Human Autonomy Research Articles

Cicero’s universal law: a timeless guide to reproductive justice

Abstract Marcus Tullius Cicero’s concept of “ius gentium,” or universal law, provides a timeless framework for understanding and defending fundamental human rights, particularly in the context of reproductive freedom. Cicero distinguished between “ius gentium” and “ius civile,” emphasizing that while civil law governs specific communities, universal law, rooted in natural reason, applies to all humanity. This philosophical foundation resonates with modern discussions on reproductive rights, where universal principles of justice and bodily autonomy are at stake. Enlightened by Immanuel Kant’s notion of innate freedom, Cicero’s philosophy challenges present day’s US states’ restrictive reproductive laws, which often contradict the universal principles of justice. Applying these concepts to contemporary issues, such as abortion rights, underscores the need to align civil laws with universal ethics, ensuring that individual freedoms are upheld against arbitrary state interventions. By advocating for policies that promote equitable access to reproductive healthcare, Cicero’s vision of universal law remains a powerful tool for advancing human dignity and autonomy in modern society.

Exploring human autonomy teaming methods in challenging environments: the case of uncrewed system (UxS) solutions—challenges and opportunities with artificial intelligence

Exploring human autonomy teaming methods in challenging environments: the case of uncrewed system (UxS) solutions—challenges and opportunities with artificial intelligence

Socio-ethical Objections to Assisted Suicide

Legal considerations regarding suicide are not just a legislative issue, but largely concern the deepest cultural underpinnings of the political community. Recent court rulings, in particular by the German Federal Constitutional Court, reveal far-reaching changes in the understanding of human nature. Under the lofty slogans of human rights and freedom, there is a systematic transformation of the role of law as guarantor of absolute human autonomy. Taking one's own life or assisted suicide is no longer understood as an unethical act, and is increasingly presented in terms of an entitlement or even a duty.

EXPRESS: AI-based Financial Advice: An Ethical Discourse on AI-based Financial Advice and Ethical Reflection Framework

This article presents a first step in identifying the ethical issues of AI-based financial advice. Consumers must navigate an ever more complex array of financial decisions. (Generative) AI-based financial advice may increase access to and acceptance of financial advice and strengthen consumers’ financial well-being. However, significant ethical challenges exist in designing, developing, and deploying AI-based financial advice. To analyze the perils and pitfalls of AI-based financial advice, we develop a definition of what constitutes good AI-based financial advice and provide a first assessment of ethical challenges related to AI-based financial advice. The iterative multi-stakeholder approach, including workshops and semi-structured interviews with consumers and experts, results in an ethical discourse structured around the four fundamental values of the European Commission’s Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, human autonomy, explicability, fairness, prevention of harm, and trust as the overall objectives. Based on our analyses, we derive a simple yet comprehensive AI Ethics Framework for Financial Advice (AIFA). The AIFA reflection framework guides public policymakers, managers of financial service providers, and technology developers in incorporating ethical discourse in developing and deploying (generative) AI-based financial advice.

Algorithmic experiences of Netflix’s users in the Arab world: Implications for agency and social practice

Netflix has significantly reshaped the global production, distribution, and consumption of audiovisual content. While Netflix claims its algorithm-driven platform provides superior services and limitless choices, it raises concerns about human agency, autonomy, and data justice. These concerns are especially pressing in the Global South, where predatory data extraction practices are prevalent. Research on this issue faces challenges, including a dichotomy between algorithmic power and human agency, limited exploration of user perspectives, and a lack of studies in non-Western contexts. This paper addresses these gaps using a socio-constructivist lens, centering users’ experiences in understanding algorithms as sociotechnical systems. Through reflexive in-depth interviews, it examines Netflix users in Egypt, UAE, Morocco, and Jordan. Drawing on Domestication Theory and a relational view of agency, it explores how users engage with, interpret, and resist algorithmic impacts. The paper argues that while users interact with these systems, their engagement is shaped by asymmetrical power, where algorithms control the parameters of user agency. It highlights the often-overlooked relational nature of agency, co-constructed through everyday interactions with these systems.

Flight-Based Control Allocation: Towards Human–Autonomy Teaming in Air Traffic Control

It is widely recognized that airspace capacity must increase over the coming years. It is also commonly accepted that meeting this challenge while balancing concerns around safety, efficiency, and workforce issues will drive greater reliance on automation. However, if automation is not properly developed and deployed, it represents something of a double-edged sword, and has been linked to several human–machine system performance issues. In this article, we argue that human–automation function and task allocation may not be the way forward, as it invokes serialized interactions that ultimately push the human into a problematic supervisory role. In contrast, we propose a flight-based allocation strategy in which a human controller and digital colleague each have full control authority over different flights in the airspace, thereby creating a parallel system. In an exploratory human-in-the-loop simulation exercise involving six operational en route controllers, it was found that the proposed system was considered acceptable after the users gained experience with it during simulation trials. However, almost all controllers did not follow the initial flight allocations, suggesting that allocation schemes need to remain flexible and/or be based on criteria capturing interactions between flights. In addition, the limited capability of and feedback from the automation contributed to this result. To advance this concept, future work should focus on substantiating flight-centric complexity in driving flight allocation schemes, increasing automation capabilities, and facilitating common ground between humans and automation.

