Neurorights: A misstep in legal evolution?

Chair: Dr David Lawrence

Organiser: Miranda Wang

Title: Neurorights: A misstep in legal evolution?

Abstract: Since 2017, the proposal to create a new category of fundamental rights dedicated to the brain and mind, known as neurorights, has moved from academic debate to the legislative agenda of a growing number of legal systems. Chile reformed its Constitution, the Latin American Parliament approved a model law, several congresses are processing constitutional reform projects, while the Organization of American States and UNESCO adopted a different approach on guiding principles and soft law instruments. This talk argues that the regulatory approach on creating new neurorights constitutes a misstep in legal evolution, and that a better response lies in interpreting, reaffirming, and applying existing legal and human rights frameworks, reserving the creation of new laws and guidelines for addressing genuinely identified gaps. The talk develops seven arguments, addressing conceptual, ethical, and financial problems, legal necessity, antinomies, concrete examples of problems in comparative legislative practice, and a critique of the real ethical and legal problems posed by a neuroscience perspective that moves beyond science fiction and speculation. Drawing on the literature of futures studies and speculative ethics, the talk also explains the mechanism that produces this confusion and concludes by proposing a multilevel governance strategy that articulates the reinterpretation of existing rights, a better approach to soft law principles, and potential new, more specific, and technically precise laws.