cognitive liberty

Cognitive liberty is the idea that you should be in charge of your own mind. It has two sides: the freedom to think for yourself without being monitored or manipulated, and the freedom to decide what is done to your brain — to accept, control, or refuse any intervention.

Think of it as bodily autonomy extended inward. Just as you get to decide what happens to your body, cognitive liberty says you get to decide what happens to your mental life — including whether to use a brain–computer interface, a stimulator, or a memory aid, and whether to switch it off.

The idea matters most when an outside party — a company, employer, or state — could read or nudge brain activity. Cognitive liberty insists that such power stays with the person whose mind it is, rather than drifting, by default, to whoever holds the device.