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Hutler B, Rieder TN, Mathews DJH, Handelman DA, Greenberg AM. Designing robots that do no harm: understanding the challenges of Ethics for Robots. AI Ethics 2023:1-9. [PMID: 37360148 PMCID: PMC10108783 DOI: 10.1007/s43681-023-00283-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
This article describes key challenges in creating an ethics "for" robots. Robot ethics is not only a matter of the effects caused by robotic systems or the uses to which they may be put, but also the ethical rules and principles that these systems ought to follow-what we call "Ethics for Robots." We suggest that the Principle of Nonmaleficence, or "do no harm," is one of the basic elements of an ethics for robots-especially robots that will be used in a healthcare setting. We argue, however, that the implementation of even this basic principle will raise significant challenges for robot designers. In addition to technical challenges, such as ensuring that robots are able to detect salient harms and dangers in the environment, designers will need to determine an appropriate sphere of responsibility for robots and to specify which of various types of harms must be avoided or prevented. These challenges are amplified by the fact that the robots we are currently able to design possess a form of semi-autonomy that differs from other more familiar semi-autonomous agents such as animals or young children. In short, robot designers must identify and overcome the key challenges of an ethics for robots before they may ethically utilize robots in practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Hutler
- Department of Philosophy, Temple University, 1114 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19122 USA
| | - Travis N. Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, 1809 Ashland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - Debra J. H. Mathews
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, 1809 Ashland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
| | - David A. Handelman
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 USA
| | - Ariel M. Greenberg
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 USA
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2
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Rieder TN. Green prescribing is good, but patients do not have a duty to accept it. J Med Ethics 2023; 49:104-105. [PMID: 36599665 DOI: 10.1136/jme-2022-108846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Travis N Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Barnhill A, Bernstein J, Faden R, McLaren R, Rieder TN, Fanzo J. Moral Reasons for Individuals in High-Income Countries to Limit Beef Consumption. Food ethics 2022; 7:11. [PMID: 35757112 PMCID: PMC9205278 DOI: 10.1007/s41055-022-00100-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
This paper argues that individuals in many high-income countries typically have moral reasons to limit their beef consumption and consume plant-based protein instead, given the negative effects of beef production and consumption. Beef production is a significant source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts, high levels of beef consumption are associated with health risks, and some cattle production systems raise animal welfare concerns. These negative effects matter, from a variety of moral perspectives, and give us collective moral reasons to reduce beef production and consumption. But, as some ethicists have argued, we cannot draw a straight line from the ethics of production to the ethics of consumption: even if a production system is morally impermissible, this does not mean that any given individual has moral reasons to stop consuming the products of that system, given how miniscule one individual’s contributions are. This paper considers how to connect those dots. We consider three distinct lines of argument in support of the conclusion that individuals have moral reasons to limit their beef consumption and shift to plant-based protein, and we consider objections to each argument. This argument applies to individuals in high beef-consuming and high greenhouse gas-emitting high-income countries, though we make this argument with a specific focus on the United States.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Barnhill
- Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Justin Bernstein
- Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ruth Faden
- Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Rebecca McLaren
- Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Travis N. Rieder
- Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Jessica Fanzo
- Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA
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Liebow NK, Rieder TN. "What can I possibly do?": White individual responsibility for addressing racism as a public health crisis. Bioethics 2022; 36:274-282. [PMID: 35060163 DOI: 10.1111/bioe.13004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
What responsibilities do individuals have when it comes to combating large-scale public health crises such as racism? A seductive argument borrowed from the climate ethics literature suggests that focusing on individual morality for a structural problem such as racism is at best unhelpful and at worst actively harmful. In response, we argue that individuals have good moral reasons to modify their own behaviors to help in the fight against large, structural public health emergencies in general, and that the public health crisis of racism, in particular, demands heightened moral responsiveness from individual white people to resist white supremacy. The moral reasons that support white engagement in antiracist work extend above and beyond those regarding individual involvement in the fight against other collectively created public health challenges. Our conclusions help to defend the claim that racial literacy and antiracist education aimed at individuals are vital.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nabina K Liebow
- Department of Philosophy and Religion, American University, Washington, DC
| | - Travis N Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
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Rieder TN, Hutchinson LA, Kahn JP. Why the World Needs Bioethics Communication. Perspect Biol Med 2022; 65:629-636. [PMID: 36468391 DOI: 10.1353/pbm.2022.0054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
This essay argues for the importance of formalizing public engagement efforts around bioethics as something we might call "bioethics communication," and it outlines the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics' plans for engaging in this effort. Because science is complex and difficult to explain to nonexperts, the field of science communication has arisen to meet this need. The field involves both a practice and a subject of empirical research. Like science, bioethics is also complex and difficult to explain, which is why the world needs bioethics communication. The authors are engaged in a brand-new effort to establish the sort of public bioethics efforts that would constitute bioethics communication, through a program which they call the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg iDeas Lab. The authors invite colleagues to experiment and learn with them as they invest in the development of bioethics communicators and their products.
