From Mollusks to Machines
An Ethical Framework Focused on the Urgency of Extreme Suffering
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21598366 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Leighton (0000-0002-7397-5891, Organisation for the Prevention of Intense Suffering, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 623-633 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-1801 • E-ISSN: 1469-2147 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0963180126100103 |
| PMID | 42083090 |
| OpenAlex | W7160314781 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
Ethical thinking can be pragmatically framed as striving for impact in improving the world, without relying on traditional moral language. Consciousness or sentience is central to anything mattering, but only suffering has an inherent urgency to be addressed. This call to action applies regardless of species or physical substrate. From a perspective on personal identity that recognizes separateness as an illusion, the most extreme suffering can be considered intolerable per se, not just for the physical being experiencing it. Prioritizing the prevention of such suffering is therefore rational. Strong, potentially competing intuitions, including the desire to thrive, must also be accommodated for an ethical framework to be viable, without the creation of happiness formally balancing out intense suffering that exists elsewhere. A framework termed “xNU+” captures these considerations. Suffering metrics such as Years Lived with Severe Suffering (YLSS) and Days Lived with Extreme Suffering (DLES), used alongside existing health and well-being metrics, would better track what matters, in humans and, using different methodologies, in other species and potential artificial sentient entities. The rapid, potentially irreversible, technology-driven transformations now occurring on our planet make it urgent that we embed a suffering-focused ethical framework in our governance and policy-making
Consciousness · Happiness · Moral injury · Moral responsibility · Sentience · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief—an imperative of universal health coverage
Qalys
Theories of consciousness
The heavy tail of extreme pain exacerbates health inequality
Differential effects on pain intensity and unpleasantness of two meditation practices
Suffering as significantly disrupted agency
Animal sentience
Subjective well-being
| Highly cited | No |
|---|