All 1 entries tagged <em>Ethics</em>Steve Fullerhttps://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/swfuller/tag/ethics/?atom=atomWarwick Blogs, University of Warwick(C) 2024 Steve Fuller2024-03-28T13:09:11ZMy Students Discuss Seven Transhuman Experiments by Steve FullerSteve Fullerhttps://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/swfuller/entry/my_students_discuss/2012-01-05T09:42:20Z2011-11-22T20:14:43Z<p class="answer">Writing about web page <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1" title="Related external link: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1">http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1</a></p>
<p>Last week, while I was in Moscow, I had two sets of students -- one undergraduate and one postgraduate discuss seven radical experiments proposed by Wired Magazine that, were they done, had the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the human condition. Like most of the important experiments on humans done before the 1970s, these would not be allowed most Institutional Review Boards today. But perhaps they should? I asked the students, whose national origins range across Europe, Asia and North America, to discuss the matter in the role of policy makers who have the power to allow such experiments -- and also as potential participants in them. </p>
<p>The seven experiments are described in more detail in the website above, and are summarised below:</p>
<p>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; border: windowtext 1pt solid;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">EXPERIMENT</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">1. Split up twins after birth—and then control every aspect of their environments. </span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">2. Remove brain cells from a live subject to analyze which genes are switched on and which are off.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">3. Insert a tracking agent into a human embryo to monitor its development.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">4. Use beams of light to control the activity of brain cells in conscious human beings.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">5. Switch the embryos of obese women with those of thin women.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">6. Test each new chemical on a wide range of human volunteers before it comes on the market.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">7. Cross-breed a human with a chimpanzee.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
<p>Here are the undergraduates (mostly 2nd and 3rd years), who are enrolled in my Sociology of Knowledge class </p>
<p><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14344203/Sociology%20Of%20Knowledge%20Week%207%20_0.m4a">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14344203/Sociology%20Of%20Knowledge%20Week%207%20_0.m4a</a></p>
<p>Here are the postgraduates (mostly 1st years), who are enrolled in my Science, Media and Public Policy class</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9E7irPbtBw8Mjc1NTk5ZTYtYjFhNi00MDc2LWI2OTUtOWI0NTAwYzg3ZTNk">https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9E7irPbtBw8Mjc1NTk5ZTYtYjFhNi00MDc2LWI2OTUtOWI0NTAwYzg3ZTNk</a></p>
<p>I was very impressed with the level of discussion in both cases, though there were some interesting differences in the style and emphases of the two cases.</p><p class="answer">Writing about web page <a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1" title="Related external link: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1">http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_swr/all/1</a></p>
<p>Last week, while I was in Moscow, I had two sets of students -- one undergraduate and one postgraduate discuss seven radical experiments proposed by Wired Magazine that, were they done, had the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the human condition. Like most of the important experiments on humans done before the 1970s, these would not be allowed most Institutional Review Boards today. But perhaps they should? I asked the students, whose national origins range across Europe, Asia and North America, to discuss the matter in the role of policy makers who have the power to allow such experiments -- and also as potential participants in them. </p>
<p>The seven experiments are described in more detail in the website above, and are summarised below:</p>
<p>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-border-insideh: .5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev: .5pt solid windowtext;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; border: windowtext 1pt solid;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">EXPERIMENT</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">1. Split up twins after birth—and then control every aspect of their environments. </span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">2. Remove brain cells from a live subject to analyze which genes are switched on and which are off.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">3. Insert a tracking agent into a human embryo to monitor its development.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">4. Use beams of light to control the activity of brain cells in conscious human beings.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">5. Switch the embryos of obese women with those of thin women.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">6. Test each new chemical on a wide range of human volunteers before it comes on the market.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td valign="top" width="379" style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0cm; background-color: transparent; padding-left: 5.4pt; width: 284.25pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; border-top: #d4d0c8; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-top: 0cm; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt;"> <span size="3"><span face="Calibri">7. Cross-breed a human with a chimpanzee.</span></span> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
<p>Here are the undergraduates (mostly 2nd and 3rd years), who are enrolled in my Sociology of Knowledge class </p>
<p><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14344203/Sociology%20Of%20Knowledge%20Week%207%20_0.m4a">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14344203/Sociology%20Of%20Knowledge%20Week%207%20_0.m4a</a></p>
<p>Here are the postgraduates (mostly 1st years), who are enrolled in my Science, Media and Public Policy class</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9E7irPbtBw8Mjc1NTk5ZTYtYjFhNi00MDc2LWI2OTUtOWI0NTAwYzg3ZTNk">https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9E7irPbtBw8Mjc1NTk5ZTYtYjFhNi00MDc2LWI2OTUtOWI0NTAwYzg3ZTNk</a></p>
<p>I was very impressed with the level of discussion in both cases, though there were some interesting differences in the style and emphases of the two cases.</p>1