Prof. Franklin
MWF 11:00AM-10:50AM (151 Olson)
Office Hours (Kemper 3021): TBA

Textbook: Society, Ethics, and Technology (5th edition), by Morton Winston and Ralph Edelbach, Thomson-Wadsworth.

Catalog Description (Course Outline): foundations of ethics, views of technology, technology and human values, costs and benefits of technology, the character of technological change, the social context of work in computer science and engineering.

Expanded course description here. This course is developed by Prof. Phil Rogaway, and we will follow his overall structure and methods.

Grading: Your grade in this class will depend (roughly) on the following factors:

Classroom participation (30%): You are expected to participate fully in all of the classroom discussions. Please feel free to express your views.

Quizzes (10%): There will be short in-class pop quizzes on the reading materials, at least once per week.

Review reports (20%): These are brief reports (1-2 pages) on our course readings. Each review report must be turned in at the start of the class at which that course reading is discussed.

Oral presentations: Each student will give a 3-5 minute oral presentation for one of the course readings. The oral presentation will focus on a question selected by the student and approved by the instructor. These will be presented in class at the start of the class after that article is discussed. If you give an oral presentation on a paper, then you do not have to turn in a written report for that paper. You also don't have to turn in a written report for the paper we discuss on the day of your oral presentation. Thus an oral presentation means that you get to skip *two* written reports in a row.

Term project (40%): This will be a deeper analysis of a topic, including a written report (approx. 10 pages), and an oral presentation. Here is a list of books that could be used for topics. There are two milestones for your written report. The first milestone is a 1-2 page proposal, which is due Fri 26 April. The second milestone is a 3-4 page draft, which is due Fri 17 May. The due date for your written report is Fri 7 June. Please email everything tom me (using the email address franklin@cs.ucdavis.edu).

Class Policies: All written material submitted must be typeset. Late work will not be accepted without a doctor's excuse. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated.

Supplemental Material: The course readings are intended to be self-contained, but you might find it helpful to consult a good basic introduction to ethical decision making, such as "A Framework for Thinking Ethically", Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, 2008 (originally in Issues in Ethics:1(2), Winter 1988).

Class Schedule:

Mon 1 Apr:
in-class activities: brief overview, watch first 45 minutes of "The Corporation".
read for next class: nothing.

Wed 3 Apr:
in-class activities: watch next 50 minutes of "The Corporation".
read for next class: Cowan, "Industrial Society and Technological Systems".

Fri 5 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss "The Corporation" and Cowan article.
read for next class: Donovan, "Containerization and Globalization: An Innovation and Its Impact".

Mon 8 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Donovan article.
read for next class: Jonas, "Technology and Responsibility: Reflections on the New Task of Ethics".

Wed 10 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Jonas article.
read for next class: Davis, "Some Paradoxes of Whistleblowing", Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 1996.

Fri 12 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss 1st Davis article.
read for next class: Davis, "Constructing the Professional Responsibility of Engineers".

Mon 15 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss 2nd Davis article.
Sharkey, "The Automation and Proliferation of Military Drones and the Protection of Civilians".

Wed 17 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Sharkey article.
read for next class: Stanley and Steinhardt, "Bigger Monsters, Weaker Chains".

Fri 19 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Stanley-Steinhardt article.
read for next class: Brin, "The Transparent Society..

Mon 22 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Brin article.
read for next class: Operto, "Ethics in Advanced Robotics".

Wed 24 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Operto article.
read for next class: Baker, "Final Jeopardy".

Fri 26 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Baker article.
read for next class: Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?".

Mon 29 Apr:
in-class activities: discuss Carr article.
read for next class: MacKinnon, "Corporate Censorship".

Wed 1 May:
in-class activities: discuss MacKinnon article.
read for next class: Kass, "Preventing a Brave New World".

Fri 3 May:
in-class activities: discuss Kass article.
read for next class: Sandel, "The Case against Perfection".

Mon 6 May:
in-class activities: discuss Sandel article.
read for next class: Rauch, "Law and Disorder: Why too much due process is a dangerous thing"..

Wed 8 May:
in-class activities: discuss Rauch article.
read for next class: Emily Pronin, How We See Ourselves and How We See Others", Science:320, May 2008.

Fri 10 May:
in-class activities: discuss Pronin article.
read for next class: ACM Code of Ethics and IEEE Code of Ethics.

Mon 13 May:
in-class activities: discuss ACM and IEEE Codes of Ethics.

Wed 15 May:
in-class activities: watch first 50 minutes of "Food, Inc."
read for next class: nothing.

Fri 17 May:
in-class activities: watch next 25 minutes of "Food, Inc." and discuss movie.
read for next class: nothing.

Mon 20 May:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Wed 22 May:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Fri 24 May:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Wed 29 May:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Fri 31 May:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Mon 3 June:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.

Wed 5 June:
in-class activities: 3 student presentations.