Data, Metadata, Mental Data? Privacy and the Extended Mind.
AJOB Neuroscience January 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2022.2148772 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractIf the Extended Mind thesis is true, mental privacy may be seriously threatened. This paper examines that claim and proposes enriching data ontology with a new category called mental data. Unlike standard data and metadata, mental data should not merely receive legal protection; instead, technological measures should make it practically impossible for others to obtain, preserving mental privacy as currently understood.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Extended mind Metadata Privacy |
| Key finding | Argues that mental data should be protected by technological measures, not just legal ones, to preserve mental privacy if the Extended Mind thesis is true. |
Abstract
It has been recently suggested that if the Extended Mind thesis is true, mental privacy might be under serious threat. In this paper, I look into the details of this claim and propose that one way of dealing with this emerging threat requires that data ontology be enriched with an additional kind of data-viz., mental data. I explore how mental data relates to both data and metadata and suggest that, arguably, and by contrast with these existing categories of informational content, mental data should not be merely legally protected. Rather, if we value mental privacy as we know it, technological measures should be employed to ensure that one's mental data are practically-not just legally-impossible for others to obtain.