Pub Date : 2023-07-13DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17555.1
Federico Zilio
Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are models that grow up in the laboratory and mimic the cellular composition, structure and function of parts of the adult human brain. Recently, an interesting debate has appeared on the ethics of HCO research and application, particularly on the current and future moral status of these entities. A precautionary approach has been proposed, implying a level of protection and moral consideration based on the potential conscious activity that might be detected in future complex forms of HCO. In this article, I aim to broaden the analysis of the question of the moral status of HCOs through an ontological analysis. The hybrid nature of HCOs (between object and subject, natural and artificial) entails an ontological complexity that is difficult to fix in an absolute sense, and this has consequences on the ethical level as well. After identifying the relevant moral concepts at stake, I argue that HCOs can be placed between being moral objects and moral patients based on their ontological status. Therefore, HCOs deserve indirect moral consideration (as moral objects), even if they have not yet or will never develop consciousness; moreover, if they were to reach such a level of complexity that they might have interests in their own self-preservation, they could also receive direct moral consideration (as moral patients). This ontological analysis displays the evolving complexity of these entities, potentially helping define all the factors to be taken into account when formulating the precautionary principle on a case-by-case basis to identify the proper proportionality and regulation of HCOs.
{"title":"An ontological approach to the ethical issues of human cerebral organoids","authors":"Federico Zilio","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17555.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17555.1","url":null,"abstract":"Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are models that grow up in the laboratory and mimic the cellular composition, structure and function of parts of the adult human brain. Recently, an interesting debate has appeared on the ethics of HCO research and application, particularly on the current and future moral status of these entities. A precautionary approach has been proposed, implying a level of protection and moral consideration based on the potential conscious activity that might be detected in future complex forms of HCO. In this article, I aim to broaden the analysis of the question of the moral status of HCOs through an ontological analysis. The hybrid nature of HCOs (between object and subject, natural and artificial) entails an ontological complexity that is difficult to fix in an absolute sense, and this has consequences on the ethical level as well. After identifying the relevant moral concepts at stake, I argue that HCOs can be placed between being moral objects and moral patients based on their ontological status. Therefore, HCOs deserve indirect moral consideration (as moral objects), even if they have not yet or will never develop consciousness; moreover, if they were to reach such a level of complexity that they might have interests in their own self-preservation, they could also receive direct moral consideration (as moral patients). This ontological analysis displays the evolving complexity of these entities, potentially helping define all the factors to be taken into account when formulating the precautionary principle on a case-by-case basis to identify the proper proportionality and regulation of HCOs.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49340687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-10DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17557.1
Sietske A L van Till, M. V. Maksimova, G. V. van Thiel, Eline M. Bunnik
Advances in stem cell technology enable neuroscientists to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based neuronal models of varying complexity, ranging from single human brain cells to two-dimensional neuronal cell models and three-dimensional brain organoids. While the discussion on the moral status of brain organoids is taking center stage in the bioethical literature and is invariably linked to the presumed capacity of future brain organoids to develop some form of consciousness, analyses of the moral status of other – less complex – iPSC-based neuronal models are lacking. In this paper we aim to clarify the moral value of various types of existing neuronal models, including brain organoids. We show how it is made up of several layers that may encompass various sorts of considerations, including moral values, the results of empirical research, and biological characteristics. We identify four such layers – instrumental, intrinsic, symbolic, and relational – that are relevant for the assessment of the moral value of neuronal models. We demonstrate that it lies not in a capacity to develop some form of consciousness (which is absent in current iPSC-based neuronal models, including brain organoids), but in other considerations, including the genetic links between models and donors, the ability of models to mimic brain (dys)function, and their symbolic value, all of which are often overlooked in the bioethical literature. Also, we demonstrate that the 'thickness' of the layers (i.e., their moral weight) increases when the neuronal model is more complex. Finally, we discuss the practical-ethical implications of our analysis for the use of neuronal models in research settings, for instance in relation to informed consent and biobank governance. Our four-layer framework can be applied also in moral assessments of other iPSC-based models, including emerging and future cell models.
