^CategoryEthics

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 17, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
Hannah Bang, Ripple Effect (film)}

When Sci-Fi Gets Earnest About Colonization — Sci-fi Saturday

_{Worth seeing but we never get to find out who the characters are fighting or why some treaty could not be arranged} _{News

July 17, 2021

15

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“Ripple Effect” at DUST by [ Hannah Bang at Dust, July 12, 2021, 7:12 min: “In a not so distant future- a coalition of the old earth’s nations have sought and claimed the discovery of a new planet “Gaia” as the human race’s last hope for survival. However, when the human settlements rolled in, what awaited them was neither discovery nor pioneering but colonization and war against the planet’s original inhabitants. With an increasingly militaristic government that demands the settlers’ sacrifice for the good of all, one family is torn apart when the eldest daughter, Ara, questions who the real bad guys are. At a time where mass think seems to be the safest option, Ripple Effect asks us if Read More ›

Dna test in the lab. a laboratory technician with a dispenser in his hands is conducting dna analysis in a sterile laboratory behind glass

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
July 14, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics, Law, Medicine and Health, Surveillance

Tagged
Biometric data collection, Cai Xia, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), Comparitech, Featured, Made in China 2025, neo-totalitarianism, Y-Chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD), Yves Moreau}

China Is Building the World’s Largest Global DNA Database

_{The government violates the country’s own privacy laws in the name of security and stability} _{Heather Zeiger

July 14, 2021

7

Data Privacy, Ethics, Law, Medicine and Health, Surveillance}

A January 2021 study by a U.K. cybersecurity and privacy watchdog, Comparitech, found that China was the world’s worst offender for “widespread and invasive biometric data collection” out of ninety-six countries studied. The Chinese government aspires to build the world’s largest police-run DNA database. Its Made in China 2025 plan places a priority on building its biotechnology industry, which involves collecting a large number of DNA samples. The way Chinese authorities obtain DNA is often intrusive and without consent. In a previous article, we looked at how U.S. companies’ DNA sequencing and identification technologies end up in Xinjiang despite U.S. sanctions. In this article, we will look at how China is using DNA collection to further its national goals. China’s Read More ›

DNA sequence with colored letters on black background containing mutation

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
July 13, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Surveillance

Tagged
China (surveillance in China), DNA sequencing technologies, Magnitsky Act, Promega, Sanctions on sales to China, Sui-Lee Wee, THermo Fisher Scientific, U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List, Uyghurs, Xinjiang}

U.S.-Made DNA ID Equipment Is Being Sold to Xinjiang’s Police

_{Engineering professor Yves Moreau’s research shows that a more serious approach to existing sanctions against such uses is needed} _{Heather Zeiger

July 13, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Surveillance}

The U.S. leads the world in DNA sequencing technologies. Unfortunately, two U.S. companies’ products are being used in China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region despite the fact that the U. S. has placed sanctions on such uses. The sanctions were put in place because Chinese authorities surveil and detain Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities without legal precedent and engage in acts that are in violation of the Genocide Convention of 1948. The New York Times, for example, obtained ten contracts, along with government procurement documents, showing that Thermo Fisher Scientific’s and Promega’s equipment is being sold to Xinjiang police: The government procurement documents and contracts show that several Chinese companies sold Thermo Fisher equipment worth at least $521,165 to Read More ›

Father And Son Competing In Video Games At Home

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 6, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Mathematics, Peer Review, Science

Tagged
Fraud, Minecraft, Probability, Stuart Ritchie, Video games}

Why Did Video Gamers Uncover Fraud More Easily Than Scientists?

