Cognitive Capital: Who Owns Intelligence in the Age of BCI?

Cognitive Capital: Who Owns Intelligence in the Age of BCI? examines how artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces may transform human cognition into an increasingly productive and economically valuable capability. It asks who holds authority when intelligence becomes connected to software, neural data, networks and commercial infrastructure.

Drawing on Sovereign Capability Economics, Herbert R. Sim distinguishes beneficial technological assistance from systems of control. The work argues that individuals must retain meaningful authority over their cognitive data, access permissions, device updates, interpretation, portability and right to withdraw. It frames cognitive sovereignty as an essential extension of economic sovereignty: the person whose mind, work, data and creativity generate value must remain its primary beneficiary.

The article advocates cognitive technologies that expand learning, accessibility, recovery, creativity and human capability without turning intelligence into a captive asset of platforms, employers or states. It concludes that human augmentation must preserve mental privacy, voluntary participation, interoperability and the right to exit—so that technology remains a tool under individual authority, rather than an infrastructure through which others extract value and exercise control.