Perception as Media: Reconsidering the Arts and Neurotechnology

Recent developments in neurotechnology raise the possibility of directly reading out—or sending input into—perceptual awareness. Using Marshall McLuhan’s statement “the ‘content’ of any medium is always another medium” as a starting point, the author explores the potential for neural decoding and brain-computer interfaces to support a medium of awareness. This article intends to open a set of questions that reconsider ongoing issues in phenomenology and the arts. If art addresses the human condition, then it is arguably essential for art to address our growing integration with external—and increasingly internal—technology.