Brain Cells, Slime Mould, and Sentience Semantics
Recent media reports have highlighted a study suggesting that so-called “lab grown brain cells” can “play the video game ‘Pong’”. Whilst the researchers have described the system as ‘sentient’, others have maintained that we should use the …
Read MoreAnnouncement: National Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Now Open For Entries
NATIONAL OXFORD UEHIRO PRIZE IN PRACTICAL ETHICS 2023 • All graduate and undergraduate students (full and part-time) currently enrolled at any UK university, in any subject, are invited to enter the National Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical…
Read MoreWhat is the Most Important Question in Ethics?
by Roger Crisp It’s often been said (including by Socrates) that the most important, ultimate, or fundamental question in ethics is: ‘How should one live?’.
Read MoreNew issue of the Journal of Practical Ethics – Volume 10 Issue 1
We are pleased to announce the publication of Volume 10 Issue 1 of the Journal of Practical Ethics, our open access journal on moral and political philosophy. You can read our complete open access archive online and hard copies will be avai…
Read MoreAre We Heading Towards a Post-Responsibility Era? Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Morality
By Maximilian Kiener. First published on the Public Ethics Blog AI, Today and Tomorrow 77% of our electronic devices already use artificial intelligence (AI). By 2025, the global market of AI is estimated to grow to 60 billion US dollars. B…
Read MoreFracking and the Precautionary Principle
By Charles Foster Image> Leolynn11, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons The UK Government has lifted the prohibition on fracking. The risks associated with fracking have been much di…
Read MoreGuest Post: Dear Robots, We Are Sorry
Written by Stephen Milford, PhD Institute for Biomedical Ethics, Basel University The rise of AI presents humanity with an interesting prospect: a companion species. Ever since our last hominid cousins went extinct from the island of…
Read MoreProtecting Children or Policing Gender?
Laws on genital mutilation, gender affirmation and cosmetic genital surgery are at odds. The key criteria should be medical necessity and consent. By Brian D. Earp (@briandavidearp) ———————- In Ohio…
Read MoreReflective Equilibrium in a Turbulent Lake: AI Generated Art and The Future of Artists
by Anders Sandberg – Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford Is there a future for humans in art? Over the last few weeks the question has been loudly debated online, as machine learning did a surprise charge into making p…
Read MoreGuest Post: The Ethics of the Insulted—Salman Rushdie’s Case
Written by Hossein Dabbagh – Philosophy Tutor at Oxford University hossein.dabbagh@conted.ox.ac.uk We have the right, ceteris paribus, to ridicule a belief (its propositional content), i.e., harshly criticise it. If someone, despite …
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