Exploring the existence of free will: A neuroscientific investigation

Free will, an age-old philosophical concept, is integral to our understanding of human autonomy, ethical responsibility, and the legal system. Its presence or absence fundamentally influences our decisions and the fabric of societal norms. In recent years, the advancement of neuroscience has made re-evaluating free will increasingly important. This paper reviews philosophical perspectives from ancient to modern times, integrates neuroscientific experiments, and analyzes psychological research to comprehensively explore the issue of the existence of free will. It enumerates contemporary mainstream views on the existence of free will, discusses the sources of the sense of free will, and highlights its profound implications for both individual and collective societal structures. The paper finds that current discussions on the existence of free will remain controversial. In the end, it summarizes the findings and provides an outlook on future research. New technologies and further interdisciplinary studies are expected to offer new perspectives and evidence for understanding free will.

The Harm of Nature and the Light of Man: Philosophical and Theological Reflections on Gratitude and Growth from Disaster

This article explores in depth the multiple implications of natural disasters, especially in the context of scientific progress, human solidarity, and theology. Firstly, this paper reviews the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and discusses the multi-dimensional effect of natural disasters on human society and its profound philosophical and theological significance. Despite the devastation and suffering caused by the disaster, Americans have shown a strong sense of gratitude. Then, from the dialectical point of view, the author analyzes the cosmological view of the coexistence of good and evil and emphasizes the positive role of natural disasters in promoting scientific and technological progress, promoting human unity, stimulating learning motivation, and demonstrating free will.Further, from the perspective of philosophy and theology, the paper expounds on the intrinsic value of pursuing knowledge and exercising natural disasters on free will. The learning process of natural laws deepens human understanding of the world. It strengthens human free will, making people more autonomous and independent in the face of good and evil choices.At the same time, from the theology perspective, this paper compares the different understandings of natural disasters and human suffering between atheism and theism. It reveals the respect for human autonomy and the essence of faith behind God’s non-intervention. In the end, the article concludes that natural disasters, while a source of suffering, are also catalysts for human growth and gratitude, encouraging us to look at disasters from a broader perspective and draw strength and wisdom from them.

Commentary on “AI is Changing the World: For Better or for Worse?”

This commentary explores three fundamental premises surrounding the human-AI partnership. First, a human-AI collaboration is perhaps superior to either working independently, as AI enhances human capabilities but requires oversight to ensure ethical and accurate outcomes. Second, AI's effectiveness is limited by the quality and biases of its training data, which underscores the need for diverse, unbiased datasets. Without proper data, AI could perpetuate flawed or biased decisions, impacting areas such as hiring, healthcare, and empathy-driven interactions. Finally, generative AI is prone to “hallucinations,” where it produces plausible yet incorrect outputs. These errors pose significant risks in high-stakes sectors like healthcare and security. As AI becomes more ingrained in society, these challenges raise ethical concerns around job displacement, loss of human autonomy, and biased decision-making. Here, we also examine the implications of AI hallucinations and model collapse, stressing the importance of continuous human intervention to mitigate AI-driven inaccuracies. Ultimately, a balanced partnership between human judgment and AI's scalability, along with rigorous oversight, is necessary to unlock AI's potential while safeguarding societal values.

The Difference Between Passive Subjects and Autonomous Actors: Proposing an Orientation Toward Consent in Library and Information Science

To participate in most aspects of society, individuals are constantly required to share their data. From students in LIS courses to patients forced to enter information into third party software to check into medical appointments, we all have to “consent” to live our lives. While we are presented with consent forms full of legalese constantly, opportunities to opt out are rare. This critical essay posits that to prepare our students to become ethical members of information professions, LIS educators must center consent as a core ethical value. Using a scoping review approach, we explore consent as a distinct topic in LIS literature. We then propose an orientation towards consent that can center human rights, individual autonomy, and care in LIS work.

Boosting: Empowering Citizens with Behavioral Science.

Behavioral public policy came to the fore with the introduction of nudging, which aims to steer behavior while maintaining freedom of choice. Responding to critiques of nudging (e.g., that it does not promote agency and relies on benevolent choice architects), other behavioral policy approaches focus on empowering citizens. Here we review boosting, a behavioral policy approach that aims to foster people's agency, self-control, and ability to make informed decisions. It is grounded in evidence from behavioral science showing that human decision making is not as notoriously flawed as the nudging approach assumes. We argue that addressing the challenges of our time-such as climate change, pandemics, and the threats to liberal democracies and human autonomy posed by digital technologies and choice architectures-calls for fostering capable and engaged citizens as a first line of response to complement slower, systemic approaches.

