Past Issues

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Past Issues 2014 - present

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  • December 2020

    The Need for Digital Roots

    In The Need for Roots, Simone Weil sets out, firstly, a subjective/objective contrast between rights and obligations, and argues that…  Read More

  • March 2020

    Robots and Humans: Leveling Up or Leveling Down?

    Mega-platforms have, with the addition of psychology, combined lock-in and loyalty to create a grave consequence: digital dependence.

  • September 2020

    Iron Triangles and Techno-Feudalism

    One of the consequences of Iron Triangles is oligarchy, and decisions being made in the interest of a ruling clique,…  Read More

  • June 2020

    AI and Climate Change

    Digital technologies have created new opportunities to understand and manage global systemic risks, and drive the societal transformations needed to…  Read More

  • September 2019

    Technology, Ethics, and Policy

    The ISTAS series of conferences poses potentially awkward questions that need to be addressed by designers, developers, regulators, and citizens,…  Read More

  • March 2019

    Technology for Governance, Politics, and Democracy

    Innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) already play an important role in e-governance and digital democracy, both at national and community levels. There is unprecedented…  Read More

  • December 2018

    Wound Person Takes Pascal's Wager

    In the 15th century there was Wound Man, bleeding from his injuries. Today we have Wound Person leaking data from…  Read More

  • December 2016

    Unintended Consequences of Technology

    How will the increasing penetration of artificial intelligence technologies into affect our lives? Unintended and/or unanticipated consequences of these technologies…  Read More

  • June 2019

    Driverless Cars: Going Off the Rails?

    The car itself has proved, in recent years, to have been a convenient vehicle (sic) or significant driver (sic) for…  Read More

  • September 2016

    Technology, Culture, and Ethics

    Pervasive technologies have an intentionality, and they have inherent qualities that can be used positively or negatively. When we investigate…  Read More

  • December 2019

    Ethics and System Design

    Contemporary and emerging digital tech­nologies are leading us to question the ways in which humans in­teract with machines and with…  Read More

  • March 2018

    Social Implications of Robotics and AI

    “it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that Artificial Intelligence (AI) [or robotics] will be one of two things: our destroyer…  Read More

  • June 2018

    Special Section: Social Media in the Middle East

    Social media is powerful. Communication is a formidable tool for empowerment. Citizens can use social media to communicate to influence…  Read More

  • September 2018

    Special Issue on ISTAS 2017 - From Good Ideas to Practical Solutions

    How do we develop “good” technological concepts that solve a particular problem or fulfill a defined need? How can these designs be translated into…  Read More

  • Human Military Robot

    March 2017

    Special Issue on Military Use of Implantable Technologies

    Advanced technologies that were once the stuff of science fiction have catapulted into the the military marketplace. We now have…  Read More

  • Graeme Clark, the inventor of the c ochlear implant, with Bryn Davey and Scott Smith, the first two children in the world to receive the device.

    June 2017

    Special Issue: Thinking Machines in the Physical World - IEEE 2016 Conference on Norbert Wiener in the 21st Century

    Norbert Wiener knew that smart machines and robots would contribute to improvements in human lives. He was also keenly aware…  Read More

  • September 2017

    Next Generation Socio-Technical Systems

    The next generation of socio-technical system will be underpinned by the most advanced and potentially most “intelligent” technology so far…  Read More

  • December 2017

    ISTAS 2016 - Disruptive Technologies, Ethics, and Global Development

    ISTAS 2016 was an important milestone for the SSIT community in India. It introduced topics such as ethics, society, and…  Read More

  • June 2016

    Rise of the Robots: Technology and Social Disruption

    Where are we headed? What trajectory are we on? Terra incognita: “Here be dragons.” In the final iconic scene in…  Read More

  • March 2016

    Hidden Conditions

    Personal data is a commodity, and there is great incentive for those profiting from that commodity to conceal the ways…  Read More