What sense of worth and dignity can a person have when their daily activities are confined within systemic contraptions where personal input, originality, and initiative are either undesirable, or quantified as targets to be maximized?
Category: Ethics
Technology for Governance, Politics, and Democracy
By Tom Kane and Nick Novellil on March 16th, 2019 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Innovative Information and Communication Technologies play an important role in e-governance and digital democracy. There is unprecedented opportunity for community collective choice, whereby citizens who are affected by a set of governing rules can help to select policy options and rank spending priorities.
Facts, Policies, and Values– The Democratic Triad
By Jeremy Pitt on March 15th, 2019 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Politics required dialogue, deliberation, negotiation, and compromise. But now there is a dispute over the facts themselves.
Call for Papers
By Kristina Milanovic on February 20th, 2019 in Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Call for Papers – Special Issue of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine – Human Computer Interaction: Regulation and Ethics of Digital Technology
Assessing Artificial Intelligence for Humanity
By Andrzej Nowak on February 1st, 2019 in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Will AI be our biggest ever advance — or the biggest threat? The real danger of AI lies not in sudden apocalypse, but in the gradual degradation and disappearance of what make human experience and existence meaningful.
Odorveillance and the Ethics of Robotic Olfaction
By Emily Stark on January 25th, 2019 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology
Given the current lack of regulation, there is nothing in principle to stop unscrupulous organizations from deploying surreptitious robotic olfaction.
Virtual Reality: Ethical Challenges and Dangers
By Ben Kenwright on January 14th, 2019 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
As VR has hit the mainstream, much debate has arisen over its ethical complexities. Traditional moral responsibilities do not always translate to the digital world. One aspect we argue is essential to ethical responsibility for virtual reality is that VR solutions must integrate ethical analysis into the design process, and practice dissemination of best practices.
Complacency is the New Normal
By Jeremy Pitt on December 6th, 2018 in Ethics, Magazine Articles, President's Message, Privacy & Security, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
The level of state surveillance practiced in the supposedly illiberal regimes prior to fall of the Berlin Wall is now routinely accepted, from the widespread use of CCTV to online tracking and data recording. Therefore, instead of labeling a display of genuine concern as “paranoia,” perhaps a lack of genuine concerns should instead be stigmatized by a “disease” or a “disorder”: complacentosis, complyaphilia, complicivitis, ignorrhea.
Philip Koopman Receives IEEE Carl Barus Award
By terribookman on November 29th, 2018 in Case Studies, Ethics, News and Notes, Social Implications of Technology
Dr. Philip Koopman of Carnegie Mellon University received the IEEE SSIT Carl Barus Award for Outstanding Service in the Public Interest on November 13, 2018, in Washington, DC.
IEEE and Sustainable Development
By Paul Cunningham on October 26th, 2018 in Environment, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, President's Message, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
This month I will briefly discuss the work of the IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee, which I have the honor to chair this year.
Ethics of Robotic Deception
By Ronald C. Arkin on October 9th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology
The time of robotic deception is rapidly approaching. We are being bombarded regarding the inherent ethical dangers of the approaching robotics and AI revolution, but far less concern has been expressed about the potential for robots to deceive human beings.
From Usability to Exploitability
By Jeremy Pitt on September 21st, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
If digital technologies can be designed to maintain or sustain values, then the same technologies can be designed to manipulate or undermine those same values.
The Ultimate Black Box
By Krishna Sood on August 25th, 2018 in Ethics, Industry View, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology
Developers face a conundrum when launching software that must be equipped to make a moral judgment. Algorithms are being programmed to make consequential decisions that align with laws and moral sensibilities.
Chris Wylie’s Frankenstein
By Jim Isaak on March 23rd, 2018 in Articles, Case Studies, Ethics, Societal Impact
“Why would a Russian oil company want to target information on American voters?” Chris asks in the article. Cambridge Analytica claims to have 4000-5000 data points on 230,000,000 U.S. adults.
AI Tipping Point
By Jim Isaak on March 9th, 2018 in Articles, Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology
Prior to 2016 there was little press with occasional hype about artificial intelligence. Somewhere in the last two years we… Read More
A Character Manifesto
By Jim Isaak on February 2nd, 2018 in Articles, Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
In “Finding the Wonder Woman Within,” values like courage, wonder, equality, grace, and power are addressed, often in very powerful ways.
Information Technology in a City Enterprise
By David Gancarz on January 19th, 2018 in Commentary, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
We must challenge ourselves to transcend our familiar notion of the IT artifact as just an inanimate tool standing by for our use like some sort of mechanical device, neatly separable and distinct from us. It is far more productive to view Information Technology as practice.
Citizen trust and confidence in the public institution and notions of the public good are, in many ways, the bottom line for the public sector.
Appointment of the Planet’s Policy Custodian
By Joe Carvalko on January 6th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The Trump administration cannot simply reject current theories of climate change based on nothing more than that it may conflict with a constituency’s self-interest or one’s sheer lack of understanding.
The Privacy Slippery Slope
By Jim Isaak on November 10th, 2017 in Articles, Ethics, Privacy & Security
Where did the privacy slippery slope begin? Or perhaps asking the question with more focus, when did we start trading… Read More
IEEE-SSIT Tackles Standards Development
By Jim Isaak on October 31st, 2017 in Articles, Ethics, Standards
A Guest Blog Post from: Victoria A. Hailey, CMC & Katherine Bennett, (standards development leaders in IEEE). On 28 September 2017,… Read More