_{Video gamers are subject, a psychologist tells us, to much more rigorous constraints than scientists} _{News

July 6, 2021

3

Ethics, Mathematics, Peer Review, Science}

In a recent article at The Atlantic, King’s College psychologist Stuart Ritchie, author of Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth (2020), has noted a curious fact: Video gamers are much quicker to spot fraud than scientists. The video game fraud he focuses on involved a gamer’s claim that he had finished a round of Minecraft in a little over 19 minutes, a feat he attributed, Ritchie tells us, to “an incredible stretch of good luck.” “Incredible” is the right choice of word here. “Dream,” as the player was known, later admitted — in the face of skepticism — that he had “inadvertently” left some software running that improved his game — thus disqualifying Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 27, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), China, Dentsu, Depression (BCI and depression), Diego Salinas, Neuralink, Psychiatry (and BCI)}

Can Implanted Computer Chips Cure Depression?

_{Brain–computer interface (BCI) is promising for paralysis and prosthetics but raises concerns in the treatment of depression} _{News

June 27, 2021

5

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

Brain computer interface (BCI) shows promise in treating paralysis or enabling prosthetics to work almost naturally. But BCI for treating depression sounds like hype: Say goodbye to pills, therapy, and all that. With such gloomy prospects, it was only a matter of time scientists realized there must be better ways to treat depression rather than pills. After all, drugs only work because they act on certain brain regions to modulate the concentration of certain neurotransmitters, like serotonin or dopamine. Therefore, in the end, the regulation of mood depends on stimulating brain signals in certain parts of the brain — that is, neurons firing — and this can be done more accurately by just zapping the neurons directly with electricity. Diego Read More ›

Live lobster in the aquarium. Product in the supermarket. Close up photo of big lobsters in water tank for sale

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 24, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
brain, Crab, Crustaceans, Dog, Jordan Peterson, Lobster, Minimal self, Pain, Shrimp}

Can Crabs Think? Can Lobsters Feel? What We Know Now

_{In Switzerland, it is now illegal to boil a lobster alive. Are the Swiss right? Is it cruel?} _{Denyse O'Leary

June 24, 2021

6

Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

Because crustaceans have shells, we may tend to think of them as like machines. Yet crustaceans, along with octopuses, show some surprising abilities and complexities. Take crabs, for example: A new Swansea University study has revealed how common shore crabs can navigate their way around a complex maze and can even remember the route in order to find food … Spatial learning is quite complicated, so figuring out how it works in crustaceans gives us a better understanding of how widespread this ability, and learning in general, is in the animal kingdom.” The researchers tested 12 crabs over four weeks, placing food at the end of the maze each time. The route to the end of the maze required five Read More ›

Real Python code developing screen. Programing workflow abstract algorithm concept. Lines of Python code visible under magnifying lens.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 23, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Law, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Bias (in algorithms), Citizen's Guide to Artificial Intelligence (book2021), Inscrutability (of AI), John Zerilli, Reliabilism}

How Do We Know the Machine Is Right If No One Knows How It Works?

_{We don’t, and that’s a problem, says Oxford philosopher John Zerilli} _{News

June 23, 2021

5

Ethics, Law, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health}

Oxford philosopher John Zerilli, author of A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence (2021), asks us to consider how machine learning, the most widely used type of AI, might be deciding our lives without our knowing it: There are many reasons not to take job rejections personally, but there’s one in particular you might not consider: you might have been screened out by an algorithm that taught itself to filter candidates by gender, surname or ethnicity – in other words, by factors that have nothing to do with your ability to do the job. Even if you’re unfazed by the spectre of runaway robots enslaving humanity, this little tale shows how the ascendancy of machine learning (ML) comes with risks that Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 21, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Autonomous Vehicles, Ophelia Deroy, self-driving cars}

Researchers: Humans “Exploit” Machines Without a Sense of Guilt!