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Affiliation(s)
- L McLean House
- Anesthesia & Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - Kayla N Tabari
- Harvard Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Travis N Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Zachary L McCormick
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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Rieder TN. Solving the Opioid Crisis Isn't Just a Public Health Challenge-It's a Bioethics Challenge. Hastings Cent Rep 2021; 50:24-32. [PMID: 33448415 DOI: 10.1002/hast.1169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Among those who discuss America's opioid crisis, it is popular to claim that we know what we, as a society, ought to do to solve the problem-we simply don't want it badly enough. We don't lack knowledge; we lack the will to act and to fund the right policies. In fact, I've heard two versions of this. Among those who focus on prescription opioids, it is clear that we ought to stop prescribing so many powerful opioid painkillers. And among my public health colleagues focusing on illicit drug use, it is clear that we ought to expand addiction treatment and harm-reduction services. The problem, however, is that the second claim is not obvious (and, indeed, is denied by many Americans), and the first claim probably isn't even true (at least, not in so crude a form). In short, the opioid crisis presents not only a problem of political will but also one of ethics. It will take work to discover or justify our normative claims in this arena.
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Rieder TN, Hutler B, Mathews DJH. Artificial Intelligence in Service of Human Needs: Pragmatic First Steps Toward an Ethics for Semi-Autonomous Agents. AJOB Neurosci 2020; 11:120-127. [PMID: 32228385 DOI: 10.1080/21507740.2020.1740354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The ethics of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) typically centers on "giving ethics" to as-yet imaginary AI with human-levels of autonomy in order to protect us from their potentially destructive power. It is often assumed that to do that, we should program AI with the true moral theory (whatever that might be), much as we teach morality to our children. This paper argues that the focus on AI with human-level autonomy is misguided. The robots and AI that we have now and in the near future are "semi-autonomous" in that their ability to make choices and to act is limited across a number of dimensions. Further, it may be morally problematic to create AI with human-level autonomy, even if it becomes possible. As such, any useful approach to AI ethics should begin with a theory of giving ethics to semi-autonomous agents (SAAs). In this paper, we work toward such a theory by evaluating our obligations to and for "natural" SAAs, including nonhuman animals and humans with developing and diminished capacities. Drawing on research in neuroscience, bioethics, and philosophy, we identify the ways in which AI semi-autonomy differs from semi-autonomy in humans and nonhuman animals. We conclude on the basis of these comparisons that when giving ethics to SAAs, we should focus on principles and restrictions that protect human interests, but that we can only permissibly maintain this approach so long as we do not aim at developing technology with human-level autonomy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian Hutler
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University
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Abstract
This case considers a so-called legacy patient, one whose behaviors and symptoms express a legacy of past, aggressive opioid prescribing by a clinician. Some prescribers might feel pressured to taper doses of opioids for such patients, but this article argues that nonconsensual dose reductions for stable opioid therapy patients is impermissible because it both puts a patient at risk and wrongs an individual in a misdirected attempt to ameliorate a systemic wrong. Although perhaps surprising, this argument is supported by current evidence and recommendations for patient-centered pain care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis N Rieder
- Director of the Master of Bioethics degree program and a research scholar at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in Baltimore, Maryland
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Abstract
Health promotion involves social and environmental interventions designed to benefit and protect health. It often harmfully impacts the environment through air and water pollution, medical waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and other externalities. We consider potential conflicts between health promotion and environmental protection and why and how the healthcare industry might promote health while protecting environments. After probing conflicts between promoting health and protecting the environment we highlight the essential role that environmental resources play in health and healthcare to show that environmental protection is a form of health promotion. We then explore relationships between three radical forms of health promotion and the environment: (1) lowering the human birth rate; (2) transforming the food system; and (3) genetically modifying mosquitos. We conclude that healthcare and other industries and their institutions and leaders have responsibilities to re-consider and modify their priorities, policies, and practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl C Macpherson
- Bioethics Division, Department of Clinical Skills, St George's University, and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), St George's, Grenada
| | - Elise Smith
- The Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ), and the Department of Social and Preventative Medicine, University of Montreal, Canada
| | - Travis N Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
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Rieder TN. The Perilous Blessing of Opioids. Mo Med 2020; 117:202-203. [PMID: 32636545 PMCID: PMC7302012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Travis N Rieder
- Assistant Director for Education Initiatives, Director of the Master of Bioethics degree program and Research Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
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13
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Rieder TN. Editor's Note. Kennedy Inst Ethics J 2020; 30:vii-x. [PMID: 32336690 DOI: 10.1353/ken.2020.0003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
