As artificial intelligence technologies become increasingly prominent in our daily lives, media coverage of the ethical considerations of these technologies has followed suit. Since previous research has shown that media coverage can drive public discourse about novel technologies, studying how the ethical issues of AI are portrayed in the media may lead to greater insight into the potential ramifications of this public discourse, particularly with regard to development and regulation of AI. This paper expands upon previous research by systematically analyzing (...) and categorizing the media portrayal of the ethical issues of AI to better understand how media coverage of these issues may shape public debate about AI. Our results suggest that the media has a fairly realistic and practical focus in its coverage of the ethics of AI, but that the coverage is still shallow. A multifaceted approach to handling the social, ethical and policy issues of AI technology is needed, including increasing the accessibility of correct information to the public in the form of fact sheets and ethical value statements on trusted webpages, collaboration and inclusion of ethics and AI experts in both research and public debate, and consistent government policies or regulatory frameworks for AI technology. (shrink)

Ethical analyses of biomedical human enhancement often consider the issue of authenticity — to what degree can the accomplishments of those utilizing biomedical enhancements be considered authentic or worthy of praise? As research into Brain-Computer Interface technology progresses, it may soon be feasible to create a BCI device that enhances or augments natural human intelligence through some invasive or noninvasive biomedical means. In this article we will review currently existing BCI technologies and to what extent these can be said to (...) enhance or augment the capabilities of the respective users, describe one hypothetical type of BCI device that could augment or enhance a specific aspect of human knowledge — namely, mathematical ability, and relate these concepts to the active externalism view of the extended mind as espoused by Clark and Chalmers in order to argue that knowledge of mathematics derived from the usage of a BCI and the application thereof constitutes authentic knowledge and achievement. (shrink)

Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) technology is a promising research area in many domains. Brain activity can be interpreted through both invasive and non-invasive monitoring devices, allowing for novel, therapeutic solutions for individuals with disabilities and for other non-medical applications. However, a number of ethical issues have been identified from the use of BCI technology. In this paper, we review the academic discussion of the ethical implications of BCI technology in the last five years. We conclude that some emerging applications of BCI (...) technology—including commercial ventures that seek to meld human intelligence with AI—present new and unique ethical concerns. Further, we seek to understand how academic literature on the topic of BCIs addresses these novel concerns. Similar to prior work, we use a limited sample to identify trends and areas of concern or debate among researchers and ethicists. From our analysis, we identify two key areas of BCI ethics that warrant further research: the physical and psychological effects of BCI technology. Additionally, questions of BCI policy have not yet become a frequent point of discussion in the relevant literature on BCI ethics, and we argue this should be addressed in future work. We provide guiding questions that will help ethicists and policy makers grapple with the most important issues associated with BCI technology. (shrink)

In their paper “Algorithms for Ethical Decision-Making in the Clinic: A Proof of Concept,” Meier et al. present the design and preliminary results of a proof-of-concept clinical ethics algor...

Inspirado por el trabajo de Deborah Lupton, Inger Mewburn y Pat Thomson, The Digital Academic: Critical Perspectives on Digital Technologies in Higher Education (2017), este artículo examina el yo digital académico contemporáneo. Más allá de la utilidad que pueden tener en cuanto a la interacción, plataformas digitales como Academia.edu, Linkedin, Google Scholar, etc. transforman al académico o académica en un sujeto digital cuyo rendimiento se controla constantemente hasta convertirlo en prisionero de una creciente dataveillance, una vigilancia a través de los (...) datos. En este contexto, analizamos el impacto de los mencionados procesos de monitorización continua del rendimiento y la productividad sobre las condiciones de vida y trabajo de los profesionales universitarios contemporáneos, en un momento en el que las tensiones, los conflictos y el malestar que habitan la universidad neoliberal parecen volverse cada vez más incapacitantes.Drawing inspiration from the work of Deborah Lupton, Inger Mewburn and Pat Thomson, The Digital Academic: Critical Perspectives on Digital Technologies in Higher Education (2017), this paper looks at the digital self of contemporary academics. Using digital platforms such as Academia.edu, Linkedin, Googlescholar, digital academics can increase their daily interactions and the impact of their research. More than being interaction tools, these tools transform the academics into digital individuals whose performance is constantly monitored until they find themselves prisoner of a growing «dataveillance» (Lupton, Mewburn and Thomson, 2017). In this context, the question concerns not only the impact of digital technologies on the quality of contemporary research, but also the impact of digital surveillance on the living and working conditions of contemporary academics, at a time where the tensions, conflicts and malaise that inhabit the neoliberal university have become ever more manifest. (shrink)