It’s unlikely that many would attribute consciousness to these clusters of cells, but it looks like the question might need to be asked sooner rather than later: can non-embodied lab-grown brains feel pain? Barring some magic sprinkles in the case of embryo brains it’s not obvious that there’s any difference between embryo brains and those grown in labs. “If pre-term babies have some level of moral status, she says, perhaps these mini-brains should too.”
I also can’t help but think about full or partial brain transplants and issues of personal identity…