Can brain data help us tell who we are?
Information from neurotechnologies can be a tool for building a coherent, inhabitable identity — so ethics must ask how we ourselves access it, not only how others use it.
Source
Narrative Devices: Neurotechnologies, Information, and Self-Constitution
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Narrative identity ethics for neurotechnology information, illustrated with DBS interview literature
- N
- Philosophical argument citing a small DBS interview sample (2 of 6 reported changing self); not a new primary sample
- Population
- Users of brain/mind information technologies and practical identity narratives
- Outcome
- Neurotechnology information as a tool for inhabitable self-narratives, not only third-party risk
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
The author treats practical identity as a self-told story and lists qualities a supporting narrative needs. They then argue that brain- and mind-information can serve as epistemic and hermeneutic tools, using a small DBS interview literature (two of six participants reported a changing sense of self) as illustration, not as a new dataset.
What they found
Over-emphasising others’ uses of neural data neglects first-person access. Misleading information can undermine coherent identity. Identity work is interpretive and relational, so governance should consider whether and how users get the information.
The limits
What it doesn't show
The six-participant figure is cited from others, not produced here. The paper does not prove that any particular device improves self-understanding, and it is not a privacy statute.
Key terms
- Practical identity
- Who we are in the characterisation sense: the self-told story that steers action.
- Narrative device
- Information that can be taken up as material in that story, including neurotechnology outputs.
- Hermeneutic tool
- A resource for interpreting lived experience, not merely a raw measurement.
- Inhabitable identity
- A self-conception one can live in and navigate with.
Flashcards
Research intelligence for this paper
See its role on concept claims, tensions it is part of, placement history, and related discoveries.
Quiz yourself
Main ethical gap identified?
Common questions
Is this only about hackers stealing EEG?
No. The distinctive claim is about whether users can use the information in their own self-story.
Must the information be true?
Misleading or unreliable information is likely to work against coherent identity.
How many DBS interviewees had a changing sense of self in the cited study?
Two of six, as those authors concluded.
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