IEET Rights of Non-Human Persons

Massimo Pigliucci The American prison system

2013-05-22T21:04:00+00:00

One of the things that has always struck me as different — and not in a good way — in the United States compared to other Western countries is the way Americans think (and act) about crime, particularly their prison system. Recently, my colleagues Ken Taylor (Stanford) and John Perry (University of California-Riverside) have tackled the issue on their wonderful podcast, Philosophy Talk (which comes with an associated blog, the tagline of which is cogito, ergo blog), causing me to ponder some more disturbing thoughts about it.

Woman who lost limbs to flesh-eating bacteria gets bionic hands

2013-05-18T13:36:00+00:00

Aimee Copeland, the woman who lost her hands, one leg and her other foot to flesh-eating bacteria after a zip-line accident last year, spoke with WXIA.com and “Today” about her new bionic hands, which are helping her return to a normal life.

Copeland, 24, is in the process of learning to use two state-of-the art prosthetic hands called iLimbs. A fast learner, she has the basics down and says she is looking forward to using them for more advanced tasks like driving, according to WXIA.

Valerie Tarico Will the Catholic Bishops Decide How You Die?

2013-05-17T12:15:00+00:00

What happens when religious institutions get to manage public funds, absorb secular hospitals, and put theology above medical science and individual patient conscience?

US scientists clone human stem cells

2013-05-16T20:06:00+00:00

Scientists have recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos in a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.

US scientists said in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Cell that they had harvested stem cells from six embryos created from donated eggs, in a technique using methods like those that produced Dolly the sheep in Britain.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University, who led the research, said that two embryos had been given DNA from skin cells of a child with a genetic in disorder and the others had DNA from fetal skin cells.

Mitalipov said the success came not from a single technical innovation, but from revising a series of steps in the process. He noted it had taken six years to reach the goal after doing it with monkey embryos.

He said that based on monkey work, he believed human embryos made with the technique could not develop into cloned babies, and that he had no interest in trying to do that.

However, opponents said it was unethical to experiment on human embryos and called for a ban.

Scientists have cloned more than a dozen kinds of mammals, starting with Dolly the sheep.

The new work was financed by the university and the Leducq Foundation in Paris. Click Here to read more…

Kelly Hills Shame, Stigma and Angelina Jolie’s Breasts

2013-05-16T16:55:00+00:00

As reactions continue to race around the internet about Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery – the actual discussions, not the Monday-morning quarterbacking of her decision or the utterly vile “but what about her boobies” reaction from that particular subgroup of men who manage to amaze me by their continued ability to manage basic functions like breathing – I’ve been sent links.

Empirical Ethics and the Duty to Extend the “Biological Warranty Period”

2013-05-15T12:23:00+00:00

Colin Farrelly is an IEET Contributor and here he talks about our duty to retard human aging. His paper entitled "Empirical Ethics and the Duty to Extend the "Biological Warranty Period" has been accepted for publication in the journal Social Philosophy and Policy.

The abstract and his video presentation is below:

The world’s aging populations face novel health challenges never experienced before in human history. The moral landscape thus needs to adapt to reflect this novel empirical reality. In this paper I take for granted one basic moral principle- a principle of preventing bad occurrences (Peter Singer, 1972)- and explore the implications empirical considerations from demography, evolutionary biology and biogerontology have for the way we conceive of fulfilling this principle at the operational level. After bringing to the fore a number of considerations Singer ignores, such as the probability that non-intervention will result in harm and the likelihood that different kinds of extrinsic and intrinsic harms can be prevented, I argue that the aspiration to extend the human biological warranty period (by retarding the rate of aging) is a pressing moral imperative for the 21st century. In the final sections I briefly address some standard objections raised against life extension and conclude that, while there may be some legitimate concerns worth addressing, they are not compelling enough to provide a rational basis for forfeiting the potential health and economic benefits which could be realized by extending the biological warranty period.

Double Mastectomy After Genetic Testing

2013-05-14T16:44:00+00:00

Angelina Jolie has revealed she recently had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she has a “faulty” gene that gave her an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer.

The 37-year-old Oscar-winning actress says she decided to go public about her decision to encourage other women to be proactive to see if they are also at risk.

Dr. David Agus discussed Angelina Jolie’s revelation in the New York Times, and what it means for her and for other women in terms of breast and ovarian cancer

Dick Pelletier Organ, tissue replacement could end aging by mid-2020s

2013-05-14T16:09:00+00:00

As we trek through the next decade, older citizens might look in the mirror and wonder, “Who is that gorgeous creature?” Their reflection would reveal a body filled with enthusiasm, sporting a dazzling smile, wrinkle-free skin, perfect vision, natural hair color, real teeth, and an amazing sharp mind and memory.

Lee-Roy Chetty Africa’s competitiveness mandate

2013-05-12T14:13:00+00:00

In total, Africa’s growth rate has averaged well above 5% in the past decade, after 20 difficult years of flat and often negative growth in several countries. The challenge for the continent in the coming years is whether Africa will be able to maintain these impressive growth rates, and whether future growth will be built on the types of productivity enhancements that are associated with rising living standards.

Christopher Reinert Film as a Research Source

2013-05-11T18:22:00+00:00

By the time you have finished reading this sentence, you will be acutely aware of the sensation of your back resting against the chair. This demonstration is used by psychology lectures to demonstrate that people are largely unaware of the vast majority of sensations that they experience. This disregard stems in part from mechanical limitations of the brain and the need to maintain a stable body image. The mechanical limitations are not germane to the topic of the paper beyond saying that the brain can only process so much incoming sensory information and it must decide which information is relevant at the moment.