{"title":"An assessment of the moral value of neuronal cell models and brain organoids","authors":"Sietske A L van Till, M. V. Maksimova, G. V. van Thiel, Eline M. Bunnik","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17557.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17557.1","url":null,"abstract":"Advances in stem cell technology enable neuroscientists to develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based neuronal models of varying complexity, ranging from single human brain cells to two-dimensional neuronal cell models and three-dimensional brain organoids. While the discussion on the moral status of brain organoids is taking center stage in the bioethical literature and is invariably linked to the presumed capacity of future brain organoids to develop some form of consciousness, analyses of the moral status of other – less complex – iPSC-based neuronal models are lacking. In this paper we aim to clarify the moral value of various types of existing neuronal models, including brain organoids. We show how it is made up of several layers that may encompass various sorts of considerations, including moral values, the results of empirical research, and biological characteristics. We identify four such layers – instrumental, intrinsic, symbolic, and relational – that are relevant for the assessment of the moral value of neuronal models. We demonstrate that it lies not in a capacity to develop some form of consciousness (which is absent in current iPSC-based neuronal models, including brain organoids), but in other considerations, including the genetic links between models and donors, the ability of models to mimic brain (dys)function, and their symbolic value, all of which are often overlooked in the bioethical literature. Also, we demonstrate that the 'thickness' of the layers (i.e., their moral weight) increases when the neuronal model is more complex. Finally, we discuss the practical-ethical implications of our analysis for the use of neuronal models in research settings, for instance in relation to informed consent and biobank governance. Our four-layer framework can be applied also in moral assessments of other iPSC-based models, including emerging and future cell models.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44586579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-26DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17488.2
Melville J. Wohlgemuth, Angeles Salles, C. Moss
Little is known about neural dynamics that accompany rapid shifts in spatial attention in freely behaving animals, primarily because reliable, fine scale indicators of attention are lacking in standard model organisms engaged in natural tasks. The echolocating bat can serve to bridge this gap, as it exhibits robust dynamic behavioral indicators of spatial attention while it explores its environment. In particular, the bat actively shifts the aim of its sonar beam to inspect objects in different directions, akin to eye movements and foveation in humans and other visually dominant animals. Further, the bat adjusts the temporal features of sonar calls to attend to objects at different distances, yielding a direct metric of acoustic gaze along the range axis. Thus, an echolocating bat’s call features not only convey the information it uses to probe its surroundings, but also reveal its auditory attention to objects in 3D space. These explicit metrics of spatial attention provide a powerful and robust system for analyzing changes in attention at a behavioral level, as well as the underlying neural mechanisms.
{"title":"Sonar-guided attention in natural tasks","authors":"Melville J. Wohlgemuth, Angeles Salles, C. Moss","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17488.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17488.2","url":null,"abstract":"Little is known about neural dynamics that accompany rapid shifts in spatial attention in freely behaving animals, primarily because reliable, fine scale indicators of attention are lacking in standard model organisms engaged in natural tasks. The echolocating bat can serve to bridge this gap, as it exhibits robust dynamic behavioral indicators of spatial attention while it explores its environment. In particular, the bat actively shifts the aim of its sonar beam to inspect objects in different directions, akin to eye movements and foveation in humans and other visually dominant animals. Further, the bat adjusts the temporal features of sonar calls to attend to objects at different distances, yielding a direct metric of acoustic gaze along the range axis. Thus, an echolocating bat’s call features not only convey the information it uses to probe its surroundings, but also reveal its auditory attention to objects in 3D space. These explicit metrics of spatial attention provide a powerful and robust system for analyzing changes in attention at a behavioral level, as well as the underlying neural mechanisms.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47610517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-16DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17539.2
Angeles Salles, Joshua Neunuebel
Auditory communication is crucial across taxa, including humans, because it enables individuals to convey information about threats, food sources, mating opportunities, and other social cues necessary for survival. Comparative approaches to auditory communication will help bridge gaps across taxa and facilitate our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this complex task. In this work, we briefly review the field of auditory communication processing and the classical champion animal, the songbird. In addition, we discuss other mammalian species that are advancing the field. In particular, we emphasize mice and bats, highlighting the characteristics that may inform how we think about communication processing.
