Neuroscience advances and future warfare

Abstract

This paper begins by recalling that advances in neuroscience were used for hostile purposes, for example, in the development of lethal nerve gasses, in the last century, and it is argued that in the kinds of asymmetric warfare likely to characterize coming decades, such advances could again be utilized to develop novel weapons. The paper then suggests that the idea that the problem is that bioterrorists will immediately be able to design and use advanced biological and chemical weapons is misguided and that the real question is how the wholesale militarization of the life sciences can be prevented. It is in that context that the paper examines the dangers of misuse that could arise from some current developments in neuroscience. It is argued, for example, that benignly intended civil work on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) has to be understood in the context of modern military interests in data collection and analysis from drones and the probable development of autonomously acting systems. The difficulties that such novel weapon-related developments will cause for our present understanding of morality and international law are reviewed, and finally, it is suggested that neuroscientists trying to adjust their concepts of responsible conduct in these circumstances will need the help of neuroethicists.