Biogem

Science and Society

Bioethics

Director Dr. Michele Farisco

Main research lines

Biogem Science and Society Unit is part of two European projects: the Human Brain Project, specifically to the research groups about consciousness, artificial intelligence (AI), and neuroethics; the project “Counterfactual Assessment and Valuation for Awareness Architecture” (CAVAA). The Unit is also part of the Cost Action CONNECT about the connection between cognitive decline and chronic kidney disease.

The Human Brain Project, included within the FET Flaghip projects, started in 2013 and will end in 2023. 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.

The Biogem Science and Society 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 Science and Society 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:

Definition of criteria for a more reliable diagnosis of disorders of consciousness (coma, vegetative states, minimally conscious states): the Science and Society Unit is coordinating a multidisciplinary work involving 15 researchers (cognitive, computational, and clinical neuroscientists) from different European centres
Survey about the application of recent guidelines on disorders of consciousness: the Science and Society Unit is coordinating a survey about the application of recent guidelines on disorders of consciousness released by the European Academy of Neurology and the American Academy of Neurology in in collaboration with the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. The survey involved 216 clinicians from Europe, US, Asia, and Africa. Analysis of results is currently in progress.
Conceptual and ethical analysis of AI: the Science and Society Unit is coordinating a work on some conceptual aspects and related ethical impact of AI (particularly Machine Learning and Deep Neuronal Network), with specific regards to its connection with neuroscience
Ethical and regulatory analysis of the clinical practice of kidney transplantation: the Science and Society Unit is coordinating an international survey about the connection between cognitive decline and chronic kidney disease as exclusion factor from kidney transplantation

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)

More recent publications

Farisco, M., Zecchino, I., Capasso, G. The need for a multi-disciplinary reflection about frailty and cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease. Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation; DOI: 10.1093/ndt/gfac334
Farisco, M., Salles, A. American and European Guidelines on Disorders of Consciousness: Ethical Challenges of Implementation. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2022 Jul-Aug 01;37(4):258-262
Farisco, M., Pennartz, C., Annen, J. et al. Indicators and criteria of consciousness: ethical implications for the care of behaviourally unresponsive patients. BMC Med Ethics 23, 30 (2022).
Farisco, M., Evers, K. & Salles, A. On the Contribution of Neuroethics to the Ethics and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence. Neuroethics 15, 4 (2022).
Farisco M, Evers K, Salles A, Towards Establishing Criteria for the Ethical Analysis of Artificial Intelligence, Science and Engineering Ethics 2020; 26: 2413-2425.
Salles A, Evers K, Farisco M, Anthropomorphism in AI, AJOB Neuroscience 2020; 11(2): 88-95.
Pennartz C, Farisco M, Evers K, Indicators and Criteria of Consciousness in Animals and Intelligent Machines: An Inside-Out Approach, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 2019; 13: 25.

Research

Internal seminar

MICHELE FARISCO PhD, Are you conscious? Looking for reliable indicatorsMonday 11th October

Assessing consciousness in other subjects and/or agents (both human and non-human, especially if non-verbal) is an increasingly urgent task. In these two papers, I have recently contributed to elaborate indicators of consciousness in behaviourally unresponsive patients, animals, and intelligent systems, also analyzing related ethical issues. Starting from a characterization of consciousness as a “multimodal situational survey”, we applied an inside-out approach: how can the features of conscious experience, correlating to mechanisms inside the brain, be logically coupled to externally observable (“outside”) properties? Instead of proposing criteria that would each define a “hard” threshold for consciousness, we outline six indicators: (i) goal-directed behavior and model-based learning; (ii) anatomic and physiological substrates for generating integrative multimodal representations; (iii) psychometrics and meta-cognition; (iv) episodic memory; (v) susceptibility to illusions and multistable perception; and (vi) specific visuospatial behaviors. Rather than emphasizing a particular indicator as being decisive, we propose that the consistency amongst these indicators can serve to assess consciousness in other subjects/agents. The application of these indicators to the particular case of patients with disorders of consciousness (i.e., vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, minimally conscious state, and cognitive-motor dissociation) will likely inspire new strategies for assessing pressing ethical issues.