Bioethics
(Dr. Michele Farisco and dr. Cristiano Colangelo, collaborator)
Main research lines
The Bioethics Unit is part of the project “Counterfactual Assessment and Valuation for Awareness Architecture” (CAVAA), and of two Cost Actions: CONNECT, which is about the connection between cognitive decline and chronic kidney disease, and AFFECT-EVO, which is about animal affective and emotional states.
The CAVAA project, coordinated by the Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, has been selected within the EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2021 “Awareness Inside” call, and will end in 2026. The COST Action CONNECT is an international network involving researchers and clinicians from different fields, while the COST Action AFFECT-EVO is an international network involving researchers from different scientific fields, including neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, aimed at elaborating new guidelines for animal wellbeing.
The Bioethics Unit, in particular, in collaboration with philosophers, cognitive and computational neuroscientists, and researchers in AI and robotics, is devoted to the theoretical and ethical analysis of consciousness and related disorders (coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state) and of the possibility of developing an artificial consciousness.
In addition to the study of consciousness, the Bioethics Unit is developing a reflection about neuroethics as a specific discipline. This work resulted in the refinement of the definition of “fundamental neuroethics”, as well as in the analysis of ethical and social impacts of AI. The research activities, multidisciplinary in nature, are conducted in collaboration with internationally recognized researchers.
Projects in progress:
- Theoretical reflection about the conceivability and the feasibility of artificial consciousness: the Bioethics Unit is collaborating with researchers from different fields in order to clarify if it makes sense to talk about artificial consciousness, and what are the criteria for its feasibility
- Identification of reliable indicators for potential artificial consciousness: the Bioethics Unit is engaged in elaborating indicators that may assist us in attributing consciousness to artificial systems
- Conceptual and ethical analysis of Artificial Intelligence (AI): the Bioethics Unit is engaged in a philosophical analysis of the impact of AI on contemporary society, especially of its ethical implications
Main Scientific Collaborations
- Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics, Uppsala University, Sweden;
- The Coma Science Group, University of Liege, Belgium
- IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi, Florence, Italy
- International Brain Initiative (IBI)
- International Neuroethics Society (INS)
- International Brain Injury Association (IBIA)
Latest publications with first, last, and/or corresponding author
2023
1. Farisco M. The Ethical Spectrum of Consciousness. AJOB Neurosci. 2023 Apr-Jun;14(2):55-57. doi: 10.1080/21507740.2023.2188312.
2. Evers K, Guerrero M, Farisco M. Neuroethics & Bioethics: Distinct but Not Separate. AJOB Neurosci. 2023 Oct-Dec;14(4):414-416. doi: 10.1080/21507740.2023.2257162.
3. Farisco M, Changeux JP. About the compatibility between the perturbational complexity index and the global neuronal workspace theory of consciousness. Neurosci Conscious. 2023 Jun 19;2023(1):niad016. doi: 10.1093/nc/niad016.
4. Farisco M, Zecchino I, Capasso G; CONNECT Consortium. The need for a multi-disciplinary reflection about frailty and cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2023 May 4;38(5):1064-1066. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfac334.
2024
1. Salles A, Farisco M. Neuroethics and AI ethics: a proposal for collaboration. BMC Neurosci. 2024 Aug 29;25(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s12868-024-00888-7
2. Farisco M, Formisano R, Gosseries O, Kato Y, Koboyashi S, Laureys S, Lejeune N, Martial C, Matar A, Morrisey AM, Schnakers C, Yakufujiang M, Yamaki T, Veeramuthu V, Zandalasini M, Zasler N, Magliacano A, Estraneo A; IBIA Special Interest Group on DoCs. International survey on the implementation of the European and American guidelines on disorders of consciousness. J Neurol. 2024 Jan;271(1):395-407. doi: 10.1007/s00415-023-11956-z.
3. Farisco M, Evers K, Changeux JP. Is artificial consciousness achievable? Lessons from the human brain. Neural Netw. 2024 Dec;180:106714. doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2024.106714.
4. Farisco M, Blumblyte IA, Franssen C, Nitsch D, Zecchino I, Capasso G, Hafez G; COST CONNECT Action Collaborators. Cognitive decline related to chronic kidney disease as an exclusion factor from kidney transplantation: results from an international survey. Clin Kidney J. 2024 Apr 13;17(5):sfae114. doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfae114.
5. Farisco M. The spontaneous brain activity as a possible common ground between different theoretical frameworks. Comment on "Beyond task response-Pre-stimulus activity modulates contents of consciousness" by G. Northoff, F. Zilio, and J. Zhang. Phys Life Rev. 2024 Sep;50:35-36. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.06.001.
6. Farisco, M., Baldassarre, G., Cartoni, E. et al. A method for the ethical analysis of brain-inspired AI. Artif Intell Rev 57, 133 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-024-10769-4
2025
1. Evers K, Farisco M, Chatila R, Earp BD, Freire IT, Hamker F, Nemeth E, Verschure PFMJ, Khamassi M. Preliminaries to artificial consciousness: A multidimensional heuristic approach. Phys Life Rev. 2025 Mar;52:180-193. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2025.01.002.