Neuroethics, Cognition & Consciousness

The Neuroethics, Cognition & Consciousness group focuses on the ethical and social impacts of disruptive technologies, such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and NBIC convergence (nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences). It investigates how these innovations are reshaping health, the environment, and the very concept of being human.

Issues such as transhumanism, human enhancement, and the creation of synthetic organisms are analyzed through a bioethical lens that seeks to balance innovation with responsibility. The group also explores the impacts of these technologies on vulnerable populations, as well as the risks associated with unequal access to innovations.

Furthermore, it investigates the ethical and practical challenges of integrating these technologies into daily life, including regulation, safe use, and sustainability. This group works to propose guidelines that guide the responsible use of technology for the benefit of all society.

A necessary review of Brazilian legal education: reflections on academic processes in the face of the reality of generative artificial intelligence.

Brazilian legal education faces the challenge of integrating generative artificial intelligence without abandoning critical thinking, ethics, and humanistic training. More than adopting tools, it must prepare jurists to understand, regulate, and question the technology already transforming law.

May 1525 min read

Five beneficences for a post-biological era

Post-biological beneficence does not grant moral status to every machine. Instead, it proposes a bioethics capable of addressing non-biological systems that already shape human life, agency and vulnerability. From instrumental benefit to artificial relationships, critical infrastructures, autonomous agency and possible artificial welfare, bioethics must guide technology before harms become irreversible.

May 1516 min read

Listening to Control? AI, Biosecurity, and the New Limits of Physiological Surveillance

When ordinary physiological signals, such as coughing, are analysed by AI, public health moves closer to security, surveillance, and institutional control. The bioethical question is no longer simply whether the technology works, but who is allowed to listen to the body, interpret its signals, and act upon them.

May 139 min read

Neuroplasticity, Identity, Freedom: A Contemporary Neuroethical Perspective

A neuroplasticidade representa simultaneamente uma oportunidade terapêutica extraordinária e um desafio antropológico sem precedentes. O futuro da investigação neurocientífica dependerá da capacidade de articular inovação científica, responsabilidade moral e proteção da dignidade humana.

May 1210 min read

Education and Ethical Training as an Instrument of Transformation

Num mundo que vive profundas mudanças culturais, sociais e tecnológicas, é urgente voltar a perguntar: para que educamos? A educação não é apenas transmissão de conhecimentos, mas formação integral da pessoa, fundada na dignidade humana. Educar é despertar consciências, orientar a liberdade para o bem e gerar uma cultura de paz.

May 124 min read

Autonomous Weapons Systems and Bioethics

Attack drones, autonomy and lethal decision-making: the Portuguese case and the ethical limits of technological warfare.

Loitering munitions make a decisive tension visible: technology can increase precision, but it can also distance the human agent from the moral decision to kill. The ethical question is not merely whether the weapon is effective or legal, but whether it preserves real human judgment, clear responsibility, and democratic limits on lethal force.

May 118 min read

Medical AI, clinical decision-making, and patient autonomy: from assisted decision-making to algorithmic co-clinic.

Medical AI is no longer merely a support tool: it is beginning to become a third presence in the consultation. Between doctor, patient, and algorithmic co-clinician, autonomy requires more than consent. It requires understanding, contestation, alternatives, and human responsibility, so that the patient remains the author of the decision affecting their health, body, and future.

May 910 min read

Health data, privacy, and consent: the autonomy lost when data starts circulating.

Health data are not merely information: they are sensitive fragments of the person. Their secondary use can improve research, public policy, and clinical innovation, but it requires privacy, understandable consent, fiduciary governance, and continuous transparency. Without post-consent autonomy, technical data protection may coexist with the ethical loss of the person.

Apr 3011 min read

Brain–Computer Interfaces in Space Exploration: Technological Integration, Mission Advantages,and Ethical-Legal Implications

Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) hold transformative potential for space exploration, offering solutions for astronaut performance, communication, and safety. This paper examines BCI integration in space missions, identifying gaps in empirical validation, philosophical and neuroethical analysis, and regulation

Dec 31, 202519 min read

Padre Vasco Pinto de Magalhães - EIBL 2025

Of Foundation and Continuation

"O bem não se faz apenas com boas intenções. Fazer o bem é descobrir o que é verdadeiramente humano — não o que parece, mas o que permanece. A ética começa onde começa a pergunta: o que é ser pessoa?" — Pe. Vasco Pinto de Magalhães, sj

Jun 12, 20252 min read