Etik vs Human Brain Project?
Human Brain Project är ett av EU:s stora flaggskeppsprojekt vad gäller forskning om hur hjärnan fungerar:
The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a European Commission Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship. The HBP aims to put in place a cutting-edge, ICT-based scientific research infrastructure that will allow scientific and industrial researchers to advance our knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, computing and brain-related medicine. The Project promotes collaboration across the globe, and is committed to driving forward European industry.
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Human Brain Project på deras hemsida angående etik:
What are the ethical issues involved in simulating a human brain and in technology derived from human brain simulation?
"Building computer models of the brain may challenge our concepts of personhood, free will and personal responsibility, and the nature of consciousness. In medicine, brain simulation could make it easier to communicate with people who cannot speak (e.g. people with severe disabilities, people in a vegetative state or with locked-in syndrome) or to enhance cognitive function in people with cognitive disabilities (e.g. dementia, trauma and stroke victims, etc.).
As in other fields of science,
it also possible that new knowledge about the brain will be abused – deliberately, for example to create new weapons – but also involuntarily, because society does not realize the power and consequences of new technologies.
For instance, it may be
possible in the future to use knowledge about the brain to predict and modify individual behaviour, or even to irreversibly modify behaviour through electrical stimulation of the brain, pharmacology or neurosurgery. In cases of intractable mental disease, this may be desirable, but in other cases, the costs and benefits will be debatable. One example of debate is whether society should allow cognitive enhancement in healthy people.
Similar considerations apply to technology. Future computers that implement the same principles of computation and cognitive architectures as the brain have enormous potential to improve industrial productivity and offer new services to citizens.
However, they could also be used to implement new systems of mass surveillance and new weaponry. If such systems came into widespread use they would undoubtedly have a huge impact on patterns of daily life and employment – this could be both beneficial and detrimental.
The Human Brain Project has many potential benefits but it also has risks.
It is essential that these risks are debated – preferably a long time before they become real. This is the goal of the HBP's Ethics and Society Programme [link], which will absorb 3% of the Project's budget. One of the key goals of the programme will be to foster a lively debate on social and ethical issues within the HBP, the wider scientific community, and also with the general public."
Länk:
https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/faq/ethics
