Available in Russian
Author: Andrey Medushevsky
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2024-1-110-137
Keywords: cognitive warfare; cognitive legal studies; neuro-law; neuro-politics; weaponization of mind-studies; use of force; framing; autonomous weapons systems; brain scanning; individual cognitive freedom
Cognitive Warfare – the notion, introduced in public space in 2020 – is at the core of academic and political debates of recent times for the explanation of the current military and political conflicts. As opposite to more traditional kinetic wars the cognitive ones concentrates on human brain and the very capability of reality constructivism by using new technologies of mind control, perception and social behavior. This new type of war characterizes by totality of information manipulation, substitution of reliable knowledge by fiction (post-truth condition), the dissolution of borders between legal and illegal use of force, and criteria of their interpretation. Revolution in studies of the brain opened the way to a new interdisciplinary area – cognitive jurisprudence and neuro-law – but its methods and technologies have positive as well as negative effect. This situation concerns cognitive grounds of law, the sense of traditional legal principles and norms interpretation, ethics and law relations, definitions and linguistics of judicial decisions. The author analyses new challenges to traditional mindsets in the areas of international, constitutional and criminal law, as well as the law of war and peace in order to find the solution of one problem – how to reestablish the authentic role of constitutional guarantees in front of technologies of cognitive-information manipulations. The center of gravity is put in the reconstruction of methods of cognitive jurisprudence and constructivism, the role of neuro-sciences and neuro-law in formation of human mind, brain-control and decision-making process. From that point of view the author rethinks the new areas of legal regulation, place and importance of strategic communications in the protection of state sovereignty, cognitive warfare and judicial process, debating the impact of big data, artificial intellect, brain screening and other new technologies of mind-making, cognitive framing and manipulations. He argues the importance of the definition of cognitive freedom as a new human right in international and constitutional law as well as in political practice.
About the author: Andrey Medushevsky – Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy, Tenured Professor, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
Citation: Medushevsky A. (2024) Pravo v epokhu kognitivnykh voyn: garantii svobody mysli pered vyzovom novykh tekhnologiy manipulirovaniya soznaniem [Law in the epoch of cognitive warfare: how to protect constitutionalism from challenge of the new manipulative technologies?]. Sravnitel’noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 110–137. (In Russian).
References
(2006) A Guide to the Legal Review of New Weapons, Means and Methods of Warfare: Measures to Implement Article 36 of Additional Protocol I of 1977, Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross.
(2020) Recent Cases in Law and Neuroscience. Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, 14 October. Available at: https://clbb.medium.com/recent-cases-in-law-and-neuroscience-43c6d18ca4a1 (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Aono D., Yaffe G., Kober H. (2019) Neuroscientific Evidence in the Courtroom: A Review. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, vol.4, no.1. Available at: https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-019-0179-y (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Bagu K.J. (2014) Cognitive Justice, Plurinational Constitutionalism and Post-Colonial Peacebuilding. A Constitutional Philosophy on Identity; the Global South, Central Nigeria: Ph.D. Thesis, Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh.
Barrett L.F. (2018) Kak rozhdayutsya emotsii. Revolyutsia v ponimanii mozga [How emotions are made. The secret life of the brain], E.Ponikarov (transl.), Moscow: Mann, Ivanov i Ferber. (In Russian).
Bernal A. et al. (2020) Cognitive Warfare: An Attack on Truth and Thought. NATO Innovation Hub and Johns Hopkins University. Available at: https://www.innovationhub-act.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Cognitive%20Warfare.pdf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Bjørgul L.K. (2021) Cognitive Warfare and the Use of Force. Stratagem, 3 November. Available at: https://www.stratagem.no/cognitive-warfare-and-the-use-of-force/ (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Boothby W.H., von Heinegg W.H. (2018) The Law of War. A Detailed Assessment of the US Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bottalico B. (2011) Cognitive Neuroscience, Decision Making and the Law // European Journal of Risk Regulation, vol.2, no.3, pp.427–432.
