“Let the algorithm decide”: is human dignity at stake?

Let the patients decide.

Fortunately the momentum to ensure that a person’s right to involvement in research is upheld has just gone up a gear. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (MCA DOLS), which is a supplement to the main MCA Code of Practice (2007), has just passed through parliament. A whole variety of regulations, training and practice implications will follow for anyone who may have t...

Don't let the drama hide what's at stake.

Which Model Is Best? Let the Data Decide

The Perspectives on Ion Permeation center around the question of which approach is the most adequate in describing ion permeation. Obviously, one way to decide is to compare the outcome of the various models with experimental results and to let the range of validity and the model’s ability of prediction be the major judge in grading models. An obstacle in doing so has been the lack of standards...

Testing Tenure: Let the Market Decide

The behavioral sciences have come under attack for writings and speech that affront sensitivities. At such times, academic freedom and tenure are invoked to forestall efforts to censure and terminate jobs. We review the history and controversy surrounding academic freedom and tenure, and explore their meaning across different fields, at different institutions, and at different ranks. In a multi...

What is Human Dignity?

The English expression ‘human dignity’ consists of the predicate ‘human’ and the noun ‘dignity’. The adjective qualifies the noun, thus determining the kind of dignity in question as the human kind. The adjective has a similar function in the expression ‘human being’: Here it qualifies the noun ‘being’, to determine the kind of being in question as a being of the human kind. ‘Human’ is etymolog...