Cyborg Virtues: Using Brain Stimulation for Moral Enhancement

Abstract

This chapter discusses the potential for brain stimulation and brain–computer interfaces to modulate moral emotions, cognition, and behavior. Links between brain structures and moral cognition began with studies of victims of brain injuries and became more precise with advances in brain imaging. In the last two decades, research has demonstrated that moral emotions and cognition can be modulated with internal and external stimulation focused on particular brain structures. Non-invasive methods of neuromodulation include focusing electrical current or magnetism through the skull, while invasive procedures include implanting electrodes, sensors, and computer chips in the brain. As brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) become smaller, safer, more powerful, and more interactive, the healthy will eventually be able to use arrays of sensors and electrodes to sense, inhibit, and boost moral thoughts and emotions. Individuals with brain disorders that lead to violence and criminality, for instance, could be offered BCI therapy as an alternative to psychiatric treatment or incarceration. This chapter proposes a model of six virtues that could be neuromodulation targets: self-control, caring, intelligence, positivity, fairness, and transcendence. Research on the neuromodulation of each virtue is reviewed.