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Cheating with Implants: Implications of the Hidden Information Advantage of Bionic Ears and Eyes

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Human ICT Implants: Technical, Legal and Ethical Considerations

Part of the book series: Information Technology and Law Series ((ITLS,volume 23))

Abstract

Medical technology advances rapidly. As of 2009, about 188,000 people worldwide had received cochlear implants, and promising trials have been conducted with retinal and subretinal implants. These devices are designed to (partially) repair deaf and blind people’s impairments, allowing them to (re)gain ‘normal’ sensory perception. These medical devices are ICT-based and consist of a sensor that transforms sensory data (auditory, visual, tactile) into signals that can be processed by the brain. Besides data from the regular sensors, in principle, other data from other sources can also be channeled to the brain through the implant, for example wireless data input from distant locations or even the Internet to prompt the bearer with instructions or information. This can be done without others present being aware of this form of techno-prompting, which might give the bionic person a competitive advantage in, for instance, meetings or negotiations. The medical implants could therefore be used for non-medical purposes somewhere in the future. This chapter discusses the normative implications of this hypothetical form of human enhancement, focusing on aspects that are particularly relevant to this type of enhancement as compared to other existing and well-discussed forms of enhancement. In particular, we discuss information asymmetries, ethical aspects related to human enhancement, and some legal issues where the information advantage of bionic sensory implants could make a difference. Based on this discussion, we highlight questions for further reflection and provide some suggestions for the regulatory response to address the challenges posed by the future of bionic sensory implants.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Foucault 1978.

  2. 2.

    As coined by Merkel et al. 2007, p 485.

  3. 3.

    Merkel et al. 2007, p 143.

  4. 4.

    Bostrom and Savulescu 2009.

  5. 5.

    Garland 2004, p 29.

  6. 6.

    Merkel et al. 2007, p 120.

  7. 7.

    Merkel, et al. 2007, p 121.

  8. 8.

    See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant.

  9. 9.

    The Cochlear Nucleus CI500 uses 22 contacts allowing for detecting 161 different frequencies. See http://www.cochlear.com/uk/nucleus-cochlear-implants-0 for details. The Advanced Bionics HiRes 90 K uses 16 contacts. See http://www.advancedbionics.com/CMS/Products/HiRes-90K/ for details.

  10. 10.

    Adams 1980.

  11. 11.

    See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant.

  12. 12.

    Brindley and Lewin 1968.

  13. 13.

    http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100317005294&newsLang=en.

  14. 14.

    Warwick et al. 2003.

  15. 15.

    Stanley et al. 1999.

  16. 16.

    Wessberg et al. 2000.

  17. 17.

    Tancredi 2004, p 102.

  18. 18.

    We will use the terms neural sensory prosthetics and bionic sensory implants interchangeably.

  19. 19.

    Simon 1947.

  20. 20.

    Thompson 2005.

  21. 21.

    Thompson et al. 2006; Moore 2003.

  22. 22.

    Tversky and Kahneman 1981.

  23. 23.

    Neale and Bazerman 1991.

  24. 24.

    See: http://mmi.tudelft.nl/negotiation/index.php/Negotiation.

  25. 25.

    The ‘Pocket Negotiator’ project proposal, see http://mmi.tudelft.nl/negotiation/images/2/25/Pocket_negotiator.pdf.

  26. 26.

    Akerlof 1970.

  27. 27.

    The problem that buyers with imperfect information take a risk in buying a product that might turn out a ‘lemon’, a faulty product.

  28. 28.

    Savulescu and Bostrom 2009, p 3.

  29. 29.

    Sandel 2007, pp 96–97.

  30. 30.

    See for instance Harris 2007; Sandel 2007; Savulescu and Bostrom 2009.

  31. 31.

    See, for example, the ‘'deaf embryo selection’ debate in Wilkinson 2010, pp 66–68.

  32. 32.

    Harris 2007, p 20.

  33. 33.

    Brownsword 2009.

  34. 34.

    Parens 2009.

  35. 35.

    Sandel, 2007, pp 85–87.

  36. 36.

    Warwick 2002.

  37. 37.

    Merkel et al. 2007, pp 341–342.

  38. 38.

    Lastowka and Hunter 2004; Kimppa and Bissett 2005.

  39. 39.

    Merkel et al. 2007, p 353.

  40. 40.

    Sandel 2007, p 87.

  41. 41.

    Sandel 2007, p 89.

  42. 42.

    Overall 2009.

  43. 43.

    Garland 2004, p 26.

  44. 44.

    Quoted in Brownsword 2009, p 135.

  45. 45.

    Brownsword 2009.

  46. 46.

    Brownsword 2009, p 135.

  47. 47.

    Brownsword 2009; Overall 2009.

  48. 48.

    Beyleveld and Brownsword 2007.

  49. 49.

    cf. Merkel et al. 2007, pp 402.

  50. 50.

    Gasson 2010.

  51. 51.

    Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) 16 May 2008, case 1480 (Pistorius v. IAAF), available http://jurisprudence.tas-cas.org/sites/CaseLaw/Shared%20Documents/1480.pdf.

  52. 52.

    Ibid. at 56.

  53. 53.

    cf. Hanson 2009.

  54. 54.

    Brownsword 2009, p 152.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), University of Tilburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Bert-Jaap Koops & Ronald Leenes

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  1. Bert-Jaap Koops
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  2. Ronald Leenes
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Correspondence to Bert-Jaap Koops .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, Redhatch Dr, Earley, Reading, RG6 6AY, Berkshire, United Kingdom

    Mark N. Gasson

  2. , ICRI, KU Leuven, St. Michielsstraat 6, Leuven, B-3000, Belgium

    Eleni Kosta

  3. , Risk Science Centre, University of Michigan, Washington Heights 1420, Ann Arbor, 48109-2029, Michigan, USA

    Diana M. Bowman

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Koops, BJ., Leenes, R. (2012). Cheating with Implants: Implications of the Hidden Information Advantage of Bionic Ears and Eyes. In: Gasson, M., Kosta, E., Bowman, D. (eds) Human ICT Implants: Technical, Legal and Ethical Considerations. Information Technology and Law Series, vol 23. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague, The Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-6704-870-5_10

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