WEBVTT

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Following the 2009
presidential election in Iran,

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protests erupted across the country.

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The Iranian government
violently suppressed

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what came to be known
as the Iranian Green Moevement.

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Even blocking mobile signals

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to cut off communication
between the protesters.

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My parents, who emigrated
to the United States in the late 1960s,

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spend substantial time there,

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where all of my large
extended family live.

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When I would call my family in Tehran

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during some of the most violent
crackdown of the protest,

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none of them dared discuss
with me what was happening.

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They or I knew to quickly steer
the conversation to other topics.

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All of us understood what
the consequences could be

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of a perceived dissident action.

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But I still wish I could have known
what they were thinking

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or what they were feeling.

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What if I could have?

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Or more frighteningly,

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what if the Iranian
government could have?

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Would they have arrested them
based on what their brains revealed?

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That day may be closer than you think.

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With our growing capabilities
in neuroscience, artificial intelligence

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and machine learning,

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we may soon know a lot more
of what's happening

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in the human brain.

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As a bioethicist, a lawyer,
a philosopher

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and an Iranian-American,

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I'm deeply concerned about what
this means for our freedoms

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and what kinds of protections we need.

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I believe we need
a right to cognitive liberty

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as a human right
that needs to be protected.

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If not, our freedom of thought,
access and control over our own brains

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and our mental privacy will be threatened.

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Consider this.

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The average person thinks
thousands of thoughts each day.

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As a thought takes form,

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like a math calculation or a number,

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a word,

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neurons are interacting in the brain,

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creating a miniscule electrical discharge.

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When you have a dominant
mental state like relaxation,

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hundreds and thousands of neurons
are firing in the brain,

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creating concurrent electrical discharges
in characteristic patterns

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that can measured with
electroencephalography,

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or EEG.

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In fact, that's what
you're seeing right now.

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You're seeing my brain activity
that was recorded in real time

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with a simple device
that was worn on my head.

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What you're seeing is my brain activity
when I was relaxed and curious.

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To share this information with you,

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I wore one of the early
consumer-based EEG devices

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like this one,

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which recorded the electrical
activity in my brain in real time.

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It's not unline the fitness trackers
that some of you may be wearing

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to measure your heart rate
or the steps that you've taken

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or even your sleep activity.

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It's hardly the most sophisticated
neuroimaging technique on the market.

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But it's already the most portable

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and the most likely to impact
our everyday lives.

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This is extraordinary.

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Through a simple, wearable device,

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we can literally see
inside the human brain

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and learn aspects of our mental landscape
without ever uttering a word.

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While we can't reliably decode
complex thoughts just yet,

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we can already gage a person's mood,

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and with the help
of artificial intelligence,

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we can even decode
some single-digit numbers

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or shapes or simple words
that a person is thinking or hearing

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or seeing.

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Despite some inherent limitations in EEG,

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I think it's safe to say that with
our advances in technology,

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more and more of what's happening
in the human brain

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can and will be decoded over time.

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Already, using one of these devices,
an epileptic can know

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they're going to have an epileptic
seizure before it happens.

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A paraplegic can type on a computer
with their thoughts alone.

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A US-based company has developed
a technology to embed these censors

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into the headrest of automobilies

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so they can track driver concentration,

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distraction

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and cognitive load while driving.

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Nissan, insurance companies
and AAA have all taken note.

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You could even watch this
choose-your-own adventure movie,

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"The Moment,"

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which, with an EEG headset,

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changes the movie based
on your brain-based reactions,

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giving you a different ending
every time your attention wanes.

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This may all sound great,

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and as a bioethicist,
I am a huge proponent

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of empowering people to take charge
of their own health and wellbeing

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by giving them access
to information about themselves,

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including this incredible, new
brain decoding technology.

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But I worry.

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I worry that we will voluntarily
or involuntarily give up

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our last bastion of freedom ...

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our mental privacy.

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That we will trade our brain activity
for rebates or discounts on insurance,

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or free access to social
media accounts ...

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or even to keep our jobs.

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In fact, in China, the train drivers 
on the Beijing-Shangia high-speed rail,

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the busiest of its kind in the world,

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are required to wear EEG devices
to monitor their brain activity

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while driving.

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According to some news sources,

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in government-run factories in China,

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the workers are required to wear
EEG censors to monitor their productivity

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and their emotional state at work.

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Workers are even sent home if their brain
shows less than stellar concentration

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on their jobs,

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or emotional agitation.

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It's not going to happen tomorrow,

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but we're headed to a world
of brain transparency.

