How neurotechnology could endanger human rights | Allan McCay | TEDxSydneySalon

The impressive recent advances in neurotechnology, led by investment from some of the worlds’ most powerful companies and militaries, offer incredible opportunities from everything from the metaverse to medical treatments. But this technology will also have many implications that we aren’t prepared for. Could this technology be used in sentencing, or criminal justice? How will employers use it to continue the trend of workplace surveillance? And who will have access to the data being captured once we have these devices implanted in our heads? In this talk, Allan McCay argues that existing legal protections and definitions such as The Universal Declaration of Human Rights are no longer fit for purpose if we take into consideration the ethical, legal and social problems that will come from this technology. Allan McCay is the Deputy Director of The Sydney Institute of Criminology and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sydney’s Law School where he coordinates the Legal Research units and lectures in Criminal Law. In connection with his work on neurotechnology, criminal law and human rights, Allan has been named as one of the most influential lawyers of 2021 by Australasian Lawyer. He is also a member of the Minding Rights Network which is an international group of scholars who are working on addressing the challenges to autonomy, mental privacy and mental integrity coming from emerging technologies. He is a member of the Management Committee of the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney. And is also an Affiliate Member of the Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics, at Macquarie University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at