Professional Responsibility (52)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
FILTERreset filters-
- 7 min
- The New York Times
- 2019
Stanford team develops a neutral “Switzerland-like” alternative for systems that use human language to control computers, smartphones and internet devices in homes and offices. Known as Almond, they hope to make this software free to use on devices with specific focuses on protecting user privacy and enabling greater understanding of natural language.
- The New York Times
- 2019
-
- 7 min
- The New York Times
- 2019
Stanford Team Aims at Alexa and Siri With a Privacy-Minded Alternative
Stanford team develops a neutral “Switzerland-like” alternative for systems that use human language to control computers, smartphones and internet devices in homes and offices. Known as Almond, they hope to make this software free to use on devices with specific focuses on protecting user privacy and enabling greater understanding of natural language.
Had you heard of Almond before reading this narrative? If not, why do you think this was the case? Why might people be more willing to use the less private, corporate voice assistants than a more obscure, decentralized assistant?
-
- 5 min
- BBC News
- 2019
A Google affiliated urban development project in Toronto has raised concerns about the data privacy of its citizens. Specifically, the collection of large amounts of data within this “smart city” and the potential private direction of public services like transportation cause citizen pushback.
- BBC News
- 2019
-
- 5 min
- BBC News
- 2019
The Google city that has angered Toronto
A Google affiliated urban development project in Toronto has raised concerns about the data privacy of its citizens. Specifically, the collection of large amounts of data within this “smart city” and the potential private direction of public services like transportation cause citizen pushback.
Can data be used as any sort of definitive solution to urban planning? What voices or considerations seem to be left out of the smart city vision? To whom do cities belong, and to whom should they belong?
-
- 20 min
- Cory Doctorow
- 2014
Short Story outlining the breakdown of economic systems and the invasion of privacy when a private company becomes an arm of the state.
- Cory Doctorow
- 2014
-
- 20 min
- Cory Doctorow
- 2014
Scroogled
Short Story outlining the breakdown of economic systems and the invasion of privacy when a private company becomes an arm of the state.
How realistic does this story seem to you? Who gains the most power from digital information? What incentives do corporations have to protect user privacy? What incentives do users have to protect their own privacy?
-
- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, she tracks her personal ethical point total with a technology which is compared to a Fitbit. In theory, the more good actions she completes, the higher her score will get. For another narrative on personal ratings/point tracking, see the narratives “Lacie Parts I and II” on the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.”
- Kinolab
- 2017
-
- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Personal Statistics Tracking
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, she tracks her personal ethical point total with a technology which is compared to a Fitbit. In theory, the more good actions she completes, the higher her score will get. For another narrative on personal ratings/point tracking, see the narratives “Lacie Parts I and II” on the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.”
Do corrupt motivations spoil moral deeds? Should digital technologies be used to track personal data that is more abstract that health statistics or number of steps taken? What would be the consequences if such ratings were public?
The Good Place: Measuring Eleanor-
- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Nathan, the creator of the advanced humanoid robot Ava, explains to his employee Caleb that big data collected through smartphone cameras and microphones aided his attempts to make Ava’s features more human.
- Kinolab
- 2014
-
- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Big Data and its Reflection of Humanity
Nathan, the creator of the advanced humanoid robot Ava, explains to his employee Caleb that big data collected through smartphone cameras and microphones aided his attempts to make Ava’s features more human.
How can our digital consumer and search data be mined by tech companies for research? Does such a wide data net capture everything necessary about humanity? How does Google search mirror the human seeking of knowledge in digital form?
-
- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 1997
Vincent, an “invalid” from the proximate future, was born naturally and is therefore seen as less than humans such as his brother Anton who were conceived in a computational genetic selection process to ensure that the best traits are carried on. Thus, in this eugenic society, biometric technologies such as finger pricks and other scans are used to detect superior and inferior human genomes. Vincent, relinquished to service jobs, steals the identity of a genetically superior man named Eugene to fulfill his goal of going on a space mission, yet is never able to let go of his sibling rivalry. However, Vincent sets himself up to prove that humans edited through this computational genomics project are not automatically superior to those naturally born.
- Kinolab
- 1997
-
- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 1997
Computational Genomics, Unnatural Selection, and Privilege
Vincent, an “invalid” from the proximate future, was born naturally and is therefore seen as less than humans such as his brother Anton who were conceived in a computational genetic selection process to ensure that the best traits are carried on. Thus, in this eugenic society, biometric technologies such as finger pricks and other scans are used to detect superior and inferior human genomes. Vincent, relinquished to service jobs, steals the identity of a genetically superior man named Eugene to fulfill his goal of going on a space mission, yet is never able to let go of his sibling rivalry. However, Vincent sets himself up to prove that humans edited through this computational genomics project are not automatically superior to those naturally born.
How might Computational Genomics affect the construction of the workforce? Is it ethical to discriminate upon the quality of ones genetic profile? Should the power of computers be used to help families partake in genetic selection for their children? How could bias enter supposedly beneficial uses of computational genomics? Have we gotten past a point where it is possible to fool computers with fake genetic tricks as Vincent does here?