_{Humans, we are told, are so unethical that we take advantage of "benevolent" self-driving cars} _{News

June 21, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

In case no one knew this, humans are cruel, greedy, and deceptive. We even take advantage of self-driving cars. Our crimes are revealed in a recent study that scolds humans as “unwilling to cooperate and compromise with machines. They even exploit them.” When you’ve stopped laughing, you might be interested to learn of some intriguing findings from studies of human behavior around self-driving cars (autonomous vehicles) and Prisoner’s Dilemma games. One team of researchers, in a test involving 9 experiments and 2000 participants, tried to determine whether humans would behave as co-operatively with AI systems as we do with fellow humans: The study which is published in the journal iScience found that, upon first encounter, people have the same level Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 17, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Tagged
Ed Yong, Intelligence (genesis), Laboratory animals (ethics), Michael Egnor, Nautilus, Octopus intelligence, Pain, Pain in animals, Pain in humans, Rats (laboratory rats), Robyn Crook}

Octopuses Get Emotional About Pain, Research Suggests

_{The smartest of invertebrates, the octopus, once again prompts us to rethink what we believe to be the origin of intelligence} _{Denyse O'Leary

June 17, 2021

7

Ethics, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience}

The octopus is becoming a popular creature among neuroscientists. It is a very smart invertebrate with an unusually complex nervous system, organized in a fundamentally different way from that of, for example, mammals. Recently, a researcher has found the first strong evidence that octopuses feel pain, as opposed to merely reacting to it. There are two parts to pain: The natural physical reaction, like a sophisticated alarm system, sets off a chain of involuntary responses. But that chain of responses, by itself, doesn’t prove that any “self” is feeling anything. The alarm system would work just the same in an empty building as in a populated one. The second component can be called “emotional.” The life form experiences the pain Read More ›

Science fiction illustration of a battle cruiser spaceship travelling faster than the speed of light in hyperspace, 3d digitally rendered illustration

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
ARK (film), Faster than light travel, Nelson Cruz, Patrick Gorman, Science fiction, Sheila Cutchlow, Time travel paradoxes}

What If a Loved One Aged Much Faster Than You? – Sci-fi Saturday

_{It’s one of the implications of faster-than-light travel} _{News

June 12, 2021

13

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“ARK” at DUST by Nelson Cruz (June 8, 2021, 8:19 min) “Captain Mira Bernhard is finally home after a lengthy mission to the new planet, GAIA – humanity’s last hope. But what’s only been a 5-year trip for her, has been 45-year wait for her husband.” Review: ARK debuted in 2020. Time, we are told, is running out for Earth. The radio announcer, informing the audience of Bernhard’s ship’s arrival, also announces that this will be the final week of broadcasts. We are told that Bernhard’s husband Peter (played by Patrick Gorman) does not know what to expect. But, of course, he really does. And he faces a big decision: Should he just free her (Sheila Cutchlow) to return to Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 12, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law

Tagged
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), Matthew Wilson, Memory, Neil Ellice, Science fiction, The Final Moments of Karl Brant (film)}

Could You Be Reconstructed From Your Memories? – Sci-fi Saturday

_{If you were, would destroying the digitized “you” be murder?} _{News

June 12, 2021

14

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Ethics, Law}

“The Final Moments of Karl Brant” at DUST by Neil Ellice and Matthew Wilson (June 10, 2021 at DUST, 15:46 min) “Set in the near future where experimental technology allows two detectives to bring a murder victim back to life in a digital state in order to question him about his final moments.” Review: This is an “oldie” from 2013, recently uploaded to DUST. Entrepreneur Karl Brant and academic neuroscientist Bennett Ferryman were partners in a promising new high tech venture in which Brant suddenly perishes, leaving Ferryman now the sole owner — and under interrogation down at the local cop shop: “Am I a suspect?” “Not if you give us a good reason why you shouldn’t be.” Not too Read More ›

In the Hospital Sick Man Lying on the Bed, His Visiting Wife Hopefully Sits Beside Him and Prays for His Rapid Recovery. Tragic, Somber and Melancholy Scene.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 8, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

Tagged
brain death, Euthanasia, organ donation, Uniform Declaration of Death Act, World Brain Death Project}

Is It Safe to Revise the Standard for Legally Recognized Brain Death?

