How Smart are Smart Materials? A Conceptual and Ethical Analysis of Smart Lifelike Materials for the Design of Regenerative Valve Implants

Abstract

It may soon become possible not just to replace, but to re-grow healthy tissues after injury or disease, because of innovations in the field of Regenerative Medicine. One particularly promising innovation is a regenerative valve implant to treat people with heart valve disease. These implants are fabricated from so-called ‘smart’, ‘lifelike’ materials. Implanted inside a heart, these implants stimulate re-growth of a healthy, living heart valve. While the technological development advances, the ethical implications of this new technology are still unclear and a clear conceptual understanding of the notions ‘smart' and ‘lifelike' is currently lacking. In this paper, we explore the conceptual and ethical implications of the development of smart lifelike materials for the design of regenerative implants, by analysing heart valve implants as a showcase. In our conceptual analysis, we show that the materials are considered ‘smart’ because they can communicate with human tissues, and ‘lifelike’ because they are structurally similar to these tissues. This shows that regenerative valve implants become intimately integrated in the living tissues of the human body. As such, they manifest the ontological entanglement of body and technology. In our ethical analysis, we argue this is ethically significant in at least two ways: It exacerbates the irreversibility of the implantation procedure, and it might affect the embodied experience of the implant recipient. With our conceptual and ethical analysis, we aim to contribute to responsible development of smart lifelike materials and regenerative implants.

Embodiment and regenerative implants: a proposal for entanglement

“…This might allow for the implants to be lived as a nearly (though never completely) inseparable part of the lived body (Leib), which could help us to perceive the implant as our own. In this case, the implant does not remain merely an object, but becomes a subject also, just as the Leib (De Kanter et al 2023a ). The implant becomes ‘me’ and might therefore be more easily tolerated.…”

“…This is especially true for regenerative implants, as they are designed to integrate deeply into the tissues of the living body, so that implant and body become one. Earlier, we have argued that it is conceivable that the intimate integration of these regenerative implants into the tissues of the body could affect the lived experience of recipients (De Kanter et al 2023a ; Van Daal et al 2023 ).…”