CYBORGUARDIANS: Ethical Frontiers of BCIs in Military Contexts

Join us to learn about military neuroenhancement from leading expert James Giordano, PhD, Director of the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. This webinar will focus on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)—technologies that connect the brain to machines—and examine their ethical, strategic, and policy implications for warfighters, society, and warfare.

Eligibility: Attendees must be 18 years or older.
 

James Giordano, PhD, is Director of the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Washington, DC; and is Professor Emeritus of Neurology, Biochemistry, and Ethics at the Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. The author of over 350 peer-reviewed publications, 10 books, and 30 government reports, his ongoing work addresses the development, use, and ethics of neurocognitive techniques and technologies in national defense and intelligence operations; and the neural mechanisms of pain, cognition and decision-making. He is a Fellow of the European Academy of Science and Arts; the Royal Society of Medicine (UK), the Fulbright Society, and the Hastings Center for Ethics. A former US Naval Aerospace Physiologist, he served with the US Navy and Marine Corps.

Zeina Barakeh is an artist and scholar working at the intersection of art and military human enhancement technologies. As part of her research on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), she created CYBOTAGE, a cross-disciplinary initiative investigating BCIs’ impacts on autonomy, society, and warfare. Through CYBOTAGE, she documents veterans’ perspectives via surveys, interviews, workshops, and exhibitions, broadening access to critical discussions on human enhancement and building a national archive of veterans’ visualizations of life-size “enhanced” bodies. Her work has earned the 2024 SF Bay Area Artadia Award, the 2024 Spirit of the Depths Award, and the 2025 Leonardo-ASU Seed Grant, with public art installations on the Salesforce Tower Top (SF), ZAZ Corner Jumbotron (Times Square, NY), and at the San Francisco Arts Commission; and exhibitions in museums, galleries, and film festivals.

Special Thanks
Ret. Col. Wanda A. Wright, the Peter M. and Michelle H. Wilver Director for ASU's Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement (OVMAE), Assistant Teaching Professor and co-investigator of CYBOTAGE; Stacey Eastwood, OVMAE Coordinator; and ASU’s Future Security Initiative.

CYBOTAGE is funded by the Leonardo-ASU Seed Grant