Ethics of Emerging Technologies

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Computer algorithms ,and machines that operate on the basis of such algorithms, play increasingly significant roles in our lives. For instance, algorithms help us decide which partner to pick, what movies to watch, or who is eligible for life-saving resources. Moreover, smart machines (e.g., self-driving cars) are increasingly used to perform tasks and functions whose performance was traditionally reserved for humans alone. In this course, we will consider questions such as: How can we use machines and algorithms in ethically responsible ways? When is it (im)permissible to treat people in certain ways on the basis of statistical information alone? How do we generate just algorithms given that there is much disagreement about which moral theory is correct? Does yielding many decisions to smart, automated processes diminish our agency? In answering these questions, we will mainly draw on the work of philosophers, but, on occasion, consider the work of social scientists, and legal scholars.