{"title":"What do mammals have to say about the neurobiology of acoustic communication?","authors":"Angeles Salles, Joshua Neunuebel","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17539.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17539.2","url":null,"abstract":"<ns4:p>Auditory communication is crucial across taxa, including humans, because it enables individuals to convey information about threats, food sources, mating opportunities, and other social cues necessary for survival. Comparative approaches to auditory communication will help bridge gaps across taxa and facilitate our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this complex task. In this work, we briefly review the field of auditory communication processing and the classical champion animal, the songbird. In addition, we discuss other mammalian species that are advancing the field. In particular, we emphasize mice and bats, highlighting the characteristics that may inform how we think about communication processing.</ns4:p>","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135572675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-06DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17534.1
Katherine Bassil
Recent developments in cerebral organoid research have sparked widespread interest among the public and scientific communities alike. However, sensationalism and oversimplification of scientific findings in media coverage can lead to false hope, misinformation, and public distrust in science. This opinion article argues that responsible reporting on cerebral organoid research is not only an ethical imperative, but also critical for advancing the field and maintaining public engagement and trust in science. By examining the negative impacts of oversimplification and sensationalism, the article calls for a more responsible and nuanced approach to science communication. The article also highlights the role and responsibility of various stakeholders, including science communicators, journalists, media outlets, scientists, and ethicists, in promoting ethical communication and ensuring that the public is adequately informed about the scientific and ethical implications of cerebral organoid research.
{"title":"The end of ‘mini-brains’! Responsible communication of cerebral organoid research","authors":"Katherine Bassil","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17534.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17534.1","url":null,"abstract":"Recent developments in cerebral organoid research have sparked widespread interest among the public and scientific communities alike. However, sensationalism and oversimplification of scientific findings in media coverage can lead to false hope, misinformation, and public distrust in science. This opinion article argues that responsible reporting on cerebral organoid research is not only an ethical imperative, but also critical for advancing the field and maintaining public engagement and trust in science. By examining the negative impacts of oversimplification and sensationalism, the article calls for a more responsible and nuanced approach to science communication. The article also highlights the role and responsibility of various stakeholders, including science communicators, journalists, media outlets, scientists, and ethicists, in promoting ethical communication and ensuring that the public is adequately informed about the scientific and ethical implications of cerebral organoid research.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46987550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-06DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17544.1
Paul M. Harary, Rachel Blue, Mackenzie Castellanos, Mehek Dedhia, Sarah Hamimi, Dennis Jgamadze, Benjamin Rees, Nitin Seshadri, Shikha Singh, Jonathan Moreno, J. Wolf, Hongjun Song, G. Ming, H. I. Chen
Brain organoids are self-organizing, three-dimensional tissues derived from pluripotent stem cells that recapitulate many aspects of the cellular diversity and architectural features of the developing brain. Recently, there has been growing interest in using human brain organoid transplantation in animal models as a means of addressing the limitations of in vitro culture, such as the lack of vascularization, and to explore the potential of organoids for neural repair. While there has been substantial debate on the ethical implications of brain organoid research, particularly the potential for organoids to exhibit higher-order brain functions such as consciousness, the impact of human organoid grafts on animal hosts has been less extensively discussed. Enhancement of host animal brain function may not be technically feasible at this time, but it is imperative to carefully consider the moral significance of these potential outcomes. Here, we discuss the ethical implications of enhancing somatosensation, motor processes, memory, and basic socialization in small-animal models. We consider the moral implications of such outcomes and if safeguards are needed to accommodate any increased moral status of animals transplanted with human brain organoids.
