B2 – Upper Intermediate
The field of neurotechnology often described as a bit of a “wild west” for lack of regulations governing the said technology at present.
Chief of bioethics at UNESCO Dafna Feinholz said people have to be informed about neurotechnology’s potential benefits and risks, and the options they have.
UNESCO has adopted some guidelines governing the protection of our neural data.
Read the article about UNESCO’s set of global standards on the ethics of neurotechnology.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “burgeoning” mean? “It is the latest move in a growing international effort to put guardrails around a burgeoning frontier – technologies that harness data from the brain and nervous system.” Use the word in a sentence. Give a synonym.
- What does “wild west” mean here: “Unesco has adopted a set of global standards on the ethics of neurotechnology, a field that has been described as “a bit of a wild west”.” Use the expression in a sentence in the same context. Give a synonym.
- What does “bugbear” mean? “The current frontier of neurotechnology lies in improving brain-computer interfaces, which despite recent breakthroughs are in their infancy – and in the proliferation of consumer-oriented devices, which Mathews said could raise privacy concerns, a bugbear of the Unesco standards.” Use the word in a sentence. Give a synonym.
Discussion Questions:
- Share your thoughts on the two recent developments in neurotechnology: artificial intelligence (AI) which offers vast possibilities in decoding brain data and the proliferation of consumer-grade neurotech devices.
- What are your thoughts on the possibility of companies using neurotechnology to subliminally market to people during their dreams in the future?
- Share your insights on this: Neurotechnology has the potential to define the next frontier of human progress, but it is not without risks.
- Share anything you know about neurotechnology.