Beyond Flourishing: Intersecting Uses and Interests in the Neurotechnology Marketplace

Neurocognitive health and mental wellbeing feature prominently in political, social, and media discourses and are accompanied by strong public interest in adopting emerging neurotechnologies. Kreitmair argues that such access should be ethically guided by the concept of “human flourishing.” She proposes that “all that is required of consumer products is that their accessibility does not tend to interfere with individuals’ pursuits of living a life of human flourishing” (Kreitmair 2019, 10). While we agree that human flourishing is a laudable pursuit and that there is an urgent need for an ethical framework to guide regulation of and access to neurotechnology, we question Kreitmair’s acceptance of a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model and her prioritization of human flourishing over consumer protection. We highlight two major ethical blind spots to demonstrate how human flourishing alone cannot provide the necessary basis for the governance of DTC neurotechnology and associated “neurodata.