Julian Koplin
Biographic Data
| ID | 2216377 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Julian Koplin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Julian |
| FAMILY NAME | Koplin |
| SIGNATURE | KOPLIN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Monash University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2752-7334 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Should We Use Behavioural Predictions in Organ Allocation
Medical predictions, for example, concerning a patient's likelihood of survival, can be used to efficiently allocate scarce resources. Predictions of patient behaviour can also be used—for example, patients on the liver transplant waiting list could receive lower priority based on a high likelihood of non‐adherence to their immunosuppressant medication regimen or of drinking excessively. But is this ethically acceptable? In this paper, we will ex…
Trading the Golden Egg: Understanding the Differences between Compensation, Reimbursement and Inducements for Egg Donation in Australia
There is a shortage of donor eggs in Australia, driven (inter alia) by age-related infertility, the family creation needs of same-sex couples, and the emerging needs for donor eggs in the context of mitochondrial donation. We explore the ethical, legal and social implications of different strategies to promote egg donation, focusing particularly on strategies that involve payment. We distinguish between three distinct approaches to offering payme…
Consent-GPT: Is it ethical to delegate procedural consent to conversational AI
Obtaining informed consent from patients prior to a medical or surgical procedure is a fundamental part of safe and ethical clinical practice. Currently, it is routine for a significant part of the consent process to be delegated to members of the clinical team not performing the procedure (eg, junior doctors). However, it is common for consent-taking delegates to lack sufficient time and clinical knowledge to adequately promote patient autonomy …
Weighing the moral status of brain organoids and research animals
Recent advances in human brain organoid systems have raised serious worries about the possibility that these in vitro ‘mini‐brains’ could develop sentience, and thus, moral status. This article considers the relative moral status of sentient human brain organoids and research animals, examining whether we have moral reasons to prefer using one over the other. It argues that, contrary to common intuitions, the wellbeing of sentient human brain org…
Dual-use implications of AI text generation
AI researchers have developed sophisticated language models capable of generating paragraphs of 'synthetic text' on topics specified by the user. While AI text generation has legitimate benefits, it could also be misused, potentially to grave effect. For example, AI text generators could be used to automate the production of convincing fake news, or to inundate social media platforms with machine-generated disinformation. This paper argues that A…
How useful is the category of ‘assisted gestative technologies’
Response to the ISSCR guidelines on human–animal chimera research
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recently released the 2021 update of its guidelines. The update includes detailed new recommendations on human–animal chimera research. This paper argues that the ISSCR recommendations fail to address the core ethical concerns raised by neurological chimeras—namely, concerns about moral status. In minimising moral status concerns, the ISSCR both breaks rank with other major reports on h…
The Moral Superiority of Bioengineered Wombs and Ectogenesis for Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility
This paper argues that uterine transplants are a potentially dangerous distraction from the development of alternative methods of providing reproductive options for women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI). We consider two alternatives in particular: the bioengineering of wombs using stem cells (which would carry fewer risks than uterine transplants) and ectogenesis (which would not require surgical intervention for either the prospe…
Moving from ‘fully’ to ‘appropriately’ informed consent in genomics: The PROMICE framework
Genomic sequencing technologies (GS) pose novel challenges not seen in older genetic technologies, making traditional standards for fully informed consent difficult or impossible to meet. This is due to factors including the complexity of the test and the broad range of results it may identify. Meaningful informed consent is even more challenging to secure in contexts involving significant time constraints and emotional distress, such as when rap…
White Gold on the Black Market: The Need for Regulation of Banking and Donation of Human Milk in Australia
Human milk is in increasing demand. The health benefits of human milk for infants are well known. A limited number of formal Australian milk banks provide human milk to premature and sick infants. However, growing numbers of adults and parents from non-traditional families of healthy infants are buying and sharing it from the internet and social media sites for consumption. In Australia, human milk is not legally defined as a tissue or a food. It…
Lessons from Frankenstein 200 years on: Brain organoids, chimaeras and other ‘monsters’
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has captured the public imagination ever since it was first published over 200 years ago. While the narrative reflected 19th-century anxieties about the emerging scientific revolution, it also suggested some clear moral lessons that remain relevant today. In a sense, Frankenstein was a work of bioethics written a century and a half before the discipline came to exist. This paper revisits the lessons of Frankenstein reg…
Julian J. Koplin Replies
Benjamin Capps's letter explains how his arguments regarding human-animal chimeras differ from my characterization of them. These clarifications are well taken. My interpretation followed two specific claims by Capps: that we cannot rule out the possibility that animals with “humanized” brains will develop human-like consciousness and that we should generally treat beings that might have human-like moral status as if they in fact do have this sta…
Human‐Animal Chimeras: The Moral Insignificance of Uniquely Human Capacities
Human‐animal chimeras—creatures composed of a mix of animal and human cells—have come to play an important role in biomedical research, and they raise ethical questions. This article focuses on one particularly difficult set of questions—those related to the moral status of human‐animal chimeras with brains that are partly or wholly composed of human cells. Given the uncertain effects of human‐animal chimera research on chimeric animals’ cognitio…
