Ethics in an Age of Technology: Winter 2025

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 reports that I will ask for:
- Analysis: If I ask you to turn in 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.An analysis should be up to 1 page long.
- 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. A summary should be 0.5 to 1 page long.
- Quotes: If I ask you to turn in quotes from a reading, I'm asking for you to find two short and insightful quotes from the text. Give the page reference. 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. Come to class prepared to discuss the quotes you selected.
It is likely that at least one of the reports will be in class (it will be announced).

NPR view on Social Media.

An article from the Institute of Business Ethics on ethical challenges social media presents for companies.
10 Tips for Avoiding Ethical Lapses When Using Social Media from a legal professional.

Date What we did What you needed to do Class notes Further reading/Comments

1: M 01/06 Why ethics and why ethics in technology? Nothing due on the first day of class. Lucky you ;-) Read on next entry what you need to do for Wednesday
The significance of ethics and ethics education in daily life
Watch an interesting video on (information) technologies Did you know (2025)!

2: W 01/08 (L) Technology and Happiness The ones who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Morality of Creation: Dostoevsky and William James in Le Guin's Omelas by Shoshana Knapp

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)

The Lottery (Shirley Jackson, 1948)

3: W 01/08 (D) Utilitarianism Read

Classical hedonism (Bentham, 1789)

The experience machine (Nozik, 1773)

Class notes on utilitarianism

An ethical critique of cost-benefit analysis (Kelman, 1981)

4: F 01/10 Debate on "Should we allow students to use Smart Drugs?"

Students with lastname's first letter in A-H:
prepare to debate with "Yes, students should be allowed"

Students with lastname's first letter in I-Z:
prepare to debate with "No, students should not be allowed"

Possible reading to support your arguments:

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy (Greely et al, 2008)

Cognitive enhancement by drugs in health and disease (a review) (Husain and Mehta, 2011)

Regulation of Amphetamine and Methylphenidate for Enhancement Use by Healthy Adults (Dubljevic, 2013)

Some First Steps Toward Responsible Use of Cognitive-Enhancing Drugs by the Healthy (Greely, 2013). A commentary on the paper by Dubljevic.

5: M 01/13 Kant: deontology Read

Kant's categorical imperatives Wikipedia

Class notes on Kant

Kant's moral philosophy (Tim Jankowiak, Tuczon University

Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals Immanuel Kant (1785).

6: W 01/15 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)

7: W 01/15 (D) What money can't buy Discuss the cost of organ, the dollar value of emotions

8: F 01/17 Debate on "Should universities impose quotas to improve women's representation in CS?"

Students with lastname's first letter in A-H:
prepare to debate with "No, we should not interfere with hiring practices

Students with lastname's first letter in I-Z:
prepare to debate with "Yes, Universities should influence hiring to increase the number of women in CS"

Possible reading to support your arguments:

Looking for explanations for gender distributions across academic disciplines:

Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines, Leslie et al, Science (2015).

A reply to Leslie's paper, Ginther and Kahn, Science (2015).

Increasing girls' interest in computer science and engineering by diversifying stereotypes, Charyan et al, Frontiers in Psychology (2015).

The current situation in academia:

National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track, Williams and Ceci, Proc. Natl. Acad. USA, (2015).

A response to Williams and Ceci paper, Haynes and Swindler, Analytical Chemistry (2015).

Gender in Science and Engineering Faculties: Demographic Inertia Revisited, Thomas et al, PLoS One (2015).

9: M 01/20 Martin Luther King
10: W 01/22 Aristotle and Virtue Ethics Read Virtue Ethics
First report: Quotes. Find two short and insightful quotes from the text. Give the page reference. 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. Turn in on canvas. Class notes on Aristotle

An interesting additional paper: Virtue Ethics

11: W 01/22 (D) Carter's malaise speech Examining Carter's 'Malaise Speech,' 30 Years Later. Summary of a NPR interview with author Kevin Mattson.

12: F 01/24 Technology Read Views of technology. Ian Barbour (2021) Class notes on Technology Further readings:

Kranzberg's lawKranzberg (1985)

Chapter 3: The Illusion of progress. From the book "Why America failed", Berman (2011)

13: M 01/27 The internet and the brain Read the paper "Is Google making us stupid?" by Nicholas Carr as well as the article: How Google is making us smarter by Carl Zimmer. Class notes on "Google making us stoopid"

Google Is Making Us Stupid and Smart at the Same Time? . By A.C. Estes, The Atlantic, 2011.

Computational thinking, Jeanette Wing (2006).

