The 5th HBP conference: Impressions on the first HBP online conference
The Human Brain Project (HBP) held its annual student conference on 1-5 February 2021. Because of the pandemic, the 5th HBP student conference was to be held online. Each day consisted of keynotes, workshops, student sessions, and networking sessions such as pub quiz, poster session, and science bazaar. Unlike last year, the conference was not…
The hard problem of consciousness: please handle with care!
We face challenges every day. Some are more demanding than others, but it seems that there is not a day without some problem to handle. Unless they are too big to manage, problems are like the engines of our lives. They push us to always go beyond wherever we are and whatever we do, to…
Co-designing public engagement in the Human Brain Project
What are the most pertinent neuroethical challenges facing the Human Brain Project (HBP)? And if we had to pick one topic for a public engagement exercise, which would it be? These two questions are the starting point for a co-design process to develop an upcoming HBP public engagement: Gathering European citizens, neuroscientists and other experts…
DBT webinar invite: How can citizen engagement be used in the development of better science?
The Danish Board of Technology Foundation invites you to join a webinar on December 15, 2020, 6-7 pm CET titled “How can citizen engagement be used in the development of better science?”. Opening up a conversation taking stock of the state of engaging publics with ethical issues in science through dialogue, and begin to map…
Ethically responsible robot development
Development of new technologies sometimes draws inspiration from nature. How do plants and animals solve the problem? An example is robotics, where one wants to develop better robots based on what neuroscience knows about the brain. How does the brain solve the problem? Neuroscience, in turn, sees new opportunities to test hypotheses about the brain…
Do you have a vision for your career? Some thoughts on career planning
Do you have a vision for your career and the know-how to plan it? Have you established the right network to support your career? Are you able to keep the life-domain-balance you wish for? For PhD students and postdocs, figuring out the next step on your career path might seem overwhelming. To support young researchers,…
We shape the societies that shape us: our responsibility for human nature
Visionary academic texts are rare – texts that shed light on how research can contribute to the perennial human issues. In an article in the philosophical journal Theoria, however, Kathinka Evers opens up a novel visionary perspective on neuroscience and tragic aspects of the human condition. For millennia, sensitive thinkers have been concerned about human nature. Undoubtedly,…
Culturally shaping developing minds
Are we socially steering evolution by influencing the cultural imprints to be stored in our brains? Recent neuroscientific findings would say so. In a recent paper, Kathinka Evers discusses the potential of being ‘epigenetically proactive’ and adapting our social structures to benefit brain development. Our nervous systems develop in continuous interaction with their immediate physical…
Space, time: bridging the epistemic gap of brain & mind
How do we become ourselves? How does neuronal activity turn into consciousness and the self? One of nature’s great scientific mysteries is the ‘common currency’ of brain and mind. Georg Northoff, Soren Wainio-Theberge and Kathinka Evers suggest looking for a ‘Spatiotemporal Neuroscience’ to dissolve the brain-mind puzzle. Until now, researchers investigating how neural activity turns…
What is required of an ethics of artificial intelligence?
I recently highlighted criticism of the ethics that often figures in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). An ethics that can handle the challenges that AI presents us with requires more than just beautifully formulated ethical principles, values and guidelines. What exactly is required of an ethics of artificial intelligence? Michele Farisco, Kathinka Evers and Arleen Salles address the issue…
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