Category: Commentary

Collective Care for Ethical Innovation: Applying the “Binder Test” to Home Care Technologies

By on July 24th, 2026 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Aligning design with collective care refocuses requirements for development toward safety, accountability, and the real networks that deliver care. Until the design of digital technologies matches the accessibility and reliability of the paperbased binder system, the binder remains the more ethical coordination tool for communication and continuity in complex home care.

Who Gets Left Behind? The Uncomfortable Questions Behind Homecare Innovation

By on July 12th, 2026 in Articles, Commentary, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Since many forms of lifestyle monitoring are “untraditional”—that is to say, they are novel, often experimental, and do not track hard quantifiable biomedical parameters—it is perhaps unsurprising that few options exist to defray costs for older adults and their care partners.

Benefit–Risk Assessment in the Regulation of Pharmaceuticals

By on June 20th, 2026 in Articles, Commentary, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

FDA’s benefit–Risk assessment is an integrated judgment about the meaningfulness of benefit, the acceptability of risk, and the tolerance of uncertainty. But no matter how well clinical evaluations are designed and implemented, some remaining uncertainty about a drug’s benefits and risks is inevitable at the time of a new drug approval decision because of the inherent limitations of clinical trials.

You Can Solve a Lot of Problems With a Good Night’s Sleep

By on April 4th, 2026 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

In the American Southwest, and increasingly around the world, extreme heat creates conditions that are not merely uncomfortable but physiologically dangerous, multiplying the already staggering risks of homelessness.

On the Abolition of All Big Tech Organizations

By on October 22nd, 2025 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commentary, Communication Technology, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Digital enterprises have become increasingly monopolistic, individualistic beyond narcissistic to the point of lamentably solipsistic, devastatingly careless of human potential, and environmentally wasteful.

Two Years “in the Wild”: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Teaching Generative AI

By on October 6th, 2025 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

One of the biggest challenges of teaching such a course is the remarkable pace of change in technology and the societal response. The curriculum is in near constant evolution and must explicitly address how students should develop their continuous learning skills.

Things and Theories: The “Novelty Imperative” and Its Discontents

By on August 14th, 2025 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

“The apparent indifference of rank-and-file musicians to the invention of the fortepiano may well be because it was principally identified as an invention [novelty] of rather than importance. To all but those most closely associated with its actual construction, the fortepiano was in the first instance an invention for its own sake. There was no practical mandate for it use.”

Videogames and the Middle Ages

By on July 28th, 2025 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commentary, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

While the Middle Ages is an important point of reference for virtually all aspects of modern “civilization,” the culture of computing stands out for how enthusiastically it has embraced its memories of medieval European culture.

Real Is Beautiful: Selfies, Social Media, and Self-Determination

By on July 15th, 2025 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

We examine social media’s profound influence, delving into its effects on self-esteem, media consumption habits, and exposure to targeted marketing.

Data Hunger: The Deep Connection Between the AI Chatbot and the Human

By on May 26th, 2025 in Commentary, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Now that generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that produce data and information are becoming widespread and commonplace, studies are showing that humans have an insatiable appetite for data.  These appetites can result in unhealthy data-snacking behaviors and addictions.

Smartphone Self-Paced Learning With a Chatbot in Malaysian Older Adults

By on May 14th, 2025 in Articles, Commentary, Communication Technology, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Research has shown that cognitive training done on computers results in modest learning gains with the potential to minimize cognitive decline in older adults. Indifferent attitudes toward the chatbot on the part of participants suggest that developers need to adopt a different approach in designing a more interactive and human-like experience, as older adults may have unique preferences and requirements compared to more tech-savvy users.

Analyzing Smartphones as Persuasive Technologies: A Rhetorical Perspective

By on April 23rd, 2025 in Articles, Commentary, Communication Technology, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

We should remember that the smartphone’s persuasive power-though generated through interactions with the device itself-is, at base, due to the very human intentions embedded within the device’s design and functionalities.

Trail Paving in Engineering Ethics Education

By on March 20th, 2025 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

In my teaching, I gained insight into some of the ethical dilemmas posed by science and technology but also into the dual nature of the typical student’s response to technology—while they held technology in awe, they also had a sense of alienation from it.

What AI Owners Can Learn From Journalism

By on January 30th, 2025 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Communication Technology, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The process of advancing AI technology and making AI-generated content attractive to and available to the general public is comparable to that of the printing press and its pivotal influence on newspapers and journalism.

The Ethics of Product Development—Houston, Do We Have a Problem?

By on November 15th, 2024 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Though it is hard to find accurate figures on how many products introduced every year fail to meet safety and environmental standards—partly because market surveillance proves to be inadequate [6], while the assessment of market readiness is, in many cases, left to producers themselves [7] —the number may be higher than the public expects.

Text Neck: Looking Down at Devices for Way Too Long

By on September 18th, 2024 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Text Neck is a classic ergonomic issue that has come about as a direct result of technological innovation, as people have begun to increasingly use digital media of all types to text, talk, browse the internet, listen to music, watch videos, or play online games.

Advancing Gender Equality Through Interdisciplinarity

By on August 28th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commentary, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

There is a clear parallel between conceptualizations of comedy clubs and AI labs as masculine spaces, and jokes and technology as for men. As Sutko writes, [AI] technology often gets equated with “men’s power,” while women and girls are portrayed as less technologically skilled and less interested than their male counterparts. Such stereotypes can contribute to the gender gap in women’s participation in related fields.

Enhancing Sustainability in Resource-Limited Environments: Government, Culture, and AI

By on July 10th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Spain’s Comunitat Valenciana (Valencian Community) (Figure 1) has a rich agricultural history, with long traditions of resilience and innovation. This tradition,…  Read More