From Gizmodo: Some researchers believe that deep brain stimulation – a surgical procedure involving the implantation of electrodes that send electrical signals to specific areas of the brain – could be the next big breakthrough in mental health treatment. However, the procedure is not free from risky side effects and serious ethical dilemmas.
“Then there is the array of ethical questions that brain technologies like DBS inspire. Does inserting a chip into someone’s brain to mediate their brain circuitry change their identity? Might it, eventually, lead to the ability to simply treat ourselves when feeling blue, a sort of high-tech take on Aldous Huxley’s soma? Could you use a DBS device to hack into someone’s brain? Or control them? Or enhance them? Is it potentially dangerous in the wrong hands?”