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39Researcher Views on Changes in Personality, Mood, and Behavior in Next-Generation Deep Brain StimulationAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 14 (3): 287-299. 2023.The literature on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises concerns that these technologies may affect personality, mood, and behavior. We conducted semi-structured interviews with researchers (n = 23) involved in developing next-generation DBS systems, exploring their perspectives on ethics and policy topics including whether DBS/aDBS can cause such changes. The majority of researchers reported being aware of personality, mood, or behavioral (PMB) changes in recipients of DBS…Read more
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22Researchers’ Ethical Concerns About Using Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation for EnhancementFrontiers in Human Neuroscience 16. 2022.The capacity of next-generation closed-loop or adaptive deep brain stimulation devices to read and write shows great potential to effectively manage movement, seizure, and psychiatric disorders, and also raises the possibility of using aDBS to electively modulate mood, cognition, and prosociality. What separates aDBS from most neurotechnologies currently used for enhancement is that aDBS remains an invasive, surgically-implanted technology with a risk-benefit ratio significantly different when a…Read more
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19Research Comparing iPSC-Derived Neural Organoids to Ex Vivo Brain Tissue of Postmortem Donors: Identity After Life?American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 13 (2): 111-113. 2022.
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28Operationalizing Agency in Brain Computer Interface (BCI) ResearchAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (2-3): 203-205. 2021.
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31Disorders of Consciousness and Theories of Well-BeingAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (2): 165-167. 2021.Among other issues, Peterson and colleagues (2021) raise the crucial but vexing question of how to assess the well-being of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoCs). I provide some suggestio...
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17Treatment Search Fatigue and Informed ConsentAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (1): 77-79. 2021.
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34Researcher Perspectives on Data Sharing in Deep Brain StimulationFrontiers in Human Neuroscience 14 578687. 2020.The expansion of research on deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) raises important neuroethics and policy questions related to data sharing. However, there has been little empirical research on the perspectives of experts developing these technologies. We conducted semi-structured, open-ended interviews with aDBS researchers regarding their data sharing practices and their perspectives on ethical and policy issues related to sharing. Researchers expressed support for and a commit…Read more
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32Scientific and Ethical Uncertainties in Brain Organoid ResearchAmerican Journal of Bioethics 21 (1): 48-51. 2021.Hank Greely’s target article, “Human Brain Surrogates Research: The Onrushing Ethical Dilemma” reviews the manifold scientific and ethical questions surrounding models of human brains used i...
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29Researcher Perspectives on Ethical Considerations in Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation TrialsFrontiers in Human Neuroscience 14. 2020.
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23DBS and Autonomy: Clarifying the Role of Theoretical NeuroethicsNeuroethics 14 (1): 83-93. 2019.In this article, we sketch how theoretical neuroethics can clarify the concept of autonomy. We hope that this can both serve as a model for the conceptual clarification of other components of PIAAAS and contribute to the development of the empirical measures that Gilbert and colleagues [1] propose.
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47DBS and Autonomy: Clarifying the Role of Theoretical NeuroethicsNeuroethics 14 (1): 83-93. 2019.In this article, we sketch how theoretical neuroethics can clarify the concept of autonomy. We hope that this can both serve as a model for the conceptual clarification of other components of PIAAAS and contribute to the development of the empirical measures that Gilbert and colleagues [1] propose.
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31Neuroethics at 15: Keep the Kant but Add More BaconAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (3): 97-100. 2019.
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41Could Genetic Enhancement Really Lead to Obsolescence?American Journal of Bioethics 19 (7): 34-36. 2019.Volume 19, Issue 7, July 2019, Page 34-36.
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29Ethical Analysis of “Mind Reading” or “Neurotechnological Thought Apprehension”: Keeping Potential Limitations in MindAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (1): 32-34. 2019.We appreciate Meynen’s examination of ethical implications of using neurotechnologies to decode neural data and make inferences about cognitive processes. Here, we address three issues that we beli...
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42What is a Medical Information Commons?Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 47 (1): 41-50. 2019.A 2011 National Academies of Sciences report called for an “Information Commons” and a “Knowledge Network” to revolutionize biomedical research and clinical care. We interviewed 41 expert stakeholders to examine governance, access, data collection, and privacy in the context of a medical information commons. Stakeholders' attitudes about MICs align with the NAS vision of an Information Commons; however, differences of opinion regarding clinical use and access warrant further research to explore …Read more
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34Alienation, Quality of Life, and DBS for DepressionAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 9 (4): 223-225. 2018.
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34Mill's Metaethical Non-cognitivismUtilitas 30 (3): 271-293. 2018.In section I, I lay out key components of my favoured non-cognitivist interpretation of Mill's metaethics. In section II, I respond to several objections to this style of interpretation posed by Christopher Macleod. In section III, I respond to David Brink's treatment of the well-known ‘competent judges’ passage in Mill'sUtilitarianism. I argue that important difficulties face both Brink'sevidential interpretationand the rivalconstitutive interpretationthat he proposes but rejects. I opt for a t…Read more
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97A third version of constructivism: rethinking Spinoza’s metaethicsPhilosophical Studies 172 (10): 2565-2574. 2015.In this essay, I claim that certain passages in Book IV of Benedict de Spinoza’s Ethics suggest a novel version of what is known as metaethical constructivism. The constructivist interpretation emerges in the course of attempting to resolve a tension between Spinoza’s apparent ethical egoism and some remarks he makes about the efficacy of collaborating with the right partners when attempting to promote our individual self-interest . Though Spinoza maintains that individuals necessarily aim to pr…Read more
Peter Zuk
Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School
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Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical SchoolResearch Fellow
Arlington, Texas, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Value Theory |
Neuroethics |
Areas of Interest
3 more
Value Theory |
Meta-Ethics |
Neuroethics |
Philosophy of Medicine |
Philosophy of Mind |
History of Western Philosophy |
Buddhism |
Classical Daoism |