What is needed, Birch argues, when faced with such bewildering uncertainty about the status of other beings' consciousness, is a precautionary framework that outlines best practices for decision-making regarding their care. And inside The edge of feelinghe gives exactly that, in meticulous, orderly detail.
In more than 300 pages, he outlines three fundamental framework principles and 26 specific case proposals on how to deal with complex situations related to the care and treatment of conscious people. For example, Proposition 2 warns that “a patient with a long-term disorder of consciousness should not be assumed to be incapable of experience” and suggests that medical decisions made on his or her behalf should cautiously assume that he or she is capable of experiencing pain. feel. Proposition 16 warns against conflating brain size, intelligence, and sensation, and recommends decoupling the three so that we do not incorrectly assume that small-brained animals are incapable of conscious experience.
Surgeries and stem cells
Be warned, some topics are in The edge of feeling are difficult. For example, Chapter 10 is about embryos and fetuses. In the 1980s, Birch says, it was common not to use anesthesia on newborn babies or fetuses when performing operations. Why? Because whether newborns and fetuses experience pain was up for debate. Rather than expose newborns and fetuses to the risks associated with anesthesia, it was an accepted practice to give them a paralytic drug (which prevents all movement) and proceed with invasive procedures, up to and including heart surgery.
After parents raised the alarm about the devastating consequences of this practice, such as infant mortality, it was eventually changed. Birch's message is clear: if we doubt a living being's capacity to feel, we should probably assume that it is capable of experiencing pain and take all necessary precautions to prevent it from suffering. Assuming the opposite can be unethical.
This guideline is repeated throughout the book. Neural organoids, discussed in Chapter 11, are mini models of brains developed from stem cells. The potential for scientists to use neural organoids to unravel the mechanisms of debilitating neurological diseases – while avoiding invasive animal research – is enormous. It is also ethical, Birch argues, because studying organoids reduces the suffering of laboratory animals. However, we don't yet know whether neural tissue grown in a dish has the potential to develop consciousness. Therefore, he argues that we need to develop a precautionary approach that weighs the benefits of limited animal research against the risk of damaging neural organoids. capable of being emotional.
