In their latest target article, Zilio and Lavazza (2023) major claim is that research on human cerebral organoids (HCOs) must take into account whether they can acquire sentience or a primitive for...

Science education is generally perceived as a key facilitator in cultivating a scientifically literate society. In the last decade, however, this conventional wisdom has been challenged by evidence that greater scientific literacy and critical thinking skills may in fact inadvertently aggravate polarization on scientific matters in the public sphere. Supporting an alternative “scientific update hypothesis,” in a series of studies (total N = 2087), we show that increased science’s epistemology literacy might have consequential population-level effects on the public’s alignment with (...) scientific results. In one exploratory study and a pre-registered national online survey, we first show that understanding scientific epistemology predicts refusal of pseudoscientific beliefs and higher scores in a methodology of science test. We also find and replicate a propensity for epistemologically literate citizens to endorse the norm of belief updating and the communicated scientific consensus following both ideologically congruent and incongruent scientific results. Notably, after 2 months of first being presented with scientific results on politically controversial issues, a one standard deviation higher score in epistemological literacy is associated with a 14% increase in the odds of individuals switching their beliefs to align with the scientifically communicated consensus. We close by discussing how, on the face of ideological incongruity, a general understanding of scientific epistemology might foster the acceptance of scientific results, and we underscore the need for a more nuanced appreciation of how education, public comprehension of scientific knowledge, and the dynamics of polarization intersect in the public sphere. (shrink)

Anna Smajdor’s proposal of whole body gestational donation (WBGD) states that female patients diagnosed as brain-dead should be considered for use as gestational donors. In this response, Smajdor’s proposal is rejected on four different accounts: (a) the debated acceptability of surrogacy despite women's autonomy, (b) the harm to dead women ́s interests, (c) the interests of the descendants, and (d) the symbolic value of the body and interests of relatives. The first part argues that WBGD rests on a particular conception (...) of the instrumentalization of bodies that cannot be circumvented simply by the patient’s consent and relinquished autonomy. The second part argues the importance of avoiding any harm to dead women’s interests. The third part identifies the importance of the interest of the foetus in the light of Procreative-Beneficence principle that Smajdor overlooks. And finally, the fourth part considers the symbolic value of the human body and the interest of relatives. The main goal of this commentary is not to show that WBGD cannot be implemented; rather, it is to show that there are not any good arguments in favour of doing so. (shrink)

The development of assistive robotics and anthropomorphic AI allows machines to increasingly enter into the daily lives of human beings and gradually become part of their lives. Robots have made a strong entry in the field of assistive behaviour. In this chapter, we will ask to what extent technology can satisfy people’s personal needs and desires as compared to human agents in the field of care. The industry of assistive technology burst out of the gate at the beginning of the (...) century with very strong innovation and development and is currently attracting large sources of public and private investment and public attention. We believe that a better-defined and more fundamental philosophical-ethical analysis of the values at stake in care robots is needed. To this end, we will focus on the current status of care robots (types of care robots, their functioning and their design) and we will provide a philosophical-ethical analysis that offers a solid framework for the debate surrounding the potential risks and benefits of implementing assistive robots in people’s daily lives. (shrink)

El uso de la tecnología para la creación artística ha sido recurrente a lo largo de la historia del arte. Artistas de todas las épocas han utilizado la tecnología como herramienta para nuevas formas de expresión. En este artículo, quiero diferenciar dos usos de la tecnología para ayudar a la creación artística: a) uso aumentativo y b) uso sustitutivo. Defiendo la idea de que la mayor parte de la relación histórica entre arte y tecnología ha sido enmarcada dentro de un (...) uso aumentativo, es decir, la tecnología ha ayudado a los artistas en la creación, producción y distribución de su arte. Sin embargo, las tecnologías digitales (TICs) y en concreto el uso de sistemas de Inteligencia Artificial (IA) y algoritmos están provocando un cambio de paradigma de un uso aumentativo hacia un uso sustitutivo. El uso sustitutivo de ciertas tecnologías -sistemas de IA y algoritmos- supone una transformación radical en la naturaleza del arte, su valor y el papel del artista. Ahora, sistemas de IA y algoritmos pueden pintar, componer música y escribir textos de manera no-supervisada. En otras palabras, la creatividad o la creación de arte se pueden automatizar. Dicho esto, quiero reflexionar sobre las implicaciones filosóficas del progresivo uso sustitutivo de la tecnología en el arte para explorar cuestiones como: ¿Las maquinas pueden crear arte?, ¿Es posible hablar de creatividad de las máquinas?, ¿Puede una máquina exigir derechos de autor o propiedad intelectual de una obra? (shrink)