Category archives: Ethics

A founder event left its genetic mark in Ashkenazi Jews

A founder event left its genetic mark in Ashkenazi Jews

AnthropologyArchaeologyEthicsGeneticsHistory

By Invited Researcher

About two-thirds of Jews today – or about 10 million people – are Ashkenazi, referring to a recent origin from Eastern and Central Europe. They reside mostly in the United States and Israel. Ashkenazi Jews carry a particularly high burden of disease-causing genetic mutations, such as those in the BRCA1 gene associated with an increased […]

The dangers of agricultural big data

The dangers of agricultural big data

Computer scienceEconomicsEthicsSociology

By Invited Researcher

Most internet users are by now aware of the vulnerability of their personal data. When the news broke that tech companies misuse and manipulate our personal data, there was a widespread “techlash” against the corporate giants Facebook, Amazon and Google. The explicit motive for data harvesting is the prediction of consumer wants and needs. And […]

Deadbots can speak for you after your death

Deadbots can speak for you after your death

Computer scienceEthicsSociology

By Invited Researcher

Machine-learning systems are increasingly worming their way through our everyday lives, challenging our moral and social values and the rules that govern them. These days, virtual assistants threaten the privacy of the home; news recommenders shape the way we understand the world; risk-prediction systems tip social workers on which children to protect from abuse; while […]

First human-monkey embryos created – a small step towards a huge ethical problem

First human-monkey embryos created – a small step towards a huge ethical problem

BiotechnologyEthics

By Invited Researcher

Scientists have created the world’s first monkey embryos containing human cells in an attempt to investigate how the two types of cell develop alongside each other. The embryos, which were derived from a macaque and then injected with human stem cells in the lab, were allowed to grow for 20 days before being destroyed. We […]

Kant, you can’t

Kant, you can’t

Ethics

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

As an intellectual discipline, moral philosophy is afflicted by a very deep ambivalence. On the one hand, moral philosophers have always pursued to have a prominent position in the debates about what is morally good and what is morally bad; most of their theories can be interpreted hence as sophisticated attempts to answer the old-as-mankind […]