All posts tagged: Bioethics

As AI systems evolve could they really become conscious?

As AI systems evolve could they really become conscious?

Published by Jenni Sidey

When debates about animal minds, conscious machines, and even fetal awareness spill into public life, the science behind those claims matters as much as the claims themselves. A new analysis argues that the field may still lack a reliable way to tell consciousness apart from ordinary information processing. “Many current theories of consciousness appear to be supported by a range of experimental findings,” Lau said. “But those findings may actually reflect general information processing rather than consciousness itself — so it remains difficult to conclude that these theories truly explain consciousness.” That challenge matters because strong claims are now being made in several directions at once. Recent years have brought growing discussion of consciousness in mammals and birds, possible sentience in some invertebrates, and speculation about AI agents, embryos, and organoids. The new analysis asks whether the evidence used in those debates is as solid as it appears. The conflation of perception and subjective experience in consciousness science. (CREDIT: Cell Neuron) Where the experiments may be going wrong The authors focus on a problem they …

Killing Cleanly: The Ethical Illusion of Humane Execution

Killing Cleanly: The Ethical Illusion of Humane Execution

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’m going to start with an admission; I oppose the death penalty. There are several reasons for this. First, I consider it barbaric. Second, I am uneasy with the idea of the state wielding such irreversible power (especially given that most states are less competent than we, and they, would like to believe). Third, the line separating those eligible for execution from those not eligible is forever elastic; its scope is always subject to expansion and reinterpretation. Finally, and this is less a philosophical objection than an experiential one, I have stood inside an execution chamber, at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, Texas. It is not a place I ever wish to see again. Despite these objections, I recognize that others regard capital punishment as not only permissible but necessary. For some, it offers security: a guarantee against those who commit extreme violence. For others, it represents a form of justice and retribution on behalf of victims and their families. Yet there is, I suspect, at least one point of convergence. Whatever one’s stance on …

Why is Health Good for You?

Why is Health Good for You?

Published by Jenni Sidey

“Brush your teeth,” a mother says to her son. She’s exhausted. She spent a long day organizing a series of speaking events hosted by her department, Bioethics, at the NIH. A tough year at the NIH followed several tough years of fierce public and academic debate over the legitimacy of public health efforts and the value of scientific medicine. He needs to go to bed. First, he needs to brush his teeth. What she doesn’t need is— “Why?” he asks. “Because it’s good for you,” she replies, reflexively. “Why?” he asks, predictably. “Because it’ll keep your teeth healthy.” “So?” “Don’t you want healthy teeth?” He shrugs. This time, she pauses. She almost repeated her first reply—but that would be circular. She began mentally collecting instrumental benefits of dental health—but that won’t move him. “Just brush your teeth, son.” Later, lying in bed, her thoughts turn back to her son’s shrug. It seemed in a way representative of the zeitgeist that has made her job difficult these past years: reluctance to accept “because it’s good for …

Environmental Bioethics and the Problem of Interdependence

Environmental Bioethics and the Problem of Interdependence

Published by Jenni Sidey

I find myself bothered by the relationship between bioethics and public health ethics. Is it that the former focuses on individuals and the latter on communities? What is the relationship between the individual and their communities? Practically speaking, bioethics has been institutionalized in ways that emphasize individual (patient) integrity, while public health ethics has been institutionalized more recently to emphasize collective well-being and justice. Yet, from a philosophical—or, if you prefer, impractical—perspective, these distinctions seem to me importantly arbitrary, a fact I once illustrated by losing the attention of nearly every clinical bioethicist during an invited grand rounds. The emerging field of environmental bioethics is, in part, an effort to reconcile the individual with their communities by articulating a view of interdependence rather than mere interconnection. Of course, environmental bioethics is rough around its edges, providing footholds for all sorts of philosophical climbing. As part of a recent workshop on environmental bioethics in Geneva, several of us mapped the various lines of theory across the field. We imagined intersecting axes (that is, more than one …

Contrary to Claims, Bioethics Is Not a ‘Moral Tradition’

Contrary to Claims, Bioethics Is Not a ‘Moral Tradition’

Published by Jenni Sidey

This article is republished from National Review with the permission of the author. Public-advocacy-focused secular bioethics is largely progressive politics covered with a veneer of expertise. While there are certainly university courses and degrees in the field, no bioethicist is licensed as such. Indeed, the entire discourse is purely subjective. It is driven mostly by philosophers, professors, doctors, and lawyers who opine about a particular set of issues, your faithful correspondent included. Image Credit: KulenPark – Adobe Stock But now, members of the tribe apparently want to pretend that secular bioethics has become such a deeply ingrained part of our societal bedrock that it qualifies as a moral tradition. From, “Bioethics as an Emerging Moral Tradition and Some Implications for Adversarial Cooperation,” published in the influential Journal of Medical Ethics (citations omitted): In a forthcoming book titled The Emerging Tradition of Secular Bioethics, . . . we focus on whether the field of bioethics in the pluralistic and increasingly polarised American context can give justified moral guidance in foundational, clinical, research and public health domains. We argue against …