Treat added capability as added responsibility
Proposed oversight framework. Animal research and human-derived neural models raise different questions, and some projects raise both. Guided by primum non nocere (“first, do no harm”), the proposed program should justify why an animal is necessary, whether another model can answer the question, and how welfare concerns will be monitored. Donor consent for human cells does not by itself answer the ethical questions created by a host animal or a more complex neural system.
Proposed oversight framework. This page expands the “Treat added capability as added responsibility” chapter in the neuroscience collection.
Animal research and human-derived neural models raise different questions, and some projects raise both. Guided by primum non nocere (“first, do no harm”), the proposed program should justify why an animal is necessary, whether another model can answer the question, and how welfare concerns will be monitored. Donor consent for human cells does not by itself answer the ethical questions created by a host animal or a more complex neural system.
Complexity is not proof of consciousness, and uncertainty is not permission to ignore welfare. The proposed escalation process would revisit oversight when the system gains new capabilities, longer maintenance, wider connectivity, or a different relationship with a host. Reviewers would specify in advance what observations trigger additional assessment or a pause. No single electrical measurement should be treated as a universally accepted consciousness detector.
For the company’s original ambition, people and animals should both remain subjects of concern rather than simply material for a success metric. Extending the life of an experimental system would not be a benefit if it produced unrecognized suffering. The program’s stated purpose should include quality of any recovered function, not only the duration of biological persistence.
Open this exact section in the Necromancer dossier. The original chapter status is “Proposed oversight framework.”
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