Neural Sovereignty at the Ontological Threshold: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and the Reconstitution of Conscious Selfhood

Abstract

This study interrogates the profound philosophical ramifications of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technologies through an integrative theoretical framework that traverses neuroscience, phenomenology, and posthumanist discourse. The research demonstrates how BCIs transcend conventional technological mediation, establishing unprecedented neural-technological assemblages that fundamentally destabilize established ontological categories. Through critical analysis of how these interfaces potentially reconfigure traditional boundaries of selfhood, externalize previously private cognitive processes, and reconstitute the material conditions through which consciousness emerges, this investigation reveals BCIs not as mere instrumental augmentations of human capability, but as ontological interventions that fundamentally reconstitute the parameters of human existence. Drawing on Karen Barad's agential realist framework, this study reconceptualizes consciousness not as an inherent property residing within pre-established human subjects, but rather as a phenomenon that materializes through specific material-discursive arrangements increasingly permeated by technological components. This reconceptualization necessitates novel ethical and governance paradigms attentive to how neurotechnological configurations participate in determining which forms of consciousness come to matter. The analysis ultimately advances the protection of ‘neural sovereignty'—meaningful human agency within increasingly neurotechnologically mediated existence—through governance frameworks that acknowledge our profound entanglement with technological systems while preserving the conditions for authentic human flourishing.