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The edge of sentience: risk and precaution in humans, other animals, and AI

Hosted by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science

In-person and online public event (Auditorium, Centre Building)

Speaker

Professor Jonathan Birch

Professor Jonathan Birch

Chair

Professor Roman Frigg

Professor Roman Frigg

Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about AI?

These are questions about the "edge of sentience", and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. The stakes are immense, and neglecting the risks can have terrible costs. We need to err on the side of caution in these cases, yet it’s often far from clear what ‘erring on the side of caution’ should mean in practice. When are we going too far? When are we not doing enough? Birch's new book, The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI, constructs a precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty. This talk will introduce some of the main themes of the book.

Meet our speaker and chair

Jonathan Birch (@birchlse) is Professor of Philosophy at LSE and Principal Investigator (PI) on the Foundations of Animal Sentience project. In 2021, he led a "Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans" that led to invertebrate animals including octopuses, crabs and lobsters being included in the UK government's Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.

Roman Frigg is Professor of Philosophy and Head of Department in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE. His research interests lie in general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics, and he has published papers on climate change, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, randomness, chaos, complexity, probability, scientific realism, computer simulations, modelling, scientific representation, reductionism, confirmation, and the relation between art and science.

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The Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (@lsephilosophy) promotes research into philosophical, methodological and foundational questions arising in the natural and the social sciences.

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This public event is free and open to all. This event will be a hybrid event, with an in-person audience and an online audience. 

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For the online event: Registration for this event will open after 10am on Tuesday 12 November.

For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk.

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