Digital Ethics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Rapid innovations in data gathering and analysis, machine learning, and AI are transforming our lives, our social interactions, our economy, and our political discourse. These innovations carry the potential for both tremendous social good and tremendous ethical danger. The use of algorithms to replace human judgment can both reduce and amplify bias; the epistemological structure of the internet can both democratize knowledge production and radically increase group polarization; new forms of data collection can help pinpoint previously hidden social injustice even as it raises profoundly challenging questions about privacy and surveillance. This seminar will explore these issues and more, with an eye to whether and when technological innovation calls for novel normative frameworks. This is an Ethics Lab course. Traditional philosophy readings and discussion will be supplemented with design-based, in-class exercises such as empathy mapping. No background in either digital technology or design-based exercises is needed. Grading is based on participation (25%) and a traditional, 15-page philosophical paper (75%).