Page - 9 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

Chapter 1 why use the terM ‘CyberneuroethiCs’? I In order to examine why the term ‘cyberneuroethics’ was developed in this book, it may be useful to present a brief overview of the manner in which each component of the cyberneuroethics triad is used in order to provide clarity before exploring how they interact together. For example, it is easy to talk about connecting a computer to a nervous system without empha- sising whether the point of contact will be the brain, the spinal cord or the peripheral nerves. Indeed, each would have quite different implications. In this regard, the prefix ‘cyber’ and ‘neuro’ will first be studied before examining the manner in which ‘neuroethics’ is presently defined in bioethics and why the term ‘cyberneuroethics’ was finally chosen. The ‘Cyber’ Prefix It was the French physicist and mathematician André-Marie Ampère (1775– 1836) who first mentioned the word ‘cybernétique’ in his 1834 Essai sur la philosophie des sciences to describe the science of civil government.1 However, the original term of cybernetics came from Ancient Greek, where it reflected the notion of a ‘steersman, governor, pilot or rudder’, while including notions of information, control and communication. The term ‘cybernetic’ was also borrowed by the American mathemati- cian and philosopher Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) and colleagues, who examined how communication and control could be examined in animals, This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.