Reflection Paper #2 • 700-800 words • Consider technological innovations and developments in your field. Describe how one such innovation has either increased or decreased social justice and inequality in the U.S. Finally, discuss whether and/or how this will influence constructive and deconstructive interactions between people from different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups within the U.S. Please integrate course material (concepts, theories, discussions, lectures, readings). Cite at least one course reading and one appropriate source from outside class. • Please review the rubrics before you start writing the paper. QUESTIONS • Why do engineers need to think about social problems? • Why do we need to think about the social, cultural, ecological and cultural consequences of technology? • Should we embrace (or reject) all technologies? • If not, how do we evaluate a technology? • How to we monitor the development of technology? Are you scared of technology? (The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch) Luddite And Luddism • Lud·dite: (Lŭd′īt)n.1. Any of a group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed l aborsaving textile machinery in the belief that such machinery would diminish employment. • 2. One who opposes technical or technological change. • Luddism: The beliefs of bands of early 19thcentury English workmen that attempted to prevent the use of la bor-saving machinery by destroying it. Early Technologies? Paleolithic: development of stone tools Paleo-Indians hunting a Glyptodon (hunted to extinction) Poll: What is your view of technology? A. Technology is largely beneficial to human beings and has aided human progress. B. Technology is a neutral tool that can be used for good or evil. C. Technology is bad for human beings (why?). D. None of the above. The condition of the modern society Humanities Philosophers’ critique of technology: Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) • “The Question Concerning Technology” (1954) • Machines and other pieces of inventory are not parts of self-standing wholes, but are pieces in a system. These pieces are isolated, “shattered,” and confined to a “circuit of orderability.” The isolated pieces are exchangeable. • Human beings are exchangeable as well. • Source: Blitz, (2014) Heidegger: “The Question Concerning Technology” • Technology prevents us from engaging the reality of the world by framing us as pieces in a system. • Technology has become the world. • Technology reigns as an endless technological chain; we forget our own essential freedom — we no longer even realize the world we have lost. • Source: Blitz, 2014 Discussion (in groups of 2-3 people) • Take a look at every hour of your life in a regular day: when is your life not structured by technology? How so? • Give an example of how technology shapes your life both mentally and physically. WHAT ARE OUR CONCERNS? The drive toward technological development • Liberty assumption: freedom to pursue innovations • Technological optimism: technology is good for us • Technological determinism: technological development is inevitable • Desire for power and power competition The drive toward technological development What have we accomplished through technology? What defines humanity? • Technology • Nature • industrialization • Emotions, intuition • System • Community and • Endless chain of commodity and connectedness mechanization • Exchangeability • Genuine engagement with the surroundings LOGIC (MACHINE) VS HUMANITY? Technology vs Nature • The tremendous power of technology • Technology as a way to unleash natural powers to impact society and the ecosystems as we know them. What is the value of nature? • Nature: the world outside of human influence and control • Intrinsic value • Aesthetic value • Ecological value • Economic value Impacts of technology Potential impact of technology Discussion (groups of 2) • Choose a technology that you think has significant impact on the human society, and discuss the (potential) impacts. Analytic philosophy Should we evaluate technologies case by case? 1. Scientists and engineers 2. Corporates and financial powers Poll Who are in control of technology and its consequences? 3. Politicians and political powers 4. All of the above 5. No one, as technology is based on objective science Where does the power of technology reside? • Technology: about what ought to • Science: about what is be (purpose) (“disinterested”) • Prescriptive • Descriptive • Design • Research • Change the world • Understand the world The “function” of an engineering product • Technical artifacts are made to serve some purpose. • Whether it is an end product or a component of a larger piece, an artifact is ‘for something’, which is called the artifact’s function. • The goals of technical artifacts are represented by their value or utility for the decision maker • The neutrality thesis • Purpose/goals-functions: there is no neutrality Whose wishes/purposes are realized through technology? • What Engineers Know And How They Know It (Vincenti 1990): A Six-fold Categorization Of Engineering Design Knowledge 1. Fundamental design concepts, including primarily the operational principle and the normal configuration of a particular device; 2. Criteria and specifications; 3. Theoretical tools; 4. Quantitative data; 5. Practical considerations; 6. Design instrumentalities. What can an engineer do? Common concerns of emerging technologies: extrinsic concerns (regarding