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Rieder TN. Opioids and Ethics: Is Opioid-Free the Only Responsible Arthroplasty? HSS J 2019; 15:12-16. [PMID: 30863226 PMCID: PMC6384204 DOI: 10.1007/s11420-018-9651-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 11/08/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Travis N. Rieder
- 0000 0001 2171 9311grid.21107.35Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, 1809 Ashland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
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Waldman S, Cornell CN, Shapiro LA, Albert TJ, Schairer W, Rodriguez-Merchan EC, Soffin EM, Wu CL, Barnes M, Rich A, Avery J, Rieder TN. Consensus Statement: Toward Opioid-Free Arthroplasty: A Leadership Forum. HSS J 2019; 15:4-7. [PMID: 30863224 PMCID: PMC6384214 DOI: 10.1007/s11420-018-09664-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/16/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Seth Waldman
- Pain Management Division, Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021 USA
| | - Charles N. Cornell
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA ,Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA
| | - Louis A. Shapiro
- Executive Leadership, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA
| | - Todd J. Albert
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA ,Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA
| | - William Schairer
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA
| | | | - Ellen M. Soffin
- Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA ,Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA
| | - Christopher Lee Wu
- Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA ,Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA ,Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | | | - Alex Rich
- Carolina Health Informatics Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC USA
| | - Jonathan Avery
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA
| | - Travis N. Rieder
- Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
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Abstract
For those of us knee-deep in the debate over ethical use of opioids during an epidemic, it is all too easy to draw battle lines and become either 'pro-opioid' or 'anti-opioid'. Historically, too, the attitudes within medicine and the general population have tended to swing back and forth between these two extremes. However, both extremes are unjustifiable, and so at this moment in history, we must try to stop swinging the opioid pendulum. What we need, instead, is a nuanced attitude toward opioids that acknowledges both their potential for benefit and their very real risks. In this paper, I make the case for this view by citing the powerful essays included in this symposium. In short, I suggest that were we to take any individual's experience with opioids as authoritative, we might run the risk of swinging that pendulum to one of the extremes. But by listening to the complex stories of everyone, we are more likely, I think, to recognize the need for care and compassion that necessitates a more subtle look at responsible opioid use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Casey Jo Humbyrd
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (C.J.H.) and Berman Institute of Bioethics (C.J.H. and T.N.R.), The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Travis N Rieder
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (C.J.H.) and Berman Institute of Bioethics (C.J.H. and T.N.R.), The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
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Abstract
A patient receives prescription opioids after an accident-and no support from his physicians as he weans himself off.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis N Rieder
- Travis N. Rieder is the assistant director for education initiatives and a research scholar at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, in Baltimore, Maryland
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Earl J, Hickey C, Rieder TN. Fertility, immigration, and the fight against climate change. Bioethics 2017; 31:582-589. [PMID: 28901603 DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2016] [Revised: 04/14/2017] [Accepted: 06/03/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Several philosophers have recently argued that policies aimed at reducing human fertility are a practical and morally justifiable way to mitigate the risk of dangerous climate change. There is a powerful objection to such "population engineering" proposals: even if drastic fertility reductions are needed to prevent dangerous climate change, implementing those reductions would wreak havoc on the global economy, which would seriously undermine international antipoverty efforts. In this article, we articulate this economic objection to population engineering and show how it fails. We argue, first, that the economic objection paints an inaccurate picture of the complicated relationship between demographic change and economic growth, and second, that any untoward economic effects of fertility reduction can be mitigated with additional policies. Specifically, we argue that supplementing fertility reduction with policies that facilitate the emigration of younger people from developing nations to developed nations could allow for both global reductions in GHG emissions and continued economic stability. Further, we show that moral arguments against such unprecedented increases in immigration are unsuccessful. We conclude that population engineering is a practical and morally justifiable tool for addressing the twin evils of climate change and global poverty.
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Abstract
Neonatal intensive care units represent simultaneously one of the great success stories of modern medicine, and one of its most controversial developments. One particularly controversial issue is the resuscitation of extremely preterm infants. Physicians in the United States generally accept that they are required to resuscitate infants born as early as 25 weeks and that it is permissible to resuscitate as early as 22 weeks. In this article, I question the moral pressure to resuscitate by criticizing the idea that resuscitation in this context "saves" a human life. Our radical medical advancements have allowed us to intervene in the life of a human before it makes sense to say that such an intervention "saves" someone; rather, what the physician does in resuscitating and treating an extremely preterm infant is to take over creating it. This matters, I argue, because "rescues" are much more morally urgent than "creations."
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