_{People have a right to not have a controversial concept of death imposed upon them} _{News

June 8, 2021

5

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience}

Originally published on MercatorNet on May 28, 2021 by Nancy Valko I have been writing for many years about the implications of brain death, the lesser known “donation after cardiac/circulatory death”, diagnosed brain death cases like the supposedly “impossible” prolonged survival and maturation of Jahi McMath, and unexpected recoveries like Zack Dunlap’s. Some mothers declared “brain dead” were able to gestate their babies for weeks or months to a successful delivery before their ventilators were removed. Last August, I wrote about the World Brain Death Project and the effort to establish a worldwide consensus on brain death criteria and testing to develop the “minimum clinical standards for determination of brain death” (emphasis added). I also wrote about the current effort “to revise the (US) Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) to assure a Read More ›

Little brave pawn wearing artificial paper crown suit on chessboard with figures, business entrepreneur leadership concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 4, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Falsehoods ("white lies"), Moral judgments, Neuroscience, Pareto lies}

Do You Have a “Selfish Prefrontal Cortex”?

_{Do you tell “white lies” only for selfish motives?} _{News

June 4, 2021

3

Ethics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind}

A recent neuroscience paper claims to determine whether your motives are selfish: You may think a little white lie about a bad haircut is strictly for your friend’s benefit, but your brain activity says otherwise. Distinct activity patterns in the prefrontal cortex reveal when a white lie has selfish motives, according to new research published in Journal of Neuroscience. White lies — formally called Pareto lies — can benefit both parties, but their true motives are encoded by the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). This brain region computes the value of different social behaviors, with some subregions focusing on internal motivations and others on external ones. Kim and Kim predicted activity patterns in these subregions could elucidate the true motive behind Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
May 31, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics, Programming, Surveillance

Tagged
Big Tech (in culture wars), Big Tech corporate culture, Big Tech worldview, Calico (Google), Google search algorithms (bias), Self (as Big Tech's worldview), Worldview (of Big Tech companies)}

Does the Company Selling You Tech Have the Same Worldview As You?

_{A worldview is how we view the world and our place in it.} _{Andrew McDiarmid

May 31, 2021

5

Data Privacy, Ethics, Programming, Surveillance}

Much of the technology we interact with today is part of a larger group of ecosystems maintained by major tech companies. If you have an iPhone, for example, you’re often more likely to use a Macbook, watch AppleTV, or subscribe to Apple Music. If you shop on Amazon, you might also have their Echo digital assistant or a Ring video doorbell. And if you Chromebook, you’re likely to use Gmail and maybe have a Pixel. Fueled by brand loyalty, tech ecosystems are part of the workings of a healthy free market. But if you’re going to commit to a tech company by being part of their ecosystem, it’s important to compare the worldview of that company to your own and Read More ›

Human skull with a syringe holds in the mouth and vaccine bottle on space of brown paper, Bad side effect concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 31, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health

Tagged
Abortion, Conscience rights, Euthanasia, Human embryos (14-day rule), Michael Egnor}

Michael Egnor: Stop Making Killing a Form of Cure

_{Euthanasia and abortion are not forms of medicine, he says} _{News

May 31, 2021

5

Ethics, Medicine and Health}

Recently, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor pleaded with medical colleagues to take a stronger stand on the rapid normalization of killing as a form of “cure” in our society: The medical profession should take a clear stand on this issue: doctors who deliberately kill — whether by abortion or by physician-assisted suicide or by euthanasia — are not practicing medicine when they kill. Medical practice always entails the maintenance of health, the treatment of disease, and the relief of suffering. Ending the life of a patient or of the child in his mother’s womb is neither the maintenance of health nor treatment of a disease nor the alleviation of any suffering. It is simply the killing of an innocent unwanted child. I Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 22, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
Bargain (short film), Eleonora Mignoli, Life extension}

Sci-fi Saturday: In a Future Market, Time To Live Is Bought, Sold

_{An employee wants to rebel against the greed and injustice but then she would run out of time …} _{News