14: W 01/29 Discussion on E.M. Forster's Machine Read E.M. Forster's short story: The machine stops (1909)
Possible reading: Former Google engineer is developing an AI god (PDF file if links from The Gardian is not available)

15: W 01/29 Discuss Aaron Swartz, copyright, activism, and suicide We will discuss Aaron Swartz, in particular we will watch: a conference keynote. Rest in peace,
Aaaron Swartz

16: F 01/31 The Google diversity dilemma Reading: Google's idealogical echo chamber, James Damore, 2017. Second report: Quotes. Find two short and insightful quotes from the text. Give the page reference. 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. Turn in on canvas. Interesting readings / links:

Why women don't code Reges, 2016.

Does biology explain why men outnumber women in CS? Alice Eagly, 2017.

17: M 02/03 Social Media, the Internet, and Ethics Read report from the World's Economic Forum

18: W 2/05 Privacy and surveillance Read An article by the Guardian on Privacy under attack related to the Snowden case. (direct link to the Guardian)

Privacy and Information Technology, an article from the Stanford encyclopedia of phylosophy, 2014.
The ACLU portal to its project on Privacy and Technology

Wikipedia article Edward Snowden

19: W 2/05 Privacy and surveillance capitalism Cambridge Analytica and Facebook (The New York Times) Possible additional readings:

Controversial PNAS paper on Facebook research and comments from the editor (PNAS, July 2014).

Big data scientists face ethical challenges after Facebook study, University World News, Jan. 2015.

Wikipedia article on Cambridge Analytica

20: F 2/07 Hidden child labor on Youtube Reading: It is not play if you are making money The Guardian, 2019 (direct link to the Guardian). Possible readings:

The children of Youtube Neyza Guzman, 2020.

Google and YouTube Will Pay Record $170 Million for Alleged Violations of Children's Privacy Law FTC, 2019.

21: M 02/10 Immanuel Kant and AI Readings: Why Kant would not fear AI , William Egginton, 2023.
and Artificial intelligence will do what we ask. That's a Problem Nathalie Wolchover, 2020 Further readings:

Kantian Ethics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Ozlem Ulgen, 2017.

Can artificial intelligence be a Kantian moral agent? On moral autonomy of AI system, Chakraborty and Bhuyan, 2024.

Check Google's ML diagnostic tool What-If tool : Playing with AI Fairness

22: W 02/12 AI and education Read The use of Artificial Intelligence in education, EU report, 2020 Possible reading: Ten facts about AI in teaching and learning

23: W 02/12 (D) Timnit Gebru We will watch: How To Stop Artificial Intelligence From Marginalizing Communities? , 2018. Possible readings:

The paper that got her fired: On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?Bender et al, 2021.

Review article: A Survey on Bias and Fairness in Machine Learning (2019)

Gender classification: Gender shades: intersectional accuracy disparities in commercial classification

Facial recognition auditing: Saving face: investigating the ethical concerns of facial recognition auditing

Washington Post article on Timnit Gebru

24: F 02/14 Brain storming: New female students in CS?

25: M 02/17 President's day

26: W 02/19 Intellectual property Read Chapter 1: Why intellectual property? of "The public domain, James Boyle

Third report: Quotes. Find two short and insightful quotes from the text. Give the page reference. 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. Turn in on canvas.

Read the preface of "The public domain, James Boyle

Here is the link to James Boyle's full book The public domain.

27: W 02/19 (D) 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.

28: F 02/21 Public domain and creative commons Read chapter 8 of James Boyle's book, A creative commons. We will watch exerpts form the movie "The corporation" (Link to corresponding video)

29: M 02/24 Consent for human experiments We will watch: Henrietta Lacks, the Tuskegee experiment, and ethical data collection, 2018. Interesting readings / links:

The Nuremberg code 1947.

The Belmont report 1979.

29: M 02/24 Theranos We will watch Theranos: Silicon Valley's Greatest Disaster Further readings:

The Wall Street Journal article that started Theranos's downfall

New York times article on Elizabeth Holmes

29: M 02/24 Are humans really superior? Read chapters 3-5 from Ishmael (bottom of page 27 to page 54)
(link to the full book) We will watch Bananas in heaven

30-31: W 2/26 Ethical catastrophes Watch 3 ethical catastrophes you can help stop, right now by Peter Singer. Final Thoughts

32: F 2/28 The devil they knew Read The Devil they Knew: Chemical Documents Analysis of Industry Influence on PFAS Science Watch Confronting America's Forever Chemical Problem