{"title":"Human brain organoid transplantation: ethical implications of enhancing specific cerebral functions in small-animal models","authors":"Paul M. Harary, Rachel Blue, Mackenzie Castellanos, Mehek Dedhia, Sarah Hamimi, Dennis Jgamadze, Benjamin Rees, Nitin Seshadri, Shikha Singh, Jonathan Moreno, J. Wolf, Hongjun Song, G. Ming, H. I. Chen","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17544.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17544.1","url":null,"abstract":"Brain organoids are self-organizing, three-dimensional tissues derived from pluripotent stem cells that recapitulate many aspects of the cellular diversity and architectural features of the developing brain. Recently, there has been growing interest in using human brain organoid transplantation in animal models as a means of addressing the limitations of in vitro culture, such as the lack of vascularization, and to explore the potential of organoids for neural repair. While there has been substantial debate on the ethical implications of brain organoid research, particularly the potential for organoids to exhibit higher-order brain functions such as consciousness, the impact of human organoid grafts on animal hosts has been less extensively discussed. Enhancement of host animal brain function may not be technically feasible at this time, but it is imperative to carefully consider the moral significance of these potential outcomes. Here, we discuss the ethical implications of enhancing somatosensation, motor processes, memory, and basic socialization in small-animal models. We consider the moral implications of such outcomes and if safeguards are needed to accommodate any increased moral status of animals transplanted with human brain organoids.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41439464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17531.1
J. Jowitt
Human cerebral organoids are an emerging medical technology whose development raises ethical questions pertinent to debates regarding how regulators ought to respond to research that makes use of them. The sentience of a non-human entity is a common focus of work exploring how moral status ought to be reflected in the law, but it is not the only threshold for moral worth suitable for this purpose. This paper considers the problem of the moral status of human cerebral organoids from the Gewirthian perspective – which holds that a special moral consideration ought to be afforded to agents through a principle of reciprocity, the Principle of Generic Consistency. This alternative framework may be preferable to the sentience-based approach due to the fact that it is proceeds from the bare agency of the observer, which provides a more certain foundation for assessments of moral worth than attempts to ascertain sentience in an observee. The paper will proceed in three main steps. It will first provide an outline of the moral writing of Alan Gewirth, which, through a dialectically necessary argument, imposes an obligation on all agents to ensure that the freedom and wellbeing of all other agents is protected from non-consensual interference. It will then turn to consider whether human cerebral organoids may be considered agents for the purpose of the Gewirthian ethical framework, and thus deserving of this special moral consideration. Lastly, the paper will outline two potential legislative responses with regards to their legal status and legal protection of any interests they may possess. These will be offered from the perspective of two competing theories of legal validity – those that hold that the moral permissibility of a legal rule is a necessary condition of its validity, and those that may see such moral permissibility as desirable though not necessary.
{"title":"Agency, moral worth and the legal status of human cerebral organoids","authors":"J. Jowitt","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17531.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17531.1","url":null,"abstract":"Human cerebral organoids are an emerging medical technology whose development raises ethical questions pertinent to debates regarding how regulators ought to respond to research that makes use of them. The sentience of a non-human entity is a common focus of work exploring how moral status ought to be reflected in the law, but it is not the only threshold for moral worth suitable for this purpose. This paper considers the problem of the moral status of human cerebral organoids from the Gewirthian perspective – which holds that a special moral consideration ought to be afforded to agents through a principle of reciprocity, the Principle of Generic Consistency. This alternative framework may be preferable to the sentience-based approach due to the fact that it is proceeds from the bare agency of the observer, which provides a more certain foundation for assessments of moral worth than attempts to ascertain sentience in an observee. The paper will proceed in three main steps. It will first provide an outline of the moral writing of Alan Gewirth, which, through a dialectically necessary argument, imposes an obligation on all agents to ensure that the freedom and wellbeing of all other agents is protected from non-consensual interference. It will then turn to consider whether human cerebral organoids may be considered agents for the purpose of the Gewirthian ethical framework, and thus deserving of this special moral consideration. Lastly, the paper will outline two potential legislative responses with regards to their legal status and legal protection of any interests they may possess. These will be offered from the perspective of two competing theories of legal validity – those that hold that the moral permissibility of a legal rule is a necessary condition of its validity, and those that may see such moral permissibility as desirable though not necessary.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46593731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-30DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17548.1
Tsung-Ling Lee, Tsutomu Sawai
Human brain organoid research and applications have generated considerable ethical discussions, yet as with other technologies, anticipating potential transnational issues associated with research and cross-border commercialization of organoids would allow a proactive approach as the field advances rapidly. This policy piece explores the potential role of the World Health Organization in the global governance of human brain organoid research applications by examining its legal authority and recent scientific activities in grounding foresight to harness the power of science to better global health.
