Neuroweapons

Advances in cognitive neuroscience, in particular, might have dangerous implications. While neuroscience, which studies the brain and central nervous system, has enormous potential for good, a subset of neuroscience research is dual-use, with the potential to be applied developing incapacitating agents and interrogation tools. Despite their appeal in modern conflicts—particularly those in which enemies are embedded in civilian populations—such “nonlethal neuroweapons” are unlikely to be nonlethal in practice, and they run contrary to both the BTWC and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).