consequences) • Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) (geo-engineering) • Individual rights and liberties (big data, surveillance technology) • Autonomy, authenticity, and identity (bio-engineering, neurotechnology, brain-machine integration technology) • Dual use and un-intended outcomes • Source: Sandler, 2014 Common concerns of emerging technologies: intrinsic concerns (objection to technology itself) • Humans playing God • Hubris • Violate nature • Source: Sandler, 2014 A framework for ethical analysis of emerging technologies (life cycle analysis) • Benefits of technology • Extrinsic concerns • Power analysis: who is empowered and who is disempowered by the technology • Form of life analysis • Intrinsic concerns • Alternative approaches • Source: Sandler, 2014 Quiz • Which of the following is true? 1. Space technology is value neutral technology 2. There are no extrinsic concerns for Tesla cars because these cars are motivated by purposes of sustainability. 3. City planning has impact on our form of life. 4. The internet gives equal power to all people using it. Types of value • Instrumental value • Final value • Subjective final value • Objective final value • Source: Sandler, 2014 Types of ethical theories • Deontological • Consequentialism • Virtue oriented • Combination Reflection Paper #2 • 700-800 words • Consider technological innovations and developments in your field. Describe how one such innovation has either increased or decreased social justice and inequality in the U.S. Finally, discuss whether and/or how this will influence constructive and deconstructive interactions between people from different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups within the U.S. Please integrate course material (concepts, theories, discussions, lectures, readings). Cite at least one course reading and one appropriate source from outside class. • Please review the rubrics before you start writing the paper. 1. Scientists and engineers 2. Corporates and financial powers Poll Who are in control of technology and its consequences? 3. Politicians and political powers 4. All of the above 5. No one, as technology is based on objective science TECHNOLOGY IS VALUE NEUTRAL? ITS USAGE DEPENDS ON ITS USER? Where does the power of technology reside? • Technology: about what ought to • Science: about what is be (purpose) (“disinterested”) • Prescriptive • Descriptive • Design • Research • Change the world • Understand the world The “function” of an engineering product • Technical artifacts are made to serve some purpose. • Whether it is an end product or a component of a larger piece, an artifact is ‘for something’, which is called the artifact’s function. • The goals of technical artifacts are represented by their value or utility for the decision maker • The neutrality thesis • Purpose/goals-functions: there is no neutrality Whose wishes/purposes are realized through technology? • What Engineers Know And How They Know It (Vincenti 1990): A Six-fold Categorization Of Engineering Design Knowledge 1. Fundamental design concepts, including primarily the operational principle and the normal configuration of a particular device; 2. Criteria and specifications; 3. Theoretical tools; 4. Quantitative data; 5. Practical considerations; 6. Design instrumentalities. What can an engineer do? Common concerns of emerging technologies: extrinsic concerns (regarding consequences) • Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) (geo-engineering) • Individual rights and liberties (big data, surveillance technology) • Autonomy, authenticity, and identity (bio-engineering, neurotechnology, brain-machine integration technology) • Dual use and un-intended outcomes • Source: Sandler, 2014 Common concerns of emerging technologies: intrinsic concerns (objection to technology itself) • Humans playing God • Hubris • Violate nature • Source: Sandler, 2014 A framework for ethical analysis of emerging technologies (life cycle analysis) • Benefits of technology • Extrinsic concerns • Power analysis: who is empowered and who is disempowered by the technology • Form of life analysis • Intrinsic concerns • Alternative approaches • Source: Sandler, 2014 Quiz • Which of the following is true according to Sandler (2014)? 1. Space technology is value neutral technology 2. There are no extrinsic concerns for Tesla cars because these cars are motivated by purposes of sustainability. 3. City planning has impact on our form of life. 4. The internet gives equal power to all people using it. Types of value • Instrumental value • Final value • Subjective final value • Objective final value • Source: Sandler, 2014 Types of ethical theories • Deontological • Consequentialism • Virtue oriented • Combination CONSEQUENTIALISM AND DEONTOLOGY Big Data, social media, and the Internet SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES • Privacy • Human relationship • Democracy What is privacy? Why do we care about privacy? The concept of privacy • Normative concept of privacy: linking privacy with higher order values • Privacy as individual rights v.s. societal values: • Individual autonomy (e.g. free speech) v.s. social order • Individual liberty v.s. national security • Personal autonomy v.s. freedom of the market • Source: Dobner et al. (2015) • Descriptive concept of privacy: privacy as degrees of freedom • Privacy as restriction on other people’s access to an individual’s personal information • Privacy as an individual’s control over personal information. DISCUSSION (IN GROUPS OF 2 OR 3) • What aspects of your life has been collected as data? Who are collecting the data? For what purposes are they using the data or will they potentially use the data? Data Collection (Jan Stanley and Barry Steinhardt, 2015) • Video surveillance • Data surveillance • The commodification of information • Genetic privacy • New data-gathering technologies: • Cell phone location data • Biometrics • Black boxes • FRID chips • Implantable GPS chips What do we lose by losing privacy? Jeroen van den Hoven (2015) • Information-based harm • Informational inequality (individuals’ data are collected and traded but not in a fair and transparent market environment. • Informational injustice and discrimination (distribution of information should accommodate local meaning and the context of the information) • Moral autonomy and identity I have nothing to hide, why do I still care about my privacy? Privacy and moral autonomy (Van den Hoven, 2015) • Moral autonomy: the capacity to shape one’s own moral biographies. • Privacy should “provide protection to the individual in his quality of a moral person engaged in self-definition, self-presentation, and self-improvement against the normative pressures which public opinions and moral judgments exert on the person to conform to a socially desired identity.” (p.293) THE VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND HER/HIS RIGHTS? POLL • In the FBI-Apple encryption dispute, which of the following do you support? • A. The FBI. Apple should unlock the phone for the sake of national/public security. • B. Apple. Apple did the right thing to protect the rights of its consumers. • C. I don’t know. Ethical value as a design input • To make moral values part of technological design and development SOCIAL MEDIA AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIP POLL • How many hours do you spend on social media each day? 1. One hour or less 2. 2-3 hours 3. 3-4 hours 4. 4-5 hours 5. More than 5 hours Questions • Who have been brought closer to you through social media? • How has social media affected your relationship with your family and friends? • How has social media affected other aspects of your life (leisure, relationship with nature, etc.)? • Polarization of opinions The Spread Of True and False News Online Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral (2018) • Lies spread faster than the truth • There is worldwide concern over false news and the possibility that it can influence political, economic, and social well-being. To understand how false news spreads, Vosoughi et al. Used a data set of rumor cascades on twitter from 2006 to 2017. About 126,000 rumors were spread by ∼3 million people. False news reached more people than the truth; the top 1% of false news cascades diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas the truth rarely diffused to more than 1000 people. Falsehood also diffused faster than the truth. The degree of novelty and the emotional reactions of recipients may be responsible for the differences observed. • Science, this issue p. 1146 The Spread Of True and False News Online • Abstract • We investigated the differential diffusion of all of the verified true and false news stories distributed on twitter from 2006 to 2017. The data comprise ~126,000 stories tweeted by ~3 million people more than 4.5 million times. We classified news as true or false using information from six independent fact-checking organizations that exhibited 95 to 98% agreement on the classifications. Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information. Can democracy survive big data and false news? Reflection Paper #2 • 700-800 words • Consider technological innovations and developments in your field. Describe how one such innovation has either increased or decreased social justice and inequality in the U.S. Finally, discuss whether and/or how this will influence constructive and deconstructive interactions between people from different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups within the U.S. Please integrate course material (concepts, theories, discussions, lectures, readings). Cite at least one course reading and one appropriate source from outside class. • Please review the rubrics before you start writing the paper. What do we lose by losing privacy? Jeroen van den Hoven (2015) • Information-based harm • Informational inequality (individuals’ data are collected and traded but not in a fair and transparent market environment. • Informational injustice and discrimination (distribution of information should accommodate local meaning and the context of the information) • Moral autonomy and identity I have nothing to hide, why do I still care about my privacy? Privacy and moral autonomy (Van den Hoven, 2015) • Moral autonomy: the capacity to shape one’s own moral biographies. • Privacy should “provide protection to the individual in his quality of a moral person engaged in self-definition, self-presentation, and self-improvement against the normative pressures which public opinions and moral judgments exert on the person to conform to a socially desired identity.” (p.293) The “Total Information Awareness” program • The Pentagon’s “Total Information Awareness” (TIA) program • Aim: to develop “ultra-large-scale database technologies” to treat “the world-wide, distributed, legacy databases as if they were one centralized database.” (Program director John Poindexter) • To give officials easy, unified access to every possible