EthicsLab Insights | Ethics Lab

All Insights Africa Artificial Intelligence Book Review Climate Change and Pandemics Clinical Ethics Forum Children Co-Producing Crisis Digital Colonialism Event Recap Global Health Human-centred Design Human Heritable Genome Editing (HHGE) Injustices Masters Students Social Media Solidarity Technology Ubuntu Webinar Recap

Programme sprouts new idea at UCT’s Neuroscience Institute

On Tuesday, 2 December, the EthicsLab at UCT's Neuroscience Institute hosted artist, curator and activist Dr Ralph Borland. The lunchtime lecture showcased his work and insights from his recent two-month residency at the lab.

Shaping the future of technology ethics from Africa

The EthicsLab is inviting scholars, artists, and practitioners to join a growing community of practice and inquiry that explores the ethical questions posed by emerging health technologies from African perspectives.

African woman in traditional patterned dress carrying a metal basin with blue fabric on her head and a white bucket in her hand, walking through torrential rain on a city street with parked cars and white buildings visible through the downpour

Climate Change and Pandemics – Co-Producing Crises: How can Bioethics be Enriched by Critical Forms of Scholarship, Histories, and Theories?

Bioethics must evolve beyond procedural guidelines to address intersecting crises of climate change and pandemics. Drawing on global South voices, this paper explores how critical scholarship can strengthen bioethics.

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From Transcendence to Dependence - Who Do We Become When We Outsource Ourselves?

AI promises to enhance us, but by outsourcing memory, reasoning, and empathy to machines, we risk atrophying the very human faculties we have a moral duty to cultivate - turning transcendence into dependence.

A brightly coloured mural which can be viewed in any direction. It has several scenes within it: people in front of computers seeming stressed, a number of faces overlaid over each other, squashed emojis, miners digging in front of a huge mountain representing mineral resources, a hand holding a lump of coal or carbon, hands manipulating stock charts and error messages, as well as some women performing tasks on computers, men in suits around a table, someone in a data centre, big hands controlling the scene

AI in Africa: 5 issues that must be tackled for digital equality

Republished: AI risks deepening global inequality without action. Africa holds <1% of data centers but needs 5 key policy changes: computing power, data governance, local languages, skills, and ethics.

Abstract microscopic photography of a Graphics Processing Unit resembling a satellite image of a big city

One in three South Africans have never heard of AI – what this means for policy

Republished: A new survey of over 3,000 South Africans from all walks of life reveals that most South Africans can’t relate to AI in meaningful ways – despite the global hype about its pros and cons.

Beyond a buzzword: Can Ubuntu reframe AI Ethics?

Republished: Ubuntu's AI ethics turn engages African philosophy—"person through others"—emphasizing interdependence over individualism yet often lacks depth in reshaping ethical frameworks.

Beyond Checklists: Introducing Ethics in Practice

Exploring what it means to practice ethics beyond checklists in healthcare and research. A podcast series featuring global experts discussing justice, equity, and moral courage in professional practice.

Epistemic injustice in global antimicrobial resistance research

Republished: Research reveals how marginalized communities are excluded from antimicrobial resistance studies, creating knowledge gaps and blind spots in global health priorities and interventions.

Ugly mugs and ‘No Sugar’ -thinking about solidarity within art museums and during coffee breaks.

Republished:The Global Health Solidarity Project's third bi-monthly webinar explored how everyday objects reveal institutional hierarchies and power dynamics.

Sarah Stein on the EthicsLab

To me, ethics (particularly bioethics) is the bridge between the human and the scientific. Not only is it the bridge, but the one cannot meaningfully exist without the other.

Being and Becoming African in a Nimble-Footed World

Republished:In his keynote address during the 10th European Conference of African Studies, Prof Francis Nyamnjoh challenged static notions of African identity.

AI Safety in Africa: What’s at stake and who decides?

AI safety is a theme rapidly gaining traction. A recent webinar held by the EthicsLab sought to ask a more situated question: What does it mean to talk about safety in Africa, and for whom is safety at stake?

Seeds of Solidarity

Video: Lebogang Montewa, a past member of the EthicsLab team, created a short video clip, showcasing how the Rural Women's Assembly's seed exhibition at the castle in Cape Town inspired further connection.