Adolescent autonomy to make a ‘catastrophically bad’ decision informed by religious beliefs: To respect or protect?

This article examines the Australian case law in which medical treatment has been authorised against the wishes of a Gillick competent adolescent, in circumstances where the adolescent’s decision to refuse treatment has been informed by their religious beliefs. We analyse three factors that have shaped the Australian jurisprudence – medical evidence regarding the adolescent’s prognosis and risk of death; the role of religion in adolescents’ medical treatment decision-making; and the adolescent’s own views and wishes – to expose arguably uncomfortable, value-laden judicial attempts to achieve a ‘nice balance’ between the sanctity of human life and individual autonomy. We argue for greater judicial transparency about when, if ever, an adolescent’s Gillick competence will be respected in refusal of medical treatment cases shaped by the adolescent’s faith.

Human autonomy teaming-based safety-aware navigation through bio-inspired and graph-based algorithms

In the field of autonomous robots, achieving complete precision is challenging, underscoring the need for human intervention, particularly in ensuring safety. Human Autonomy Teaming (HAT) is crucial for promoting safe and efficient human–robot collaboration in dynamic indoor environments. This paper introduces a framework designed to address these precision gaps, enhancing safety and robotic interactions within such settings. Central to our approach is a hybrid graph system that integrates the Generalized Voronoi Diagram (GVD) with spatio-temporal graphs, effectively combining human feedback, environmental factors, and key waypoints. An integral component of this system is the improved Node Selection Algorithm (iNSA), which utilizes the revised Grey Wolf Optimization (rGWO) for better adaptability and performance. Furthermore, an obstacle tracking model is employed to provide predictive data, enhancing the efficiency of the system. Human insights play a critical role, from supplying initial environmental data and determining key waypoints to intervening during unexpected challenges or dynamic environmental changes. Extensive simulation and comparison tests confirm the reliability and effectiveness of our proposed model, highlighting its unique advantages in the domain of HAT. This comprehensive approach ensures that the system remains robust and responsive to the complexities of real-world applications.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECTS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy. Ancient civilizations contained tales of intelligent robots, such as Greek and Chinese cultures. AI as a modern phenomenon which took shape in the mid-20th century with the advent of digital computers. The first breakthrough, published in 1950, was Alan Turing's paper, ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence. AI can make provide detailed solution to users and experts. They can act independently, replacing the need for human intelligence or intervention (a classic example being a self-driving car). Many sectors like finance, healthcare, to human resource management (HRM), rely on AI technologies. AI's integration in HRM has brought about great change in conventional HR practices used to measure efficiency, accuracy, strategic decision-making, etc. AI technologies help to provide solution to automation of repetitive tasks, analysis of sprawling volumes of data and insights facilitating decision-making. Through this research paper we try to understand the AI's effects on HR processes, in terms of recruitment, onboarding, performance appraisal, training and development, employee engagement, workforce planning; understanding the benefits and cons of implementing AI in HRM; ethical considerations and potential biases in AI algorithms relevant to HR practices; analysis of emergent AI trends with respect to HRM. Trends in AI in HR tend towards a most promising future, presenting several innovations. Accordingly, HR professionals will be expected to acquire competency with regards to new roles and responsibilities to avail AI in enhancing strategic planning, ethical oversight, and data-driven decision-making.

Core values and competencies of public health nurses: A Delphi survey

Objectives This study aimed to clarify the core values and competencies of public health nurses (PHNs) who contribute to improve health issues in transitioning societies, based on a consensus among PHN-related organizations, including practitioners and education researchers.Methods A draft defining the core values and competencies of PHNs was developed through five consultation sessions with 20 executives and nominees of organizations in each area of PHN practice, education, and research to collect, categorize, and refine the items. The expert panel comprised 534 nominees from six PHN-related organizations, and three rounds of Delphi surveys were conducted. The consensus criteria were ≥70% for agreement and ≥80% for firm agreement.Results In the first round, 272 expert panel nominees (50.9%) responded, and 217 responded in all rounds. The draft was revised based on the feedback from each round. By round 3, >90% agreed on the core value and competency frameworks and definitions.Conclusion The Delphi survey revealed the three core value frameworks and definitions of "social justice in health," "human rights and autonomy," and "health and safety" and eight core competencies of "professional autonomy and responsibility," "scientific research and use of information science and technology," "population-based assessment and analysis," "practices for health enhancement and prevention," "building systems to improve public health," "management of healthy community development," "person/community-centered collaboration and cooperation," and "communication for consensus and solutions," with a firm agreement. Eventually, these frameworks would be the bases for creating national standards of practice, education, and research to satisfy the consensus levels of PHNs and PHN-related organizations.

