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POPSBritish lawmakers back animal-human embryos for research "I believe that we owe it to ourselves and future generations to introduce these measures and in particular to give our unequivocal backing, within the right framework of rules and standards, to stem cell research," Brown wrote in the Observer.
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POPSGenetically modified human embryo stirs criticism It is definitely unacceptable to try it when it is unsafe. It is definitely worth trying when it will be safe. It will be safe eventually, our job meanwhile is to create an adequate ethical framework that will allow the harnessing of this future technology to the benefit of all humans and other beings.
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POPSI am a transhumanist, thanks I say, fear not. If you have clearly transhumanist beliefs, like the notion that human enhancement is coming in the next few decades and will be a big deal, then don’t be afraid to call yourself one. As Dr. Wittgenstein, one of my favorite philosophers ever, used to argue, words are just labels we fill with our own content. To think that a word has any inherent meaning aside from its use in language is absurd.
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POPSMoral Philosopher Questions Memory Manipulation Hurley says while the real threat of developing PTSD might be a good enough reason to use beta-blockers as a preventative measure, she also wants policy makers to consider the ramifications of what such a treatment may mean to a person’s moral well-being. “Beta-blockers do not cause amnesia. Rather they make memories less vivid, detailed and arousing,” explains Hurley, who specializes in bioethics. “They lessen the emotional impact when someone is recalling upsetting events.”
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POPSDo we want a truly liberal society? A liberal society embraces pluralism, in the sense that it does not seek to impose any one vision of what it means to be virtuous or to lead a good life. Within such a society, approval is commonly expressed for John Stuart Mill’s view that “experiments in living” should not be merely tolerated, but actually welcomed and celebrated (Mill 1974: 120). As Max Charlesworth writes, “In a liberal society personal autonomy, the right to choose one’s own way of life for oneself, is the supreme value.” He adds that this includes what he calls ethical pluralism: members of the society are free to hold a wide range of moral, religious, and non-religious positions, with no core values or public morality that it is the law’s business to enforce (Charlesworth 1993: 1). Accordingly, a liberal society makes a sharp distinction between the sphere of personal moral views and that of the law; no one can use the law to impose their beliefs on others (16-20).
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POPSArtificial Life On The Horizon?! From the Wiki entry for "AI: Artificial Intelligence": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._(movie) "The story is set at an unspecified date in the future. Global warming has led to an ecological disaster resulting in a drastic reduction of the human population and rising sea levels. Cities like New York City and Venice lie in ruins. Mankind’s efforts to maintain civilization lead to the creation of android artificial intelligence." Strangely and powerfully prescient.
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POPSCaveman Blues: unhappy greed Though our greed for goodies is bad for the world and bad for our happiness, fortunately we are also hardwired to over-ride lower levels of hardwiring. It is called evolution of consciousness.
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POPS1000+ Lawyers Call On Congress To Enforce The Law Clipped are only a few of the original 70 signers of a statement calling on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to open investigations into the many offenses against the Constitution the Bush administration has openly perpetrated in defiance of the rule of law. This is about law, not politics.
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POPSWhy The AIDS Vaccine Quest Must Go On As World AIDS Day approaches, Arthur Caplan, the University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, takes a look at the fallout from Merck's experimental HIV vaccine. The vaccine, for unknown reasons, actually made patients more likely to contract the virus. But Caplan says stopping the search for an AIDS vaccine would be a giant mistake.
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POPSDid Merck Tell Patients About Vioxx Risk? A nice scoop by Ed Silverman about the Vioxx liability. The thrust is that Merck should have told participants in a clinical trial that Vioxx should cause heart attacks, but that it didn't. How this affects liability is anyone's guess, but this potential risk should certainly have been outlined to participants in Merck's studies. --Matt Herper
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POPSScientists Apply for First Patent on Synthetic Life Form Without getting into the ethical implications which are fundamental and complex, This is an unprecedented step, a far reaching dangerous idea rapidly reaching its timely fruition, full of both positive potential and peril. Welcome to the 21st century :-) We will really have to tread wisely and courageously here.
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