Posted 8/9/2025

Neural implants, once found in the realm of science fiction, are now an accelerating branch of medicine and technology. While many aspects of the tech industry have traditionally been separate, companies like Neuralink are now merging different areas of business and technology. Created by Elon Musk, this frontier of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could revolutionize the world with the possible lifesaving applications in treating neurological disorders, finding ways to restore control of bodily movements, and manipulating devices with our minds. The potential is limitless. These brain implants could assist individuals living with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, spinal cord injuries, or even unknown mental health issues. We are still at a very early stage in research and trials, but early findings mainly focused on assisting development of movement and communications in patients who are paralyzed. As with any power, comes powerlessness. Some experts are uncomfortable with the thought of intrusion, risks of mental privacy and autonomy, and even predisposition towards inequities present in society today. It is not implausible that data from your brain could be stolen or even hacked. There are concerns that governments, organizations, or businesses could store and utilize data from your moods, thoughts, or impulses. At present, brain data has very few legal protections. With neural interfaces becoming increasingly commercially available and questions of consent and ownership of cognitive information becoming more pressing, it raises the possibility that employers or insurers might require neural tracking for purposes like productivity or mental health well-being. Critics have raised other possibilities around coercion. People may feel obligated to install neural implants if they could allow them to be more competitive academically, professionally, or physically. This would serve to deepen existing social inequalities, allowing affluent people to gain cognitive advantages in education, finance, and political spaces. Furthermore, we still know very little about the long-term health effects of implanting electrodes into the brain. It is a delicate surgical procedure, and the body may reject or potentially respond in unpredictable ways to an implanted device. There is also still much debate in ethical boards about standards for testing and deployment, especially when it comes to deployment on vulnerable groups. Neural implants may have the potential to change treatment and cognitive functioning, but they also have the potential for new forms of intrusion into one of the last remaining frontiers of privacy, the human mind.