Bioinformatics (86)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Danny is a teenager who has become so addicted to the cacophony of entertainment coming through the Feed that he is unable to interact with people in the real world once everything in his Feed is turned off.
- Kinolab
- 2019
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- 4 min
- Kinolab
- 2019
Digital Withdrawal
In an imagined future of London, citizens all across the globe are connected to the Feed, a device and network accessed constantly through a brain-computer interface. Danny is a teenager who has become so addicted to the cacophony of entertainment coming through the Feed that he is unable to interact with people in the real world once everything in his Feed is turned off.
What are the potential consequences of getting teenagers addicted to virtual ways of interacting with content and with each other? How might this impact their ability to relate to other people in the real world? How do brain-computer interfaces which give constant, unbridled access to such entertainment and social networks exacerbate this problem? Will it become necessary in the future to “re-teach” young people how to interact offline?
The Feed: Danny's Addiction-
- 10 min
- The Washington Post
- 2019
Law enforcement officials at Federal and state levels, notably the FBI and ICE, use state driver’s license photo databases as a repository for facial recognition software. Such capabilities allow DMVs to help law enforcement in finding those suspected of a crime, undocumented immigrants, or even witnesses. Ultimately, states allow this to happen with certain stipulations, feeding into a concerning system of facial recognition and breach of trust. There is not a solid established system for citizen consent to such monitoring.
- The Washington Post
- 2019
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- 10 min
- The Washington Post
- 2019
FBI, ICE find state driver’s license photos are a gold mine for facial-recognition searches
Law enforcement officials at Federal and state levels, notably the FBI and ICE, use state driver’s license photo databases as a repository for facial recognition software. Such capabilities allow DMVs to help law enforcement in finding those suspected of a crime, undocumented immigrants, or even witnesses. Ultimately, states allow this to happen with certain stipulations, feeding into a concerning system of facial recognition and breach of trust. There is not a solid established system for citizen consent to such monitoring.
Does this case study of facial recognition make the US seem like a surveillance state or not? How can and should average citizens have more agency in DMV databases being used for facial recognition? Can the government use any digital surveillance in a way that does not breach citizen trust?
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- 5 min
- The Guardian
- 2019
Biometrics technology will be implemented as a means of gaining access to a residential building in Brooklyn, causing pushback among the tenants who prefer to keep their data private, especially considering the lack of legal regulation surrounding the technology. Specifically, there is growing fear that the facial recognition database could be sold to or abused by law enforcement.
- The Guardian
- 2019
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- 5 min
- The Guardian
- 2019
New York tenants fight as landlords embrace Biometrics cameras
Biometrics technology will be implemented as a means of gaining access to a residential building in Brooklyn, causing pushback among the tenants who prefer to keep their data private, especially considering the lack of legal regulation surrounding the technology. Specifically, there is growing fear that the facial recognition database could be sold to or abused by law enforcement.
How have biometrics changed the landscape and ideology of the security industry? How does this story fit in with other information or narratives you have read about the use of facial recognition?
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Cooper, a world traveller whose father recently died of Alzheimer’s disease, is payed to play-test a virtual reality game in which a brain-computer interface will be inserted through his neck in order to place his consciousness into a horror scenario in which he is plagued by his deepest fears. After several terrifying vignettes, he begins to lose all of his memories, mirroring his ultimate concern of succumbing to Alzheimer’s like his father and continuing to ignore or forget his mother. After this, he appears to be rescued by the game’s managers, but the truth of his real-life situation is later revealed to be far more gruesome.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Personalized and Occupational Dangers of Digital Realities
Cooper, a world traveller whose father recently died of Alzheimer’s disease, is payed to play-test a virtual reality game in which a brain-computer interface will be inserted through his neck in order to place his consciousness into a horror scenario in which he is plagued by his deepest fears. After several terrifying vignettes, he begins to lose all of his memories, mirroring his ultimate concern of succumbing to Alzheimer’s like his father and continuing to ignore or forget his mother. After this, he appears to be rescued by the game’s managers, but the truth of his real-life situation is later revealed to be far more gruesome.
Is it ethical to use human subjects to test digital games or realities involving personal psychological processes? What might some alternatives be? How can the safety of subjects be ensured? How can scientists ensure brain-computer interfaces are safe before trying them out on human brains? Can this ever be done ethically? How could technology which mines ones deepest psychological fears be used or abused outside of entertainment purposes?
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
In this brief clip, Matt explains that he was once “blocked” by his wife in real life. In this society, mostly everyone possesses a brain-computer interface. and are thus able to remove anyone they please from their experience of society and the world.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
The Realism and Consequences of “Blocking”
In this brief clip, Matt explains that he was once “blocked” by his wife in real life. In this society, mostly everyone possesses a brain-computer interface. and are thus able to remove anyone they please from their experience of society and the world.
Does “blocking” people in the digital world translate well to the real world? Is it realistic for humans to always be able to avoid people they don’t wish to see? What might people miss out on if they block everyone who they deem unfit of their attention? Do the positives of being able to block people in the digital world outweigh the negatives, or vice versa, or neither?
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
In this episode, Matt and Joe Potter, who inhabit the same cabin, tell each other short stories from their lives. Eventually, Joe Potter reveals that he killed his former father in law, and shortly after became responsible for the murdered man’s granddaughter freezing to death in the snow. Once he confesses this crime, it is revealed that Joe Potter is actually a digital consciousness trapped inside a virtual reality manipulated by Matt, designed in order to get his murder confession. Now having given a clear confession, his digital consciousness is sentenced to live inside a virtual reality, existing in nothingness for thousands of years.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Digital Interrogation and Torture Methods
In this episode, Matt and Joe Potter, who inhabit the same cabin, tell each other short stories from their lives. Eventually, Joe Potter reveals that he killed his former father in law, and shortly after became responsible for the murdered man’s granddaughter freezing to death in the snow. Once he confesses this crime, it is revealed that Joe Potter is actually a digital consciousness trapped inside a virtual reality manipulated by Matt, designed in order to get his murder confession. Now having given a clear confession, his digital consciousness is sentenced to live inside a virtual reality, existing in nothingness for thousands of years.
How can virtual reality be abused? If law enforcement come to use virtual reality as an interrogation technique, what should the rules and regulations be? Is it ethical to administer such interrogation or torture techniques unknowingly on any criminal, no matter how egregious their crime?