Exploring Team Error Management in Human Autonomy Teams During Automation Errors

Exploring Team Error Management in Human Autonomy Teams During Automation Errors

From Suffering to Sovereignty: The Dimensions of Euthanasia and Right to Die with Dignity

Provided the complex socio-legal fabric of India, the discourse on Euthanasia and the Right to die with dignity provokes profound ethical, legal, and societal questions. Therefore, a need to meticulously examine the varied dimensions of Euthanasia arises. Beginning with the basic understanding of the concept, a comprehensive analysis shall be made in regard to various philosophies associated of renowned political thinkers and philosophers. Additionally, comparative insights from foreign legal frameworks shall be drawn. The research includes judgments passed by the Indian judiciary regarding the legalization of Euthanasia with a clear debate in its context. The High Court Judgement of Gian Kaur v. The State of Punjab (1996) and Supreme Court judgments of Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India (2011) and Common Cause v. Union of India (2018) proved to be the turning points in Indian legal history and shaped the stance of Indian judiciary on the legislation of Euthanasia. The breakdown of Law Commission reports (2006 & 2008) also finds their mention. Can the freedom to choose a dignified death—the ultimate act of human autonomy—be recognized by the law in a culture that is highly pro-life? If so, there’s a need to structure and strengthen regulations to adopt this choice.

Effect of AI on HI

Abstract: This paper explores the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Human Intelligence (HI), examining both the enhancements and challenges AI introduces. AI, defined as the capability of machines to perform tasks requiring humanlike intelligence, has evolved significantly, influencing various domains such as education, healthcare, and the workforce. AI enhances human cognitive processes by assisting in decision-making, problem-solving, and creativity, thereby augmenting HI. In education, AI-driven tools offer personalized learning experiences, while in healthcare; AI improves diagnostics and patient care. However, the integration of AI raises ethical concerns, including privacy, data security, and algorithmic bias. The potential for AI to surpass human intelligence, known as the singularity, poses existential questions about human autonomy. This paper underscores the importance of responsible AI development, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks to balance technological advancements with human values. As AI continues to advance, fostering effective human-AI collaboration and preparing society for an AI-enhanced future are crucial for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the risks associated with AI's influence on HI.

Ethics-Based Information Security System Law: Immanuel Kant's Transcendental Paradigm

An ethics-based information security system based on Immanuel Kant's transcendental legal paradigm can give a strong foundation for tackling moral quandaries in AI, hacking, and information systems. Lavanya Singh highlights the necessity of instinctive ethics based on philosophical literature and presents a Kantian ethics application that adheres to the philosophical tradition. Meanwhile, Sanchita Saha et al. address ethical hacking as a method of disclosing vulnerabilities in information systems for the benefit of society, emphasizing ethical concerns in cybersecurity operations. Furthermore, Flávia Maria Santoro and Rosa Maria Esteves Moreira da Costa underline the significance of examining information systems via an ethical lens in order to negotiate conceptual conflicts and make informed judgments in delicate situations, which is consistent with Kant's moral philosophy. Using doctrinal research methodologies with legal material sources derived from literature studies and qualitative descriptive analysis. This study discovered that by incorporating Kant's concepts into information security systems, the transcendental legal paradigm may guide ethical decision making and promote responsible technological advancement. The Ethics-Based Information Security Systems Act, modeled after Immanuel Kant's Transcendental Paradigm, would prioritize universal ethical principles, respect for human autonomy, duty-bound behaviors, transparency, accountability, and a structured regulatory framework. The law will guarantee that information security is maintained not just through technological means, but also via a solid ethical foundation that respects the dignity and rights of all those concerned.

Nudging against consent is effective but lowers welfare

Behavioural nudges are often criticised because they “work best in the dark”. However, recent experimental evidence suggests that the effectiveness of nudges is not reduced when they are delivered transparently. Most people also endorse transparent nudges. Yet, transparent nudging may undermine human autonomy—a minority may oppose to being nudged and feel manipulated, even if they know what is happening. We propose an alternative way of maintaining autonomy that is not reducible to transparency: individuals can be asked if they consent in advance to being nudged. To assess whether consensual nudges are effective, we ask consent from 1518 UK citizens to be nudged. Subsequently, we default all participants into donating to a charity of their choice, irrespective of self-reported consent. We find that the default nudge is equally effective for both consenting and non-consenting individuals, with negligible difference in average donations. However, non-consenting individuals report higher levels of resentment and regret and lower levels of happiness and support compared to the consenting group. Based on these findings, we argue that ignoring consent can have serious ethical ramifications for policy-making with nudges.