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Human‐Animal Chimeras: The Moral Insignificance of Uniquely Human Capacities
Human‐animal chimeras—creatures composed of a mix of animal and human cells—have come to play an important role in biomedical research, and they raise ethical questions. This article focuses on one particularly difficult set of questions—those related to the moral status of human‐animal chimeras with brains that are partly or wholly composed of human cells. Given the uncertain effects of human‐animal chimera research on chimeric animals’ cognitio…
Julian J. Koplin Replies
Benjamin Capps's letter explains how his arguments regarding human-animal chimeras differ from my characterization of them. These clarifications are well taken. My interpretation followed two specific claims by Capps: that we cannot rule out the possibility that animals with “humanized” brains will develop human-like consciousness and that we should generally treat beings that might have human-like moral status as if they in fact do have this sta…
Lessons from Frankenstein 200 years on: Brain organoids, chimaeras and other ‘monsters’
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has captured the public imagination ever since it was first published over 200 years ago. While the narrative reflected 19th-century anxieties about the emerging scientific revolution, it also suggested some clear moral lessons that remain relevant today. In a sense, Frankenstein was a work of bioethics written a century and a half before the discipline came to exist. This paper revisits the lessons of Frankenstein reg…
The Moral Superiority of Bioengineered Wombs and Ectogenesis for Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility
This paper argues that uterine transplants are a potentially dangerous distraction from the development of alternative methods of providing reproductive options for women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI). We consider two alternatives in particular: the bioengineering of wombs using stem cells (which would carry fewer risks than uterine transplants) and ectogenesis (which would not require surgical intervention for either the prospe…
Moving from ‘fully’ to ‘appropriately’ informed consent in genomics: The PROMICE framework
Genomic sequencing technologies (GS) pose novel challenges not seen in older genetic technologies, making traditional standards for fully informed consent difficult or impossible to meet. This is due to factors including the complexity of the test and the broad range of results it may identify. Meaningful informed consent is even more challenging to secure in contexts involving significant time constraints and emotional distress, such as when rap…
White Gold on the Black Market: The Need for Regulation of Banking and Donation of Human Milk in Australia
Human milk is in increasing demand. The health benefits of human milk for infants are well known. A limited number of formal Australian milk banks provide human milk to premature and sick infants. However, growing numbers of adults and parents from non-traditional families of healthy infants are buying and sharing it from the internet and social media sites for consumption. In Australia, human milk is not legally defined as a tissue or a food. It…
Dual-use implications of AI text generation
AI researchers have developed sophisticated language models capable of generating paragraphs of 'synthetic text' on topics specified by the user. While AI text generation has legitimate benefits, it could also be misused, potentially to grave effect. For example, AI text generators could be used to automate the production of convincing fake news, or to inundate social media platforms with machine-generated disinformation. This paper argues that A…
How useful is the category of ‘assisted gestative technologies’
Response to the ISSCR guidelines on human–animal chimera research
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recently released the 2021 update of its guidelines. The update includes detailed new recommendations on human–animal chimera research. This paper argues that the ISSCR recommendations fail to address the core ethical concerns raised by neurological chimeras—namely, concerns about moral status. In minimising moral status concerns, the ISSCR both breaks rank with other major reports on h…
Consent-GPT: Is it ethical to delegate procedural consent to conversational AI
Obtaining informed consent from patients prior to a medical or surgical procedure is a fundamental part of safe and ethical clinical practice. Currently, it is routine for a significant part of the consent process to be delegated to members of the clinical team not performing the procedure (eg, junior doctors). However, it is common for consent-taking delegates to lack sufficient time and clinical knowledge to adequately promote patient autonomy …
Weighing the moral status of brain organoids and research animals
Recent advances in human brain organoid systems have raised serious worries about the possibility that these in vitro ‘mini‐brains’ could develop sentience, and thus, moral status. This article considers the relative moral status of sentient human brain organoids and research animals, examining whether we have moral reasons to prefer using one over the other. It argues that, contrary to common intuitions, the wellbeing of sentient human brain org…
Should We Use Behavioural Predictions in Organ Allocation
Medical predictions, for example, concerning a patient's likelihood of survival, can be used to efficiently allocate scarce resources. Predictions of patient behaviour can also be used—for example, patients on the liver transplant waiting list could receive lower priority based on a high likelihood of non‐adherence to their immunosuppressant medication regimen or of drinking excessively. But is this ethically acceptable? In this paper, we will ex…
Trading the Golden Egg: Understanding the Differences between Compensation, Reimbursement and Inducements for Egg Donation in Australia
There is a shortage of donor eggs in Australia, driven (inter alia) by age-related infertility, the family creation needs of same-sex couples, and the emerging needs for donor eggs in the context of mitochondrial donation. We explore the ethical, legal and social implications of different strategies to promote egg donation, focusing particularly on strategies that involve payment. We distinguish between three distinct approaches to offering payme…
Psychology (7 works) · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Environmental ethics (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Medicine (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Bioethics (3 works) · Biology (3 works)