Moral Intuition Regarding the Possibility of Conscious Human Brain Organoids: An Experimental Ethics Study.

ABSTRACT: The moral status of human brain organoids (HBOs) has been debated in view of the future possibility that they may acquire phenomenal consciousness. This study empirically investigates the moral sensitivity in people's intuitive judgments about actions toward conscious HBOs. The results showed that the presence/absence of pain experience in HBOs affected the judgment about the moral permissibility of actions such as creating and destroying the HBOs; however, the presence/absence of visual experience in HBOs also affected the judgment. These findings suggest that people's intuitive judgments about the moral status of HBOs are sensitive to the valence-independent value of phenomenal consciousness. We discuss how these observations can have normative implications; particularly, we argue that t

SUBMITTER: Ota K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11659373 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature