A Neurological Foundation for Freedom

摘要

Id. at 337.Gel is applied to the user's hair or scalp to improve the conductivity of electrical signals from the brain, and a plastic cap is then placed over the head.Cables go from this cap to an electro-encephalograph machine (EEG), which is connected to a computer.Software in the computer interprets the electrical signals from the brain into vector components, mapping the brain Stanford Technology Law Reviewconnecting Bauby to this brain-machine interface, he might have typed out his memoir himself by thinking about the letters of the words he wished to communicate.This essay illustrates how these advances support a robust theory of human freedom, which reifies existing theories of criminal responsibility. 3Brain-machine interface has already extended beyond the two-dimensional world to the control of three-dimensional objects.Researchers at Duke University pioneered a study in which they connected electrodes to the motor cortex of a monkey's brain to interpret the electrical impulses arising from the firing of the neurons that signaled movement to the monkey's limbs.The researchers studied those electrical impulses to learn the neural process involved in moving the monkey's limbs.They then used this knowledge to build a brain-machine interface device to allow the monkey to manipulate a robotic arm through its thoughts.After training, the monkeys could manipulate the arm when it was connected directly to the monkey's brain such that the monkey ceased moving its own arm and instead moved the robotic arm to achieve its intended movement through intentional thought. 34The next step-human control of robotic arms by thought alone-has become reality.Tim Hemmes, a paraplegic by car accident, moved a robotic arm through brain-machine interface technology that decoded his intention to move the arm and translated it into three-dimensional action. 4 With the help of a new type of chip that was implanted in his brain, Hemmes focused his deliberate intention on moving the three-dimensional arm and succeeded in doing so. 5 To accomplish this feat, Hemmes had to undergo brain surgery whereby electrodes were implanted in his brain to record the electrical signals in his motor cortex brain region.Those electrical signals were connected to the robotic arm and after training for several weeks Hemmes could mentally achieve its movement. 65 Despite these extraordinary advances that enable individuals to move three-dimensional objects through consciously willing those actions and the ability to now isolate the deliberate intentions in the brain, scholars continue to debate the existence of free will.Whether Bauby had used brainmachine interface to transcribe his memoir or used eye-blinks, a stronghold of scholars would challenge whether he acted freely.Not because Bauby suffered from the tragic and rare neurological condition called locked-in syndrome, characterized by the paralysis of all voluntary muscles except for those that control eye movement while leaving one conscious and able to think and reason.Rather, because such scholars question whether human actors have free will, or merely an illusion of freedom.Scholars who deem free will merely illusory claim that all events are determined by past events, including every event in the mind that one would call choice. 6This essay illustrates why neuroscience supports a robust theory of human freedom.Rather than condemning humanity to a reductionist view of human actions, neuroscience provides a lens through which a long-standing debate about freedom of choice versus freedom of action can be renewed and resolved.Research investigations into the neural processes involved in preferences, desires, and human actions offer new insights into the flexibility and control that human actors exercise over voluntary actions. 7Distinguishing between choice with respect to preferences and desires, and freedom to act in particular ways is consistent with a legal system that punishes for wrongful actions but not