government and commercial database in the world. • The “Human Identification at a Distance” program (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) THE VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND HER/HIS RIGHTS? Big dada and social justice Civil Rights, Big Data, and Our Algorithmic Future A September 2014 report on social justice and technology • Data crunching can aggravate employer bias. • Hiring algorithms are often seen as an “objective,” meritocratic assessment—free of irrational emotion or biases. • But applied on a mass scale, big data can reinforce and mask prejudice. • The mining of social media and google-search data can reinforce systemic discrimination. The Hiring Algorithm Researcher David Robinson • “Any time someone is the victim of old-fashioned human discrimination, that discrimination is likely to be reflected in some of the data points that these new algorithms measure. Culturally speaking, there is a real tendency to defer to decisions that come from computers—which means if we’re not careful, it is reasonable to expect that computers will sanitize biased inputs into neutral-seeming outputs.” Ethical value as a design input • To make moral values part of technological design and development SOCIAL MEDIA AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIP The Spread Of True and False News Online Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral (2018) • Lies spread faster than the truth • There is worldwide concern over false news and the possibility that it can influence political, economic, and social well-being. To understand how false news spreads, Vosoughi et al. Used a data set of rumor cascades on twitter from 2006 to 2017. About 126,000 rumors were spread by ∼3 million people. False news reached more people than the truth; the top 1% of false news cascades diffused to between 1000 and 100,000 people, whereas the truth rarely diffused to more than 1000 people. Falsehood also diffused faster than the truth. The degree of novelty and the emotional reactions of recipients may be responsible for the differences observed. • Science, this issue p. 1146 The Spread Of True and False News Online • Abstract • We investigated the differential diffusion of all of the verified true and false news stories distributed on twitter from 2006 to 2017. The data comprise ~126,000 stories tweeted by ~3 million people more than 4.5 million times. We classified news as true or false using information from six independent fact-checking organizations that exhibited 95 to 98% agreement on the classifications. Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information. Can democracy survive big data and false news? POLL • How many hours do you spend on social media each day? 1. One hour or less 2. 2-3 hours 3. 3-4 hours 4. 4-5 hours 5. More than 5 hours Questions • Who have been brought closer to you through social media? • How has social media affected your relationship with your family and friends? • How has social media affected other aspects of your life (leisure, relationship with nature, etc.)? • Polarization of opinions: have you fought with someone online in the last two years? For what issues? Ethical, legal and social aspects of biotechnology, nanotechnology and cognitive science NANOTECHNOLOGY Nanostructures seen through the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope, etc. Nanotechnology-concerns • scientific experiments that go haywire and end up beyond human control (cf. Apocalyptic fantasies and Frankenstein’s monster); • abuse or usurpation of discoveries (cf. The myth of the sorcerer’s apprentice; dr strangelove); • violation of the natural order, human hubris (cf. “Playing god”; the Prometheus myth). Nanotechnology: the Grey Goo Scenario Self-replicating robots with nanostructures consume all biomass Manufacturing at the Nanoscale • Self-assembly describes the process in which a group of components come together to form an ordered structure without outside direction • Chemical vapor deposition is a process in which chemicals react to produce very pure, high-performance films • Molecular beam epitaxy is one method for depositing highly controlled thin films • Atomic layer epitaxy is a process for depositing one-atom-thick layers on a surface • Dip pen lithography the tip of an atomic force microscope is "dipped" into a chemical fluid and then used to "write" on a surface, like an old fashioned ink pen onto paper • Nanoimprint lithography is a process for creating nanoscale features by "stamping" or "printing" them onto a surface • Roll-to-roll processing is a high-volume process to produce nanoscale devices on a roll of ultrathin plastic or metal • (Source: https://www.Nano.Gov/nanotech-101/what/manufacturings) Impacts? • Nanoparticles: potential impacts after they enter organic bodies and the environment • The labeling of nanoparticles Neuroscience: the brain space NEUROSCIENCE • Connection between research in neurology and research in cognition, • New subdisciplines, such as neuroaesthetics, neuroeconomics: the brain as a model for what is human. • The physical existence of the brain=cognition, emotions, mood, behavior Neuroscience applications • Cognitive enhancers: pharmaceuticals that can boost cognitive abilities (memory, attention, etc.) • Intelligent human/machine interaction • New forms of intelligent robots and artificial life on the basis of knowledge of naturally occurring cognitive processes Neuroscience: applications • “Brain fingerprinting”: