The ethical concerns were non-existent, said Anand. “We don’t have any sensory stimuli entering the brain. This brain is not thinking in any way.”
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For now, the team say they are focusing on using the brain for military research, to understand the effect of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.
The goal being studying brain in pain implies they will need a brain in pain. Seems like ethics should come into that at some point.
I wasn’t sure if we were metaphorically talking about the foetus brain in question or a hypothetical human that’s fully grown in an isolation tank. If we were talking about the former, we seem to have a fundamentally different set of ethics. With your clarification I assume we’re talking about the latter, in which case I agree with you.
Saying that an undeveloped foetus brain isn’t thinking because it hasn’t received sensory stimuli is a different argument than saying that a fully grown brain can’t think because it hasn’t received sensory stimuli.
Don’t ever let this guy walk around when someone is in a sensory deprivation tank.
Tangentially, are those still used? There was a fad for them (especially combined with LSD) something like 40 years ago, but I’ve hardly heard of them since.
Sensory deprivation tanks (aka float tanks) are still a thing. Here’s a business in Atlanta with float tanks. (I’ve never tried a float tank, so I can’t speak to their efficacy.)
Don’t ever let this guy walk around when someone is in a sensory deprivation tank.
To me the biggest concern was
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The goal being studying brain in pain implies they will need a brain in pain. Seems like ethics should come into that at some point.
We don’t even have the whole-brain simulations, and the artificial hell is already here.
As bad as the argument is, it’s a little different when the brain has never ever been outside one.
How is it a bad argument?
We don’t know enough about brain operation to conclude that sensory stimuli are necessary for ethically sensitive processes to start.
I wasn’t sure if we were metaphorically talking about the foetus brain in question or a hypothetical human that’s fully grown in an isolation tank. If we were talking about the former, we seem to have a fundamentally different set of ethics. With your clarification I assume we’re talking about the latter, in which case I agree with you.
Saying that an undeveloped foetus brain isn’t thinking because it hasn’t received sensory stimuli is a different argument than saying that a fully grown brain can’t think because it hasn’t received sensory stimuli.
Tangentially, are those still used? There was a fad for them (especially combined with LSD) something like 40 years ago, but I’ve hardly heard of them since.
Sensory deprivation tanks (aka float tanks) are still a thing. Here’s a business in Atlanta with float tanks. (I’ve never tried a float tank, so I can’t speak to their efficacy.)