It looks like the average academic bioethicist is ok (with high variance), and is not having much effect outside academia.
Like lawyers, the bioethicists we hear about the most are the ones defending the least ethical clients.
Are the less conspicuous bioethicists doing the equivalent of mundane, mildly beneficial lawyers who write contracts? Or are they mostly engaged in intellectual masturbation?
I’m unclear on why I’d hire a bioethicist unless I was trying to defend behavior that looks unethical. Which suggests that there isn’t much demand for bioethicists to do constructive things.
I’m unclear on why I’d hire a bioethicist unless I was trying to defend behavior that looks unethical. Which suggests that there isn’t much demand for bioethicists to do constructive things.
From the LessWrong perspective most of the complaints about bioethics seems to be about them standing the the way of research. If you could hire a bioethicist to green-light your vaccine challenge study it seems to me like the bioethicist would do constructive work.
The idea is that people hire bioethicists because they are rent seeking and have pushed for certain decisions to require input of bioethicists.
It looks like the average academic bioethicist is ok (with high variance), and is not having much effect outside academia.
Like lawyers, the bioethicists we hear about the most are the ones defending the least ethical clients.
Are the less conspicuous bioethicists doing the equivalent of mundane, mildly beneficial lawyers who write contracts? Or are they mostly engaged in intellectual masturbation?
I’m unclear on why I’d hire a bioethicist unless I was trying to defend behavior that looks unethical. Which suggests that there isn’t much demand for bioethicists to do constructive things.
From the LessWrong perspective most of the complaints about bioethics seems to be about them standing the the way of research. If you could hire a bioethicist to green-light your vaccine challenge study it seems to me like the bioethicist would do constructive work.
The idea is that people hire bioethicists because they are rent seeking and have pushed for certain decisions to require input of bioethicists.