Ethics for Technology: Fall 2026

Lectures

Notes:

I will provide a PDF version of the paper to be read and/or a link to a web version of the paper.

Do read carefully what is assigned for a given class... you won't be able to act surprised, as if you did not know.

If you come to class having done the reading, feeling ready and eager to talk about it, the class works well.

There will be three possible types of in-class essays (note that we will have only 2 essays):
- Analysis: If I ask for an analysis, I am asking for your own opinion about the text. You may decide to take one point that you either strongly agree with, or strongly disagree with, and discuss it. You may decide to give an opiniated overview of the whole text. It is your choice. However, I want you to be specific: no generalities, no unsupported opinions. Make sure to credit any ideas that is not yours.
- Summary: If I ask you to turn in a summary, I am expected an unbiased account of what the paper says. Do not indicate whether you agree of disagree with what the authors say. Make sure to write in prose: bullet points for example are not OK.
- Quotes: If I ask you to turn in quotes from a reading, I'm asking for you to find either one or two short and insightful quote(s) from the text. You may redact for clarity or concision. After each quote, write a small paragraph to discuss what it means, in the context of the reading, to the author. You are allowed to provide an opinion.

Date	What we talked about	What you needed to do	Class notes	Further reading/Comments
1: W 09/23	Why ethics and why ethics in technology?	Nothing due on the first day of class. Lucky you ;-)	A brief introduction to ethics / ECS088	Read on next entry what you need to do for Friday The significance of ethics and ethics education in daily life Watch an interesting video on (information) technologies Did you know (2025)!
2: F 9/25 (L)	Utilitarianism	Read The ones who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973) The Lottery (Shirley Jackson, 1948)		Additional readings / videos (not required) The moral philosopher and the moral life by William James: where Le Guin got her inspiration from The Lottery: short film (based on the novel by Shirley Jackson, 1948)
3: F 9/25 (D)	Utilitarianism	Read Classical hedonism (Bentham, 1789).	Class notes on utilitarianism	Additional readings / videos The experience machine by Richard Nozick (1973)
4: M 09/28	Pains and pleasures	Read Utilitarianism (John Mills, 1861)		Possible readings: What money can't buy (exerpts) (Michael Sandel, 2013) Quiz 1: John Stuart Mills's Utilitarianism Quiz 1: solutions
5: W 09/30	Kant: deontology	Read Kant's moral philosophy (Tim Jankowiak, Tuczon University)	Class notes on Kant	Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals Immanuel Kant (1785).
6: F 10/02 (L)	Kant: Imperatives	Read Kant's categorical imperatives Wikepedia	Class notes on Kant (2)	Possible readings: Kant the Bhuddist Whitney Grimm (2021).
7: F 10/02	What money can't buy	Read: What money can't buy (exerpts) (Michael Sandel, 2013)
8: M 10/05	Kant: The right to lie?	read An interesting letter to Kant and his answers: Maria von Herbert's challenge to Kant	Class notes on Kant (2)	Button, button by Richard Matheson (1970).
9: W 10/07	Aristotle and Virtue Ethics	Read Virtue Ethics	Class notes on Aristotle	An interesting additional paper: Virtue Ethics Quiz 2: Aristotle and Virtue Ethics Quiz 2: solutions
10: F 10/09 (L)	The cost/benefit of human life	Read Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine: wicked problems, ragged edges and ethical precipices (Fleck, 2012)	Class notes on Fleck's paper	Further readings: The Ethics of Personalized Medicine: A Philosopher's Perspective, (Chadwick, 2014). Utilitarianism and the ethical foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis in resource allocation for global health, Marseille and Han, 2019.
11: F 10/09	Smart drugs	Nothing to prepare!		Smart drug: what Silicon valley's on
12: M 10/12	E.M. Forster's Machine	Read E.M. Forster's short story: The machine stops (1909)	Class notes on "The machine stops"	Possible reading: Former Google engineer is developing an AI god (PDF file if links from The Gardian is not available) Video: Could we survive without modern technology Jame Burke (1978).
13: W 10/14	In class essay	Read Immanuel Kant's Perspective on Artificial Intelligence Boris Kriger, 2024.
14: F 10/16	Technology	Read Views of technology. Ian Barbour (2021)	Class notes on Technology	Further readings: Do Machines Make History?. Martin Heilbroner (1967) Read Kranzberg's law, Kranzberg (1985) Chapter 3: The Illusion of progress. From the book "Why America failed", Berman (2011)
15: F 10/16 (D)	Carter's malaise speech	Examining Carter's 'Malaise Speech,' 30 Years Later. Summary of a NPR interview with author Kevin Mattson.
16: M 10/19	Privacy and freedom	Read the Wikipedia article on privacy (up to page 7, i.e. up to "Legal right to privacy": Privacy (or directly from the Wikipedia webpage: Privacy).	Class notes on privacy	Aristotle's concepts of privacy, an article describing the concepts of privacy in Aristotle's philosophy. Privacy and Information Technology, an article from the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, 2014. The ACLU portal to its project on Privacy and Technology
17: W 10/21	Privacy and surveillance	Read An article by the Guardian on Privacy under attack related to the Snowden case. (direct link to the Guardian)	Class notes on Snowden	Watch Ed Snowden (interview by the Guardian) Wikipedia article Edward Snowden
18: F 10/23	Privacy and surveillance (2)	Re-Read the article by the Guardian on Privacy under attack related to the Snowden case. (direct link to the Guardian)		Watch a second video about Snowden Ed Snowden (interview by the Guardian) Read this interesting paper on Surveillance and UC faculty: Cybersecurity mandate alarms University of California faculty (2025)
19: F 10/23 (D)	Deep fakes	We will watch: A toxic influence from Dove, UK, and A toxic influence from Greenpeace, UK.
20: M 10/26	Intellectual property	Read the preface and Chapter 1: Why intellectual property? of "The public domain, James Boyle *If there is a quiz, it will only be on Chapter 1*	Notes on ethics / intellectual property	Here is the link to James Boyle's full book The public domain.
21: W 10/28	Intellectual property (2)	(re) Read Chapter 1: Why intellectual property? of "The public domain", James Boyle		Here is the link to James Boyle's full book The public domain.
22: F 10/30 (L)	Should we allow patents on the human genome?	None		Possible readings: NIH report on intellectual property and genomics BRCA1 and BRCA2: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing: some background on BRCA1 and BRCA2. Move to Patent Cancer Gene Is Called Obstacle to Research: an early (1996) article from the NY Times on patenting BRCA1 and BRCA2. U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Human Gene Patents: a report from Science magazine on US Supreme Court decision on the BRCA case. Biological patents in different juridictions. A talk on "Should you be able to patent a human gene?" by Tania Simoncelli, ACLU.
23: F 10/30 (D)	Who owns the internet ?	We will discuss Aaron Swartz, in particular we will watch: a conference keynote.	Notes on Aaron Swartz	Rest in peace, Aaaron Swartz
25: W 11/04	In class essay 2	Read AI ethics with Aristotle Josiah Ober and John Tasioulas, 2024 (also available here)