Why does a tool that can switch chosen neurons on raise questions of mental integrity? · Grey Matter

Optogenetics has shown in mice that writing activity into a small number of chosen neurons can stand in for a real experience: reactivating a small ensemble of visual cortex cells with holographic light made trained mice behave as if they had seen the stimulus that ensemble encoded.

Why does a tool that can switch chosen neurons on raise questions of mental integrity?

Optogenetics has shown in mice that writing activity into a small number of chosen neurons can stand in for a real experience: reactivating a small ensemble of visual cortex cells with holographic light made trained mice behave as if they had seen the stimulus that ensemble encoded. The same group that ran that work, led by Rafael Yuste, co-authored the call for neurorights, arguing that devices able to write perceptions or shape decisions threaten agency and identity. No such writing is possible in people today, and the proposed right to mental integrity is meant to be in place before it is.