Bradley A.S. (2018) The Disruptive Neuroscience of Judicial Choice. UC Irvine Law Review, vol.9, no.1, pp.1–51. Available at: https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1332&context=ucilr (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Brożek B., Hage J., Vincent N. (eds.) (2021) Law and Mind. A Survey of Law and the Cognitive Sciences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brunner R.C. Lentzos F. (2018) Militarising the Mind: Assessing the Weapons of the Ultimate Battlefield. BioSocieties, vol.14, no.4, pp.1–47. Available at: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/94550726/Militarising_the_Mind_LENTZOS_Accepted9February2018_GREEN_AMA.pdf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Cáceres E. (2017) Complex Legal Constructivism: Law, Cognition and Complexity: Oxford Seminar. 16 June. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/events/complex-legal-constructivism-law-cognition-and-complexity (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Clapham F., Gaeta P., Sassoli M. (eds.) (2015) The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Claverie B. (2022) What Is Cognition? And How to Make It One of the Ways of the War? In: Claverie B., Prébot B., Buchler N., du Cluzel F. (eds.) Cognitive Warfare: The Future of Cognitive Dominance, Bruxelles: NATO Science and Technology Organization, pp.1–17. Available at: https://hal.science/hal-03635907/document (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Claverie B., du Cluzel F. (2022) The Cognitive Warfare Concept. Available at: https://innovationhub-act.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CW-article-Claverie-du-Cluzel-final_0.pdf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Claverie B., Prébot B., Buchler N., du Cluzel F. (eds.) Cognitive Warfare: The Future of Cognitive Dominance, Bruxelles: NATO Science and Technology Organization. Available at: https://2050.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CW_T08.-Cognitive-Warfare-The-Future-of-Cognitive-Dominance.pdf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Del Mar M., Stern S. (2023) Cognitive Legal Humanities: An Introduction. Critical Analysis of Law, vol.10, no.1, pp.1–10. Available at: https://cal.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cal/article/view/41642 (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Eidelson R. (2013) Neuroscience, Special Forces and Yale. Counterpunch, 6 March. Available at: https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/06/neuroscience-special-forces-and-yale/ (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Farahany N.A. (2023) The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology, New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Fleming J. (2022) Changing the LAW(S) of War: The Normative Implications of Autonomous Weapons Systems. Centre for International and Defence Policy, 25 April. Available at: https://medium.com/centre-for-international-and-defence-policy/changing-the-law-s-of-war-the-normative-implications-of-autonomous-weapons-systems-803c7b484574 (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Gaines J. (2018) Brain Scans in the Courts: Prosecutor’s Dream or Civil Rights Nightmare? Experts Debate the Legal Promise and Pitfalls of Technology for Peering Into People’s Minds. Inside Science, 14 March. Available at: https://www.insidescience.org/news/brain-scans-courts-prosecutors-dream-or-civil-rights-nightmare (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Garland B., Glimcher P.W. (2006) Cognitive Neuroscience and the Law. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, no.16, pp.130–134.
Giordano J. (2019) Is Neuroscience the Future of Warfare? Defence IQ, 17 April. Available at: https://www.defenceiq.com/defence-technology/articles/neuroscience-and-future-warfare-1 (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Giordano J., Kraft C.J. (2017) Integrating Brain Science and Law: Neuroscientific Evidence and Legal Perspectives on Protecting Individual Liberties. Frontiers, 8 November. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2017.00621/full (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Goodenough O.R., Tucker M. (2010) Law and Cognitive Neuroscience. Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences, vol.6, pp.61–92.
Haas I.J., Warren C., Lauf S.J. (2019) Political Neuroscience: Understanding how the Brain Makes Political Decisions. In.: Redlawsk D.P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Political Decision Making, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.1–30. Available at: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kvzcf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Hage J. (2012) Legal Reasoning and the Construction of Law. i-Lex, vol.7, no.16, pp.81–105.
Hai Jin, Li-Jun Hou, Zheng-Guo Wang (2018) Military Brain Science — How to Influence Future Wars. Chinese Journal of Traumatology, vol.21, no.5, pp.277–280.
Jost J.T., Nam H.H., Amodio D.M., Van Bavel J.J. (2014) Political Neuroscience: The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship. Political Psychology, vol.35, no.1, pp.3–42.
Kahan D.M. (2013) Cognitive Bias and the Constitution. Chicago-Kent Law Review, vol.88, no.2, pp.367–410.
Von Klausevitz K. (2020) Printsipy vedeniya voiny [Principles of war], L.A.Igorevskiy (transl.), Moscow: Tsentrpoligraf. (In Russian).
Krishnan A. (2016) Military Neuroscience and the Coming Age of Neurowarfare, London: Routledge.
Le Guyader H. (2020) Weaponization of Neuroscience. Available at: https://innovationhub-act.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WoNS.pdf (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Manzanares J.V. (2014) Cognitive Linguistics and the Law. Anuari de Filologia. Estudis de Lingüística, vol.4, pp.185–200.
McCarthy-Jones S. (2019) The Autonomous Mind: The Right to Freedom of Thought in the Twenty-First Century. Frontiers, 26 September. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frai.2019.00019/full (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Medushevsky A. (2011) Kognitivnaya teoriya prav i yuridicheskoe konstruirovanie real'nosti [The cognitive theory of law and legal engineering of the reality]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.20, no.5, pp.30–42. (In Russian).
