Themes (326)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
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 attempts to prevent Michael, the ruler of The Good Place, from being sent to the torture chambers by murdering Janet, the robotic assistant of the good place. However, Eleanor and her companions have a harder time murdering Janet than they had prepared for thanks to her quite realistic begging for her life.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Murder of Robots and Honesty
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 attempts to prevent Michael, the ruler of The Good Place, from being sent to the torture chambers by murdering Janet, the robotic assistant of the good place. However, Eleanor and her companions have a harder time murdering Janet than they had prepared for thanks to her quite realistic begging for her life.
How can robots be programmed to manipulate emotional responses from humans? Is the act committed in this narrative “murder”? Is there ever any such thing as a victimless lie? How has true honesty become harder in the digital age? Is it ethical to decommission older versions of humanoid robots as newer ones come along? Is this evolution in its own right?
The Good Place: This Is Good News-
- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens. In this narrative, the PreCrime program is audited, and the officers must explain the ethics and philosophies at play behind their systems. After captain John Anderton is accused of a future crime, he flees, and learns of “minority reports,” or instances of disagreement between the Precogs covered up by the department to make the justice system seem infallible.
- Kinolab
- 2002
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
Trusting Machines and Variable Outcomes
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens. In this narrative, the PreCrime program is audited, and the officers must explain the ethics and philosophies at play behind their systems. After captain John Anderton is accused of a future crime, he flees, and learns of “minority reports,” or instances of disagreement between the Precogs covered up by the department to make the justice system seem infallible.
What are the problems with taking the results of computer algorithms as infallible or entirely objective? How are such systems prone to bias, especially when two different algorithms might make two different predictions? Is there any way that algorithms could possibly make the justice system more fair? How might humans inflect the results of a predictive crime algorithm in order to serve themselves? Does technology, especially an algorithm such as a crime predictor, need to be made more transparent to its users and the general public so that people do not trust it with a religious sort of fervor?
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Joe Anderson, the former head of the PreCrime policing program, is named as a future perpetrator and must flee from his former employer. Due to the widespread nature of retinal scanning biometric technology, he is found quickly, and thus must undergo an eye transplant. While recovering in a run-down apartment, the PreCrime officers deploy spider-shaped drones to scan the retinas of everyone in the building.
- Kinolab
- 2002
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
Retinal Scans and Immediate Identification
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Joe Anderson, the former head of the PreCrime policing program, is named as a future perpetrator and must flee from his former employer. Due to the widespread nature of retinal scanning biometric technology, he is found quickly, and thus must undergo an eye transplant. While recovering in a run-down apartment, the PreCrime officers deploy spider-shaped drones to scan the retinas of everyone in the building.
Is it possible that people would consent to having their retinas scanned in general public places if it meant a more personalized experience of that space? Should government be able to deceive people into giving up their private data, as social media companies already do? How can people protect themselves from retinal scanning and other biometric identification technologies on small and large scales?
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens.
- Kinolab
- 2002
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
Preventative Policing and Surveillance Information
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens.
How will predicted crime be prosecuted? Should predicted crime be prosecuted? How could technologies such as the ones shown here be affected for the worse by human bias? How would these devices make racist policing practices even worse? Would certain communities be targeted? Is there ever any justification for constant civil surveillance?
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
“Hidden Figures” chronicles the journeys of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), three black women who worked on the space missions at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. All three women persist against segregation and abject racism as they climb the ladder and make important contributions to the space mission. While Katherine becomes the first black woman on Al Harrison’s Space Task Group, Mary Jackson pursues her dream of becoming an engineer at NASA by petitioning to take courses at an all white school, and Dorothy Vaughan attempts to learn the programming language Fortran in order to ensure that herself and fellow human computers are not replaced by the newest IBM 7090 computer.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Hidden Figures Part II: Goals of Equity and Women of Color in the Workplace
“Hidden Figures” chronicles the journeys of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), three black women who worked on the space missions at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. All three women persist against segregation and abject racism as they climb the ladder and make important contributions to the space mission. While Katherine becomes the first black woman on Al Harrison’s Space Task Group, Mary Jackson pursues her dream of becoming an engineer at NASA by petitioning to take courses at an all white school, and Dorothy Vaughan attempts to learn the programming language Fortran in order to ensure that herself and fellow human computers are not replaced by the newest IBM 7090 computer.
How is the history of the oppression of Black people in America responsible for a lack of diversity in workplaces, including those involving science and technology in the present? What do technology companies in the current day need to consider in order to ensure that their workforce is diverse and equitable? What does the specific case of Dorothy being initially denied access to the Fortran book reveal about the past and present accessibility of minority groups to fluency in digital technologies? What needs to happen inside of and outside of the technology industry to ensure better opportunities for women of color in technology-focused workplaces? What role does implicit bias play in all of these considerations?
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- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
- Kinolab
- 2018
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- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Spreading Digital Resources and Global Inequality
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
What is the relationship between colonialism and imperialism and current digital divides? What are the vast, far-reaching consequences of a lack of digital connection for disadvantaged communities, especially communities of color? What responsibility to digitally privileged countries have to help those communities or countries that have less access to digital resources? How can the image of the internet as a democratizing force reach reality for all communities across the globe? How often do people consider that there are considerable physical infrastructure and resource needs for digital connection? How should we approach the distribution of technology to oppressed people around the world?