Ethical issues of brain data
10.12026/j.issn.1001-8565.2026.02.02
- VernacularTitle:脑数据的伦理问题
- Author:
Bin HUANG
1
;
Rong GUO
2
Author Information
1. School of Marxism， Central South University， Changsha 410000， China
2. School of Marxism， Changsha University of Science & Technology， Changsha 410000， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
neurotechnology;
brain data;
ethical issue;
governance strategy
- From:
Chinese Medical Ethics
2026;39(2):151-158
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
With the rapid development and application of cutting-edge neurotechnology， the ethical issues of brain data have become a research hotspot. Brain data， which directly accesses humans’ thoughts and the “loss of control” state under intentional control， deconstructs the subjects’ exclusive right to access their own brain， thereby comprehensively challenging human privacy. The subjects cannot fully control which brain activity signals are collected， and the decoded results of brain data violate the subjects’ autonomy while applying brain data to unknown purposes， posing challenges to informed consent. Brain data describes who you are from a “super first-person” perspective， and it can even “forge” a real first-person perspective to describe who you are. The external presentation of brain data analysis results involves ethical issues in three dimensions， namely， what should be presented， how others treat the analysis results of brain data， and the ethical risks brought about by presenting information in brain data. The governance strategies on the ethical issues of brain data require improving the relevant laws of brain data supervision， refining the ethical principles for brain data applications， leveraging the leading role of the government， and strengthening international cooperation.
