Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

06/04/2026

🤝 President Trump’s Truth Social platform announced last year that it was partnering with Crypto.com to bring prediction markets to the social media site. Davina Hurt, director of government ethics, speaks to The Hill about how this overlap can raise questions about conflict of interest and emphasizes the importance of guidelines in the growing prediction market space.

💵 “A president using the public power of the office to shape a regulatory outcome that directly benefits his son’s financial interests is, at minimum, a profound conflict-of-interest concern,” says Hurt.

🔗 Access the full article at the link in the first comment! 👇

06/04/2026

Rebranded as “prediction markets”—platforms where people trade on the likelihood of future events—this form of betting has moved beyond sports into elections, climate disasters, and geopolitical conflicts.

In her recent essay, "The Viability Trap: How Prediction Markets Distort Elections Before Voting Begins," Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director, government ethics, writes:

"Nobody looks at Kentucky Derby odds and concludes certain horses shouldn’t run. But in political markets, candidates without existing financial or media advantages can be quietly sidelined—not because voters rejected them, but because they were never fully considered.

This is what we might call the viability trap: candidates don’t lose because voters decide against them—they struggle to gain traction because markets signal they are unlikely to win before voters fully engage. That perception can become self-reinforcing, shaping coverage, fundraising, and ultimately the range of choices voters believe are realistic."

Hurt says perceptions of viability are increasingly mediated by markets rather than voters.

Recognizing the problem helps. Where are we seeing this type of market manipulation and what are strategies we have for preserving our democracy as voters?

Access the full article in link in the first comment.

06/03/2026

📃As Pope Leo XIV's landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence, Brian Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, has been featured in multiple national and international news outlets discussing the ethical opportunities and challenges presented by AI.

Coverage from NPR, National Catholic Reporter, and The New York Times examines the Vatican's growing engagement with artificial intelligence, and the role ethical reflection can play in shaping its future.

✍️ "This is a landmark opportunity," Green told NPR, describing the encyclical as a chance for society to consider how AI can be developed in service of humanity.

✍️ Green also stressed the importance of broad collaboration and dialogue in ensuring AI advances responsibly and reflects shared human values.

✍️Green told the New York Times the church is urging other institutions to “recognize and promote whatever serves the dignity of persons, the vitality of communities and the common good.”

🔗Read more through our Media Mentions page. Link in the first comment.

06/02/2026

How much water do California's data centers actually use? According to a new report from Next10, we barely know. Irina Raicu, director of internet ethics, was part of the team behind the research, which found that planned data centers are putting pressure on already-scarce water supplies across California's Central and Imperial Valleys.

"We have this huge build out, and we have very little data," Raicu said, adding that without stronger oversight, these facilities could be sold to communities with real needs, with the water costs going unaddressed.

Read the full story at the link in the first comment.

06/01/2026

The release of Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” prompted an interdisciplinary discussion at Santa Clara University to discuss the Pope’s call to “disarm” artificial intelligence and place human dignity at the center of innovation.

Ethics Center staff and scholars joined panel moderator, Matthew Gaudet, director of ethics programs for the Santa Clara University's School of Engineering; a member of the Vatican’s AI Research Group; and Ethics Center faculty scholar, to explore ethical dilemmas that surface around AI.

Panelists:

Ethics Center Director of Technology Ethics Brian Green
Ethics Center Senior Director, Leadership Ethics Ann Gregg S***t
Ahmed Amer, associate professor of computer science and engineering and Ethics Center faculty scholar
Julie Hanlon Rubio, Shea-Huesman Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Nicholas Hayes-Mota, assistant professor of social and theological ethics

As fears about AI’s impact on jobs, democracy, and human dignity mount, Pope Leo XIV calls the world to choose a different path.

05/28/2026

🧠Human brain organoids are no longer science fiction. Transplanting lab-grown brain tissue to restore lost function could become feasible in the future. But should we do it?

💡Andrew Kai is a neuroscience & biology major and is a 2025-26 health care ethics intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University calls for universal research guidelines in his new article “Crossing Neural Boundaries: Ethical Challenges of Human Brain Organoid Transplantation in Animals.”

“While chimeric animals are currently unable to achieve consciousness, this may be possible in the future. There are pressing concerns over transplantation in animals because of the lack of regulations in brain organoid research. It is crucial to establish universal guidelines to ensure ethical research is being conducted.”

🔗Read Kai’s full article here:

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/healthcare-ethics-blog/crossing-neural-boundaries-ethical-challenges-of-human-brain-organoid-transplantation-in-animals/

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05/27/2026

❤️‍🩹Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, yet most Americans don’t know. Women are underrepresented in cardiovascular research, contributing to misdiagnoses, unequal treatment, and systemic injustice.

💡Alexis Corso is a biology major with a minor in Spanish, and she is a 2025-26 Health Care Ethics Intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. In her new article “Read the Rhythm: An Ethical Analysis of Sexism In Cardiovascular Care,” she examines how systemic bias in healthcare continues to put women at risk, and calls for a system that advocates for women.

“Women are not simplistic additions to men, their bodies are complex systems of their own which deserve the proper research, quality of care, and advocacy. The best way to implement social justice and improve equality is to start by including more women in research, as well as researching female specific risk factors.”

🔗Read Corso’s full article here:

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/healthcare-ethics-blog/read-the-rhythm-an-ethical-analysis-of-sexism-in-cardiovascular-care/

05/26/2026

Santa Clara University junior Annie Schloss has been named a 2026–2027 Strauss Scholar, and she's using the $15,000 award to address a gap she couldn't stop thinking about.

Through a partnership with the Veterans Yoga Project, Schloss and fellow SCU student Gabrielle Gegel will bring trauma-informed yoga to veterans in San Jose and Santa Clara, an area without any existing Veterans Yoga Project programming. Transportation support will be provided for veterans who need it, removing one of the most overlooked barriers to care.

The project is rooted in Schloss's research on moral injury, a concept she encountered during her Hackworth Fellowship at SCU's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and her belief that holistic, community-based care deserves a place alongside traditional mental health treatment.

Read her full story at the link in the first comment.

05/22/2026

Our Director of Journalism and Media Ethics, Subramaniam Vincent, breaks down the ethical decisions behind CBS News' Norah O'Donnell's interview with President Trump, and what journalists should consider before bringing a gunman's manifesto into public discourse.

"Denials are easy. Can a leader exonerating himself or herself be treated as a settlement of the issue merely because it got aired on TV?"

Read the full analysis at the link in the first comment.

05/21/2026

💊Saving someone’s life could be as simple as pushing a button in the event of an opioid overdose, yet not many people are aware of this, and even fewer act on it. Carrying naloxone is not just a public health initiative, but a moral responsibility all of us carry under the ethical framework of the common good.

💡Gabby Arceo ‘26, a Neuroscience major with minors in Biology and Public Health and a 2025-26 health care ethics intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, explores the misconceptions behind overdose in her new article “Naloxone: The Drug That Saves Lives for the Common Good.”

“We have the power to help in ways that could save countless lives, yet stigma and racial disparities prevent us from protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The opioid crisis does not discriminate, but the way we respond to it does.”

🔗Read Arceo’s full article in first comment.

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