{"title":"Global governance of human brain organoid research and applications: A role for the World Health Organization?","authors":"Tsung-Ling Lee, Tsutomu Sawai","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17548.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17548.1","url":null,"abstract":"<ns7:p>Human brain organoid research and applications have generated considerable ethical discussions, yet as with other technologies, anticipating potential transnational issues associated with research and cross-border commercialization of organoids would allow a proactive approach as the field advances rapidly. This policy piece explores the potential role of the World Health Organization in the global governance of human brain organoid research applications by examining its legal authority and recent scientific activities in grounding foresight to harness the power of science to better global health.</ns7:p>","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135643021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-25DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17552.1
A. Barnhart, K. Dierickx
Background: The field of organoid ethics is complex and multifaceted, and the need for flexibility and adaptability in the face of its moral complexity is of great importance. Certain kinds of organoids may be deemed morally controversial due to their intrinsic characteristics (e.g., brain organoids, embryoids, or organoid intelligence models) and debates are underway over their possible moral standing. Furthermore, different domains of organoid applications, such as transplantation, precision medicine, or disease modeling have fundamentally different moral concerns. Methods: In this paper, we argue that it is a mistake and near impossible to develop an overarching, all-in-one ethical framework that can sufficiently cover the myriad of organoid moral contexts. We first identify different ontological categories of organoid technologies along with morally problematic properties. We then present different moral contexts in which the organoid technologies are applied. Results: Constructing an organoid ethics framework that can both consider all the relevant moral properties and contexts, and be a useful ethical lens for moral examination may lead to a paradox; the more relevant moral contexts the framework tries to incorporate, the more abstract and less useful the framework becomes. Conclusions: It may be more useful for bioethicists to take on more collaborative and contextual approaches for organoids ethics.
{"title":"Too-Many-Oids: The paradox in constructing an organoid ethics framework","authors":"A. Barnhart, K. Dierickx","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17552.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17552.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The field of organoid ethics is complex and multifaceted, and the need for flexibility and adaptability in the face of its moral complexity is of great importance. Certain kinds of organoids may be deemed morally controversial due to their intrinsic characteristics (e.g., brain organoids, embryoids, or organoid intelligence models) and debates are underway over their possible moral standing. Furthermore, different domains of organoid applications, such as transplantation, precision medicine, or disease modeling have fundamentally different moral concerns. Methods: In this paper, we argue that it is a mistake and near impossible to develop an overarching, all-in-one ethical framework that can sufficiently cover the myriad of organoid moral contexts. We first identify different ontological categories of organoid technologies along with morally problematic properties. We then present different moral contexts in which the organoid technologies are applied. Results: Constructing an organoid ethics framework that can both consider all the relevant moral properties and contexts, and be a useful ethical lens for moral examination may lead to a paradox; the more relevant moral contexts the framework tries to incorporate, the more abstract and less useful the framework becomes. Conclusions: It may be more useful for bioethicists to take on more collaborative and contextual approaches for organoids ethics.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47117682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.12688/molpsychol.17520.1
A. Amador, G. Mindlin
It is common for significant advances in science to come hand in hand with innovative techniques. The study of birdsong was able to immensely expand incorporating novel rigorous investigations when a graphic and informative representation of sound was achieved. The result of this technique, the spectrogram, allows describing the pitch modulations and timbre properties of sounds as a function of time. In this paper we review its history and some of its applications.
{"title":"The science of birdsong and the spectrogram, the technique that changed it all","authors":"A. Amador, G. Mindlin","doi":"10.12688/molpsychol.17520.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12688/molpsychol.17520.1","url":null,"abstract":"It is common for significant advances in science to come hand in hand with innovative techniques. The study of birdsong was able to immensely expand incorporating novel rigorous investigations when a graphic and informative representation of sound was achieved. The result of this technique, the spectrogram, allows describing the pitch modulations and timbre properties of sounds as a function of time. In this paper we review its history and some of its applications.","PeriodicalId":74223,"journal":{"name":"Molecular psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41856533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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