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And I don't think people understand
that that could change everything.

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Everything from our definitions
of data privacy to our laws,

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to our ideas about freedom.

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In fact, in my lab at Duke University,

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we recently conducted a nationwide study

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in the United States

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to see if people appreciated.

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the sensitivity of
their brain information.

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We asked people to rate
their perceived sensitivity

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of 33 different kinds of information,

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from their social security numbers

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to the content of their
phone conversations,

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their relationship history,

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their emotions, their anxiety,
the mental images in their mind

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and the thoughts in their mind.

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Shockingly, people rated their social
security number as far more sensitive

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than any other kind of information,

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including their brain data.

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I think this is because
people don't yet understand

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or believe the implications
of this new brain decoding technology.

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After all, if we can know the inner
workings of the human brain,

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our social security numbers
are the least of our worries.

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(Laughter)

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Think about it.

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In a world of total brain transparency,

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who would dare have
a politically dissident thought?

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Or a creative one?

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I worry that people will self-censor
in fear of being ostracized by society,

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or that people will lose their jobs
because of their waning attention

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or emotional instability,

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or because they're contemplating
collective action against their employers.

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That coming out
will no longer be an option

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because people's brains will long ago
have revealed their sexual orientation,

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their political ideaology,

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or their religious preferences,

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well before they were ready
to conciously share that information

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with other people.

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I worry about the ability of our laws
to keep up with technological change.

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Take the first amendment
of the US Constitution,

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which protects freedom of speech.

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Does it also protect freedom of thought?

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And if so, does that mean that we're free
to alter our thoughts however we want?

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Or can the government or society tell us
what we can do with our own brains?

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Can the NSA spy on our brains
using these new mobile devices?

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Can the companies that collect
the brain data through their applications

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sell this information to third parties?

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Right now, no laws prevent
them from doing so.

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It could be even more problematic

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in countries that don't share
the same freedoms

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enjoyed by people in the United States.

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What would've happened during
the Iranian Green Movement

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if the government had been
monitoring my family's brain activity?

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And had believed them to be
sympathetic to the protesters?

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Is it so far-fetched to imagine a society


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in which people are arrested
based on their thoughts

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of commiting a crime?

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LIke in the science-fiction, dystopian
society in "Minority Report."

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Already, in the United States, in Indiana,

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an 18-year-old was charged
with attempting to intimidate his school

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by posting a video of himself
shooting people in the hallways,

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except the people were zombies

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and the video was of him playing
and augmented-reality video game.

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All interpreted to be a mental projection
of his subjective intent.

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This is exactly why our brains
need special protection.

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If our brains are just as subject
to data tracking and aggragation

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as our financial records and transactions,

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if you brains can be hacked
and tracked like our online activities,

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our mobile phones and applications,

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then we're on the brink of a dangerous
threat to our collective humanity.

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Before you panic,

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I believe that there are solutions
to these concerns,

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but we have to start by focusing
on the right things.

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When it comes to privacy
protections in general,

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I think we're fighting a losing battle

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by trying to restrict
the flow of information.

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Instead, we should be focusing
on securing rights and remedies

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against the misuse of our information.

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If people had the right to decide
how their information was shared,

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and more importantly,

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have legal redress,

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if their information
was misused against them,

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say to discriminate against them
in an employment setting

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or in health care and education,

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this would go a long way to build trust.

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In fact, in some instances,

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we want to be sharing more
of our personal information.

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Studying aggregated information
can tell us so much

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about our health and our wellbeing,

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but to be able to safely
share our information,

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we need special protections
for mental privacy.

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This is why we need a right
to cognitive liberty.

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This right would secure for us
our freedom of thought and rumination,

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our freedom of self-determination

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and it would insure that we have
the right to consent to or refuse

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access and alteration
of our brains by others.

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This right could be recognized

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as part of the universal
declaration of human rights,

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which has established mechanisms

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for the enforcement of these
kinds of social rights.

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During the Iranian Green Movement,

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the protesters used the internet
and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth

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to coordinate their marches.

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And some of the most oppressive
restrictions in Iran

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were lifted as a result.

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But what if the Iranian government
had used brain surveillance

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to detect and prevent the protest?

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Would the world have ever heard
the protester's cries?

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The time has come for us to call
for cognitive liberty revolution.

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To make sure that we responsibly
advance technology

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that can enable us to embrace the future

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while fiercely protecting all of us

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from any person, company or government
that attempts to unlawfully access

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or alter our innermost lives.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)