May 22, 2021

12

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“The Bargain” at DUST by Eleonora Mignoli (May 18, 2021, 10:57 min) “Hired by a man who buys and sells time, a young bodyguard is torn between serving her master and fighting for the people he ruins with his power.” Cora is indentured in the service of Hue, the creator and owner of time-exchanging technology. She is alive thanks to Hue’s monthly “payments”: on her own, she’d have only a few weeks left. She works as his bodyguard and assistant, extracting or injecting time from his clients. She is horrified by Hue’s predatory deals, but complaining means breaching her contract. However, when a single mother of two falls victim to his extortion, Cora’s leash finally snaps. She now has to Read More ›

Two ants. Conflict, ants fight. Conceptually - dialogue, conversation, meeting, showdown, difficult negotiations. Beautiful rainbow background. Ants large, raised abdomens

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 22, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science

Tagged
Akkshey Caplash, Ants, Insects, Leela Varghese, Science+ (short film)}

Sci-fi Saturday: What If Insects Could Put Humans on Trial?

_{In Science+, a shrunken inventor finds himself facing Ant Justice} _{News

May 22, 2021

12

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Science}

“Science+” at DUST by Leela Varghese (February 28, 2021, 11:11 min) “When Matt accidentally shrinks himself and is captured by the ants whom he has unwittingly been squashing, he must find a way to escape their clutches and his impending death sentence.” Review: This is what good comedy looks like. Matt is filming himself doing various science projects for his (possibly) YouTube program “Science+”, when he gets shrunk by his own shrink-o-matic. The ants, seen face to face, turn out to be roughly like people, of whom — Matt discovers — he has killed nearly 3500. They learned English from humans in Britain but otherwise they speak Ant. You must hear that. And no more spoilers. The story raises some Read More ›

young man working freelance in laptop at home

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen Berger
Date
May 19, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Epistemology, Featured, Humanity (essence), intelligence, Machine Learning, Metrology, ontology, Reality, Universe}

Will Humans Ever Be Fully Replaceable by AI? Part 3

_{Data outlines what can be quantified but does not show the comparison between AI and human performance at the most important points} _{Stephen Berger

May 19, 2021

11

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Philosophy of Mind}

To get the right answer to the question of whether artificial intelligence will ever become capable of replacing man we must get the ontology, epistemology, and metrology right. Ontology seeks to understand the essential nature of things and the relationships between different things. Epistemology looks at what we can know and how accurately we can know what is knowable. Finally, metrology explores how we make measurements and comparisons. To get the right answer we must measure the right things (ontology), select what we will measure (epistemology), and determine how we make our measurements and comparisons with accuracy, precision, and repeatability (metrology). Mistakes in any of these areas will lead to a bad outcome. A common mistake is to measure what Read More ›

communicator technology on wood table top view

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
May 17, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work

Tagged
Apple (and forced labor), Big Tech (and forced labor), Fair Labor Association (and Apple), Forced labor (Big Tech ratings), Forced labor (China), Forced labor (for tech companies), Ken Buck, Know the Chain, Nanchang O-film Tech, Tim Cook (and forced labor), Uyghurs (forced labor), Xinjiang}

Apple’s Supply Chain Includes Forced Labor in China

_{Big companies like Apple claim they try to avoid forced labor but maybe not hard enough} _{Heather Zeiger

May 17, 2021

6

Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work}

The Information, an online periodical covering the tech industry, found that Apple’s supply chain includes companies that use the forced labor of members of minority groups in China, particularly Uyghurs — Chinese citizens who are ethnically Turkish and mostly Muslim: The Information and human rights groups have found seven companies supplying device components, coatings and assembly services to Apple that are linked to alleged forced labor involving Uyghurs and other oppressed minorities in China. At least five of those companies received thousands of Uyghur and other minority workers at specific factory sites or subsidiaries that did work for Apple, the investigation found. The revelation stands in contrast to Apple’s assertions over the past year that it hasn’t found evidence of Read More ›