Wexler Anna
Department of Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridge, MA, USA.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 May 10;11:224. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00224. eCollection 2017.
The "do-it-yourself" (DIY) brain stimulation movement began in earnest in late 2011, when lay individuals began building stimulation devices and applying low levels of electricity to their heads for self-improvement purposes. To date, scholarship on the home use of brain stimulation has focused on characterizing the practices of users via quantitative and qualitative studies, and on analyzing related ethical and regulatory issues. In this perspective piece, however, I take the opposite approach: rather than viewing the home use of brain stimulation on its own, I argue that it must be understood within the context of other DIY and citizen science movements. Seen in this light, the home use of brain stimulation is only a small part of the "neurohacking" movement, which is comprised of individuals attempting to optimize their brains to achieve enhanced performance. Neurohacking itself is an offshoot of the "life hacking" (or "quantified self") movement, in which individuals self-track minute aspects of their daily lives in order to enhance productivity or performance. Additionally, the home or DIY use of brain stimulation is in many ways parallel to the DIY Biology (or "biohacking") movement, which seeks to democratize tools of scientific experimentation. Here, I describe the place of the home use of brain stimulation with regard to neurohackers, lifehackers, and biohackers, and suggest that a policy approach for the home use of brain stimulation should have an appreciation both of individual motivations as well as the broader social context of the movement itself.
“自己动手做”（DIY）脑刺激运动于2011年末正式兴起，当时一些非专业人士开始制作刺激设备，并将低强度电流施加于自己头部，以达到自我提升的目的。迄今为止，关于在家中使用脑刺激的学术研究主要集中在通过定量和定性研究来描述使用者的行为，以及分析相关的伦理和监管问题。然而，在这篇观点文章中，我采取了相反的方法：我认为不能孤立地看待在家中使用脑刺激这一现象，而必须将其置于其他DIY和公民科学运动的背景下来理解。从这个角度来看，在家中使用脑刺激只是“神经黑客”运动的一小部分，该运动由一些试图优化大脑以提高表现的个人组成。神经黑客本身是“生活黑客”（或“自我量化”）运动的一个分支——在“生活黑客”运动中，人们会自我追踪日常生活中的细微方面，以提高生产力或表现。此外，在家中或DIY方式使用脑刺激在很多方面与DIY生物学（或“生物黑客”）运动类似，后者旨在使科学实验工具更加普及。在这里，我描述了在家中使用脑刺激在神经黑客、生活黑客和生物黑客中的地位，并建议针对在家中使用脑刺激的政策应既考虑个人动机，也考虑该运动本身更广泛的社会背景。
