Wake up and smell the cortex
There are three areas among many where organoid research is most important and will see the most immediate impact on society. By getting organ development out of the organism and into the dish, it immediately makes basic research on healthy and diseased organs much more accessible. It opens up genetic modifications that are simply unavailable otherwise, and makes them accessible.
Another important area is innovation. Performing innovation on living complex animals, not just humans, is much more ethically fraught than investigating illness, which is itself fraught enough. A glance at theshows how badly that could go: nobody worries about Petri dishes. So here, brains in jars actually guard against mad scientists.
Which leads to the third and, for cerebral organoids in particular, most significant aspect of this work: ethics. More precisely, by opening up the way tolevels of artificial systems that don't emulate but recapitulate biology, we are finally giving ourselves the tools not only to investigate what being a conscious entity means, but demand that we do that investigation.
It's easy to boil AI/ML ethics down to"Will it hurt me and how do I stop it?" It's much harder to be so simplistic when empathy for the machine is based on common ancestry. The world that will evolve from the organoid Petri dish will change the way we see ourselves, and we can make monsters or angels from that as we wish. But we will have to make that choice. The days of
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Rafael Viñoly: Architect behind London's infamous Walkie Talkie building dies aged 78Mr Viñoly, who has worked on more than 600 structures across the world, died in hospital from an aneurysm in New York on Thursday
Read more »
Fix Radio to tackle mental health crisis and 'macho' culture among building workersFix Radio, the first national station for builders, boasts 290,000 listeners – now it has launched a mission to tackle depression among construction workers 🔴 Exclusive from adamsherwin10
Read more »
Traders detail how dilapidated hotel has hit trade as crumbling building is made safeBusiness owners have welcomed the news that a council has promised to make safe a dilapidated hotel that has led to a popular shopping street being closed.
Read more »
Former Fives building in Guildhall Street on the marketFives Bar Pic: Gary Bond The former Fives Bar in 49-51 Guildhall Street is up for sale with offers starting from £999,950. Blackpool-based Duxburys Prop
Read more »
Work finally begins on £250m Therme mega water park next to Trafford CentreWork finally begins on £250m Therme mega water park and tropical spa next to Trafford Centre
Read more »
Living with acne: ‘I had to wake up every day and not touch my face because it hurt so much’'If you find the right side of social media for you, then it is great' Poppy Williams, 17, tells PMGallagher1 about her struggle with severe acne, why antibiotics were only ever a temporary fix and how skin positivity on social media transformed her o...
Read more »