Rhetorical situation

In the following sections, we will present some information on the rhetorical situation of Nita Farahany’s TED talk  “When technology can read minds, how will we protect our privacy?” which might prove useful when working with the text.

Farahany’s TED talk is made in response to several sets of circumstances. It is most directly related to the circumstances concerning current developments within EEG technology, but it is also indirectly related to the circumstances of recent scandals concerning data leaks and privacy violations.

The sender of the talk is Nita Farahany, who is a respected lawyer and bioethicist. She addresses a small audience directly during a TED event, but her talk can also reach a much wider audience through its publication on both the TED website and YouTube, so overall there is a broad group of potential receivers.

The main topics covered in the speech are the development and potential dangers of EEG technology, and the need for a right to cognitive liberty to protect against these dangers. Farahany also touches upon other subtopics, but they are mainly included to support her main topics.

You can read a full overview of these points in the following sections.