Mind Readings: Using 19th century mentalism techniques to study how mind-reading neurotechnology transforms our understanding of mind and body

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This interdisciplinary, practice-based PhD will critically examine the discourse surrounding mind-readingtechnologies through creative methods that are practical, accessible, participatory, and inclusive. It will produceperformance art work that dramatises the social, philosophical, and ethical issues of mind-reading technologies fora general audience.Theatrical mentalists and magicians have a rich history of critical engagement with public notions of mind-readingand technology. Techniques drawn from this tradition will be used in conjunction with research methods fromDesign Fiction and Performance Ethnography to stimulate and elucidate theoretical ideas about mind-readingdiscourses, histories, practices, and technologies.Mind-reading technologies are central to the growing field of neurotechnology, a $7.6 billion market predicted toreach $12 billion by 2020 (Cavuoto, 2018). With applications being developed for gaming, the military, medicine,social media, and everyday human-computer interaction, Wired magazine called 2017, "a coming-out year for thebrain machine interface (BMI)" (Levy, 2017).As mind-reading technologies mature, becoming increasingly sophisticated, varied, and widespread, there is anurgent need to critically examine their potential benefits and dangers (Levy, 2008). Such a timely examinationrequires a consideration of their historical antecedents, an evaluation of the challenges they present to prevailingphilosophies of mind, and the use of creative research methods that can capture and communicate their embodiednature in a tangible manner.This study will be grounded in cultural theory, philosophy of mind, and performance art studies. The key areas ofintersection in my research will be between: the history and cultural theory of theatrical mentalism; emerging mindreadingtechnologies; and the philosophy of mind, mind-reading, cognition, and intersubjectivity. The theoreticalconcerns of these areas will be studied through reflexive workshop facilitation, performative design fiction,participatory performance art, and the iterative processes of analysis, design, prototyping, testing, and reflection.The PhD will be 80% written to 20% practice. I will use a combination of qualitative and action researchmethodologies, including ethnographic participant observation and participatory performance art intervention. Thepractical component of the PhD will require further research and development of research methods fromperformance and design fiction. An action research methodology and an iterative design process will providestructures within which to analyse and reflect upon performance art practice and to develop new ways of workingwith people in participatory performances.