Medushevsky A.N. (2023) Kognitivnaya voyna: sotsial'nyy kontrol', upravlenie soznaniem i instrument global'nogo dominirovaniya. Chast' 1 [Cognitive warfare: social control, meaning-making and the instrument of the global dominance. Part 1]. Voprosy teoreticheskoy ekonomiki, no.2, pp.85–98. (In Russian).
Medushevsky A.N. (2023) Kognitivnaya voyna: sotsial'nyy kontrol', upravlenie soznaniem i instrument global'nogo dominirovaniya. Chast' 2 [Cognitive warfare: social control, meaning-making and the instrument of the global dominance. Part 2]. Voprosy teoreticheskoy ekonomiki, no.3, pp.92–107. (In Russian).
Medushevsky A.N. (2023) Krizis mezhdunarodnogo prava i ukrainskiy konflikt [The crisis of international law and the Ukrainian conflict]. Neprikosnovennyy zapas, no.1, pp.53–69. (In Russian).
Mineo L. (2023) Fighting for Our Cognitive Liberty. The Harvard Gazette, 26 April. Available at: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/04/we-should-be-fighting-for-our-cognitive-liberty-says-ethics-expert/ (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Mora M.N. (2019) How Law and Neuroscience Became a New Field of Study. Bioethics Update, vol.5, no.2, pp.75–88.
Moreno J.D. (2006) Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense, Washington, DC: Dana Press.
Nasser Al-Suqri M., Saif Al-Aufi A. (eds.) (2015) Information Seeking Behavior and Technology Adoption: Theories and Trends, Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Nasu H., McLaughlin R. (eds.) (2014) New Technologies and the Law of Armed Conflict, Canberra: Springer.
Pardede J.N., Poluakan P.H. (2021) Law and Post-Truth: Critical Constructivism as an Ideal Legal Reasoning Method on Indonesia’s Post-Truth Era Society. Volksgeist, vol.4, no.1, pp.1–9.
Pastor A. (2023) Cognitive Warfare. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/document/640028102/CognitiveWarfare2022 (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Pirker B., Smolka J. (2019) The Future of International Law is Cognitive — International Law, Cognitive Sociology and Cognitive Pragmatics. German Law Journal, vol.20, no.4, pp.430–448.
Rai Leekha S. (2022) The Future of the Battle for Minds. Observer Research Foundation, 15 January. Available at: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-future-of-the-battle-for-minds/ (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Rickli J.-M., Mantellassi F., Glasser G. (2023) Peace of Mind: Cognitive Warfare and the Governance of Subversion in the 21st Century. Available at: https://www.gcsp.ch/publications/peace-mind-cognitive-warfare-and-governance-subversion-21st-century (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Rosenthal H. (2019) Scanning for Justice: Using Neuroscience to Create a More Inclusive Legal System. Columbia Human Rights Law Review, vol.50, no.3, pp.290–338.
Santos B.S. (ed.) (2007) Cognitive Justice in a Global World: Prudent Knowledges for a Decent Life, Lanham: Lexington Books.
Schacter D.L., Loftus E.F. (2013) Memory and Law: What Can Neuroscience Contribute? Nature Neuroscience, vol.16, no.2, pp.119–123.
Schmitt M.N. (2022) War, Technology and the Law of Armed Conflict. In: Helm A.M. (ed.) International Law Studies. Volume 82: The Law of War in the 21st Century: Weaponry and the Use of Force, Newport, RI: Naval War College, pp.137–182.
Schutt R.K., Seidman L.J., Keshavan M.S. (eds.) (2015) Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Shortland N.D., Alison L.J., Moran J.M. (2019) Conflict: How Soldiers Make Impossible Decisions, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Solan L.M. (2002) Symposium: Cognitive Legal Studies: Categorization and Imagination in the Mind of Law. Brooklyn Law Review, vol.67, no.4, pp.941–948.
Unsworth J. (2013) Neuroethics Meets Just War Theory: Ethical Issues and the Development of the Third Offset Strategy, Fort Sam Houston, TX: Army Medical Education Center.
Velden M. (2008) Design for a Common World: On Ethical Agency and Cognitive Justice. Ethics and Information Technology, vol.11, no.1, pp.37–47.
Vidal I.L. (2020) In Defence of a Constructivist Conception of Legal Interpretation. Revus, vol.40, pp.63–83.
Watts S., Lawless R. (2022) The Law and Character of War in 2035. Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare at West Point, 25 March. Available at: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/law-character-war-2035/ (accessed: 24.03.2024).
Zmigrod L., Tsakiris M. (2021) Computational and Neurocognitive Approaches to the Political Brain: Key Insights and Future Avenues for Political Neuroscience. The Royal Society Publishing, 22 February. Available at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2020.0130 (accessed: 24.03.2024).