work faster and better. They may not need to expand their team of legal researchers; thus saving more resources and reducing costs
Additionally, heads of legal teams and law firms would better monitor their costs and charges to their clients because they’d monitor their employees’ attention and concentration at work. Instead of charging billable hours, lawyers will charge clients based on the billable units of attention.
Will brain-chipped lawyers offer better legal representation?
Brain-chipped lawyers may offer better legal representation because the implants increase work efficiency and enhance their cognitive capabilities. As a result, they can outperform their competitors in their field.
Aside from that, brain implants and other neurotechnological devices can give the signal when you are attentive in your work. Otherwise, it warns you that you are not working at your best.
Furthermore, brain-chipped lawyers not only work faster and more efficiently, but they may also possibly cost lesser than ordinary lawyers. As a result, clients may favor them more than regular lawyers.
Ethical implications of brain implants
While there are benefits to brain implants, there are also several ethical implications. These are:
Privacy and consent
One main ethical implication of brain implants is privacy and consent. The implants can accumulate brain data to make inferences for medical use. However, this brings consideration whether existing laws for privacy protection are fit for this case.
Access to accumulated data also poses a risk for misuse and manipulation of people, especially since there are non-therapeutic reasons for using neurotechnology. For this reason, questions about consent arise regarding how consent works with neurotechnology, especially since the data is intimate and very personal in nature.
There are also people who reported that they felt unsure about their identity when having the brain implants fitted.
So when you get brain stimulation, you might feel confused about whether your actions are attributable to you or the device implanted in your brain.
Augmentation
Augmentation is adding, increasing, or strengthening the size of something. Since brain implants can significantly boost your memory and other cognitive capabilities, augmentation poses ethical risks.
Although brain implants and neurotechnological devices can have therapeutic aims, they can also be used for non-therapeutic purposes and may be used for human enhancements.
One example of why augmentation has ethical implications is the research from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which aims to maintain the military advancement of the country. They focus on enhancing the mental capacities of their soldiers and military analysts who are beyond the normal range to have military advantages during war and conflicts.
Neurotechnological discrimination
If augmented people will live in a society where there are also people who did not choose augmentation, issues of equity and discrimination may arise. This is due to the inevitable comparisons between augmented and non-augmented people.
Furthermore, there is already artificial intelligence that stirs worries about it replacing humans in the workplace. Having augmented people can increase social pressure on non-augmented people in order to be on edge and compete with others.
For instance, people may prefer brain-chipped lawyers to ordinary lawyers because of their efficiency and lower costs.
Safety
Since brain implants are invasive and require surgery, safety is the most salient ethical concern. This also applies to non-invasive brain stimulation devices.
Since brain implants involve creating small holes in the skull and surgery to implant electrodes and the device, it has surgical risks. These risks include bleeding in the brain, misplaced leads, stroke, infection, breathing and heart problems, nausea, and seizure.
After the successful implant of the neurotechnological device, there are also identified possible side effects. These side effects include seizure, infection, confusion, headache, temporary pain and swelling, difficulty concentrating, and hardware complications, such as an eroded lead wire.
Nonetheless, some people with disabilities use brain implants to cure their conditions. So, safety is an area that needs to be improved.
Use of animals
The ethical implications of brain implants may also extend to animals. Research and development of neurotechnology involve the use of animals, which attracted criticism because of its treatment of animals.
Companies, such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink, have to address how they use animals for transparency and the safety of the animals.
The ethical issues and implications mentioned above can hopefully be considered by companies engaged in the production and development of neurotechnologies.
However, this may be unlikely considering that some companies value more the results and commercial use than the ethics-by-design principles. That is why updating laws is necessary to address existing and possible issues of brain implants and neurotechnology in general.
Wrapping up
Neurotechnology is such a huge advancement for humanity. Aside from treating neurological and other medical conditions, its benefits can give an additional edge to humans against artificial intelligence.
One of its notable benefits is enhancing memory, which is beneficial not only for lawyers and workers but also for students.
While this is good news, not everyone is open to brain implants and invasive procedures of neurotechnology. If you are one of these people, don’t worry because there are alternatives to enhancing your memory.
A good alternative is enrolling in an online memory course, such as the Iris Reading Maximizing Memory course. This memory course is ideal for both students and professionals. It can thoroughly guide you and give you practical techniques to help you remember and memorize key information.
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