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Decolonising Minds, Building Bridges: The Ngũgĩ-Chakava Partnership

Republished: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Henry Chakava profoundly shaped African literature published on the continent and their collaborative efforts serve as a powerful embodiment of “Incompleteness and Conviviality”

Solidarity in Action: Summer School Newsletter

Take a peek into the dynamic process which unfolded over 3 days with 30 participants from 9 countries from Southern Africa

Self driving cars autonomy beats independence

Self-Driving Cars & Care Bots: Why ‘Independence’ Beats ‘Autonomy’ in AI Ethics

Can a self-driving car truly be ‘autonomous’? What does it mean for an AI to ‘govern itself or for a so-called ‘autonomous weapon’ to make life-or-death decisions?

Debate and Provocations: Who Cleans Up After Failed Implants?

What happens when your life-saving implant's maker goes bankrupt? Who's responsible when technology outlives its creators, but patients still depend on it?

The Global Empire of AI: Whose Vision of the World Is Taking Hold?

Rachel Adams' "The New Empire of AI: The Future of Global Inequality" reveals how AI extends colonial power structures, exploiting resources while promising progress. It creates algorithmic governance systems that deepen global inequities.

What is Data Solidarity?

Webinar Recap: The collection, usage, sharing, and governance of medical data is plagued by a persistent problem of trust and equity. Is data solidarity the answer?

Solidarity: Embodied and Enacted

Recently the Global Health Solidarity Project, the Southern African Rural Women's Assembly (RWA) and UCT EthicsLab co-hosted an immersive summer school exploring solidarity.

Image generated by ChatGPT to symbolize the impact of the recent USAID funding freeze

Calls for self-reliance must not deter SA’s efforts to fight US funding freeze

Republished from Business Live: There is a risk the narrative of ‘going it alone’ will be misused to promote an unworkable NHI model or distance SA from strategic global partnerships

From Theory to Action: A Hands-On Workshop Experience

Ever wondered how human-centred design can help tackle real-world problems?

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Reflections from Masters Students at the EthicsLab

Here’s a little glimpse into our journey so far: messy, challenging, and rewarding.

confronting gaslighting and injustices blog

Challenging the Dismissal of Lived Experiences: Confronting Gaslighting and Epistemic Injustice in Sex Work and LGBTI research and policy

Voices of the LGBTI and sex work communities have often been systematically silenced and violently oppressed. This history of gaslight has to stop.

Legislating solidarity?

Human rights, ethics and the movement towards a Right to International Solidarity.

Just do(pe) it? Why the academic project is at risk from proposals to pharmacologically enhance researchers.

Republished: The justifiability and potential risks of cognitive enhancement in academia.

Let’s not move fast and break things: why caution is needed in our approach to heritable human genome editing (HHGE)

The premature adoption of genome editing technologies like the CRISPR-Cas9 system for clinical applications will more likely lead to biomedical abuses and unintended harms due to the removal of reasonable legal and ethical safeguards.

Snapscan for beggars?

Republished: Increasing shift to cashless transactions will require more than handouts to those in need.

Kids should be encouraged to talk back – 5 tips for teaching them critical thinking skills

Republished from The Conversation: Teaching kids to think critically sets them up well for life.

The Cost of Caring: Why Empathy Might Be Breaking Healthcare

‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’ — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Bridging the Brain Divide: Neuroethics and Justice in Africa

Webinar recap: Neuroscience is making leaps and bounds globally, but the recent webinar Emerging Frontiers in Neuroethics reminded us that these advancements must benefit everyone, not just a privileged few.

The Legal and Ethical Debate on Human Heritable Genome Editing (HHGE) in South Africa

The controversy and conflicting interpretations of the law around human heritable genome editing (HHGE) in South Africa raises significant concerns among the South African legal, ethical, and scientific communities.

Ethics Washing: The Misappropriation of Ubuntu in the Ethics of Heritable Human Genome Editing (HHGE)

Using superficial ethical language to legitimize an agenda — in this case, a liberal one focused on expanding HHGE policy — while concealing a lack of substantive engagement with the invoked principles

Artificial Intelligence as Worldmaking Retreat

Artificial Intelligence as Worldmaking: Colonial Dimensions and Planetary Futures

Event recap: The EthicsLab hosted a retreat at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study bringing scholars from Africa and Latin America together to explore the idea of AI as a force of worldmaking.

Nyamnjoh’s Digital Uprising: Navigating the Ethics of Technology and Politics in Africa

Republished: A review of Prof Francis Nyamnjoh’s novel "Digital Uprising: The Flower of Freedom in Mimboland", where he masterfully weaves ethics throughout and examines its implications for leadership and technology.

Centering Africa as context and driver for Global Health Ethics: incompleteness, conviviality and the limits of Ubuntu

Republished: Silences exist in global health ethics scholarship because of the particular caricatures of Africa that abound in the world, and these silences profoundly impact scholarship in this field.