a technique claimed to be able to tie offenders to crime scenes • Should it be used as evidence in court cases? • Brain scanning techniques: advanced forms of lie detectors? “reading” the individual’s thoughts and motives? • Social implications: surveillance, privacy concerns, individual liberty MANIPULATION OF THE BRAIN • Dampening pathological memory (traumatic events) • Erasing memories and emotions (eroding moral sensibilities?) • Enhancing long-term memory • Neurosurgery to modulate thought and mood (deep brain stimulation through electrodes implanted into the brain) Enhancement of The Brain • Technologies aimed at treating neurological disorders. • Improve cognitive functioning or elevate moods in people who are not ill. • Social implications: If the “average” cognitive performance of the population increases, but only some people have the resources to reach this level--social pressure, inequality, and new social norms. Enhancement of The Brain Pathology or social behavior? • The boundaries between real pathology and medicalised social problems are blurred. • Conditions (moods and behaviour problems) that are not necessarily pathological, may receive medical labels. • Possible consequences: more socially-oriented explanations – and corresponding therapies – are supplanted. Neuroethics? • Naturalising ethics by basing it on biology. • “Neuroethics”: claiming that ethical behaviour are “hard-wired” in the brain and thus a human condition, biologically given and neurally implanted. • Other versions of neuroethics: does the new neuroscience explanatory model gives birth to new ethical issues? Does it affect perceptions of “free will”, “justice”? Nanotechnology for neuroscience Nanoscale analysis tools and nanomaterials have generated optical, electrical, and chemical methods that can readily be adapted for use in brain activity mapping and interference. Biotechnology Genetic information and genetic citizenship • Genetic technology: changing conception of being healthy and sick, and disabilities • Genetic information: implications for the individual’s future and relations with family. • Genetics becomes a new social dimension (“genetic citizenship”): the basis of social identity and organization. Interspecies genetic manipulation • Organ transplants: the animal organs’ genetic composition can be altered by inserting human genes. • Risk: transmitting infectious diseases from animals to humans. Can infect or spread to others • Moral confusion: species identity and species boundaries as moral concepts • Question: how do we deal with risk factors and the possibilities of unexpected effects? Selection and design • Trait selection technologies • Prenatal Diagnosis and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis): the woman’s right to self- determination over reproduction. • Design: PGD, gene therapy, cloning technologies, etc., • Human identity: the feeling of being manufactured Boundary Between The Organic And The Mechanical • The boundary between the organic and the mechanical. • the natural and the unnatural Ethical Implications • Characteristics of what it is to be human - as a species, social being and person • Selection: non-therapeutic enhancement of human cognitive abilities • understanding the relationship between human and technology/machine • Social justice and equality POLL • Which of the following is closest to your definition of human beings? A. Naturally born human beings (even with disabilities) B. Naturally born human beings and human beings with minor genetic or organic modifications C. All beings with the human form and organic human brain (even with engineered organs and genes) D. All beings with human consciousness (including AI) GMOS • Genetically modified (GM) plants. • Transgenic animals: animal breeding, the production of medicines (bioreactors). • GM microorganisms • GM vaccines. DNA vaccines are not infectious (as classic vaccines can be) but are controversial (the recipient can be defined as a GMO). Human Stem Cell Research • Moral status of the embryo • Safety concerns • The interests of the women whose eggs are used to make the embryos • Social justice and equality: equal access to medical resources? Distribution of resources • How should society’s resources be distributed between science and other needs? • And what concerns or interests should govern the distribution of these resources? • Will science and its applications benefit those who need them most, or will they serve to amplify the inequalities in the society POST-NORMAL SCIENCE: public reflection and debate on technology • Ethical demand on disseminators to communicate sober, balanced, complete and reliable information. • Obligation to communicate and warn about possible ethical and societal consequences, positive as well as negative. • The language of science vs human values • Ethical considerations should influence choices and priorities in an early stage Technology And Human Conflicts • And what does the modern, late-modern or even post-modern norm pluralism mean for the formation of public opinion on the human technologies? • Do the technologies function as catalysts for competing or even hostile world views? • Are the human technologies becoming a venue of cultural and normative conflicts? • What are the political, social and cultural conditions for communicative measures where the various players are willing to participate in genuine processes of learning and understanding?
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