WEBVTT

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In the months 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 Movement,

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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
crackdowns 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 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,

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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, 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 be measured
with electroencephalography, 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 unlike 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 gauge 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

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or hearing, 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,

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an epileptic can know
they're going to have an epileptic seizure

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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 sensors

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into the headrest of automobilies

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so they can track driver concentration,

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distraction 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," 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,

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I am a huge proponent of empowering people

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to take charge of their own
health and well-being

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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,
our mental privacy.

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That we will trade our brain activity

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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,

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the train drivers on
the Beijing-Shanghai 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

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to monitor their brain activity
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 sensors to monitor their productivity

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and their emotional state at work.

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Workers are even sent home

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if their brains show less-than-stellar
concentration 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
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,

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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

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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 ideology

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or their religious preferences,

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well before they were ready
to consciously 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 committing 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
an 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 aggregation

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as our financial records and transactions,

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if our 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, 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 or 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 well-being,

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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.

NOTE Paragraph

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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 protesters' cries?

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

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To make sure that we responsibly
advance technology

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that could enable us to embrace the future

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while fiercely protecting all of us
from any person, company or government

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that attempts to unlawfully access
or alter our innermost lives.

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Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

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(Applause)