Sowing seeds of life and solidarity

Photo Essay: The inspiring seed research journey of Southern African rural women as told through a photo-documentary series, Guardians of Seed, Land and Life.

Children and the internet: helping kids navigate this modern minefield

Republished from The Conversation: Help your children navigate the risks, identify the ethical pitfalls and enjoy the benefits of social media platforms and the internet.

Should stereotypes about African sex workers be rallied to bolster HIV prevention advocacy?

HIV PrEP lenacapavir could fundamentally change the trajectory of HIV globally – should stereotypes about African sex workers be rallied to bolster advocacy for a reduction in price?

Inequality and International Partnerships in Global Health: The Case of Ebola Vaccine Trials

Amid calls for equity in international research collaborations, Dr Marlyn Faure contends that inequality underwrites the values of clinical trials and international partnerships in Global Health interventions in Africa.

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Artificial Intelligence and Development in Africa

Webinar recap: Yousif Hassan argues that Artificial Intelligence and development in Africa are not just about technology and innovation but also about desirable AI futures and the political imaginations sustaining them.

Capacity, consent, and reproductive decision-making

Clinical Ethics Forum recap: Recent cases brought to the Clinical Ethics Forum reminded me us about the sometimes tricky relationship between the law and morality and the tension between what is the case and what should be the case

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Decolonising Digital Futures

Webinar recap: Sebastián Lehuedé critically explores the colonial dimensions of AI in Chile and whether embracing digital sovereignty is a suitable response.

Clinical Ethics Forum: Reason and rationality

Reason and Rationality in Treatment Decisions

Clinical Ethics Forum recap: First do no harm – the oath may be sacrosanct, but what can clinicians do when reality, and patient rights, get in the way?

Supererogation in the Healthcare Setting

Clinical Ethics Forum recap: Is it ever justifiable to administer ARVs to a patient who refuses treatment? What if she’s pregnant?

The politics of knowledge in the biomedical sciences: South/African perspectives

Book launch: The EthicsLab invited co-editor Jess Auerbach and four contributors of the book for a discussion around the knowledge-power nexus in the biomedical sciences.

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Ethics and physiotherapy in resource-constrained settings

EthicsLab Junior Research Fellow explains why ethics matters for physiotherapists working in resource constrained settings.

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Are emerging technologies colonial?

Webinar recap: A panel discussion exploring the ethical and political significance of concepts such as AI, data and digital colonialism and the relevance of these concepts within the African context and the broader global South.

Generative AI output to prompt 'doctors help children in Africa', in Alenichev et al. (2023)

Can generative AI shift power?

Webinar Recap: A dynamic panel discussion on ethical questions surrounding race, power, and representation in generative artificial intelligence programs from the diverse fields of global health and fashion.

UCT News - Dr Lyn Horn at the 7th World Conference on Research Integrity

UCT researchers welcome greater fairness and equity in global research

Republished from UCT News: Researchers applaud UCT’s Office of Research Integrity in leading the drive for the release of the The Cape Town Statement on Fostering Research Integrity through Fairness and Equity.

Engaging Africa ethically

Webinar recap: Kickstarting conversations about how knowledge from the African humanities could inform the ethical questions posed by new and emerging health technologies.

Shaping the future of technology ethics from Africa

The EthicsLab is inviting scholars, artists, and practitioners to join a growing community of practice and inquiry that explores the ethical questions posed by emerging health technologies from African perspectives.

AI in Africa: 5 issues that must be tackled for digital equality

Republished: AI risks deepening global inequality without action. Africa holds <1% of data centers but needs 5 key policy changes: computing power, data governance, local languages, skills, and ethics.

One in three South Africans have never heard of AI – what this means for policy

Republished: A new survey of over 3,000 South Africans from all walks of life reveals that most South Africans can’t relate to AI in meaningful ways – despite the global hype about its pros and cons.

Beyond a buzzword: Can Ubuntu reframe AI Ethics?

Republished: Ubuntu's AI ethics turn engages African philosophy—"person through others"—emphasizing interdependence over individualism yet often lacks depth in reshaping ethical frameworks.

Being and Becoming African in a Nimble-Footed World

Republished:In his keynote address during the 10th European Conference of African Studies, Prof Francis Nyamnjoh challenged static notions of African identity.

AI Safety in Africa: What’s at stake and who decides?

AI safety is a theme rapidly gaining traction. A recent webinar held by the EthicsLab sought to ask a more situated question: What does it mean to talk about safety in Africa, and for whom is safety at stake?