Ethics in the AI, Technology, and Information Age

353 Pages·2022·5.58 MB·English

by  Michael Boylan (editor), Wanda Teays (editor)

Ethics in the AI,
Technology, and
Information Age

Edited by
Michael Boylan
M u
aryMount niversity
Wanda Teays
M s M ’ u
ount aint ary s niversity
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Boylan, Michael, editor. | Teays, Wanda, editor.
Title: Ethics in the AI, technology, and information age / edited by
Michael Boylan, Wanda Teays.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2022] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021052276 (print) | LCCN 2021052277 (ebook) | ISBN
9781538160749 (cloth) | ISBN 9781538160756 (paperback) | ISBN
9781538160763 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Technology—Moral and ethical aspects. | Artificial
intelligence—Moral and ethical aspects. | Internet—Moral and ethical
aspects.
Classification: LCC BJ59 .E865 2022 (print) | LCC BJ59 (ebook) | DDC
174/.96—dc23/eng/20211222
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052276
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052277
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Michael:
To Andrew (my father) who thought there
were no “downsides” to technology—especially
after network radio and the refrigerator
Wanda:
To Silvio, whose interest in technology is only
bounded by the constraints of time

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
PART ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Section 1: Ethical Theory, Applied Ethics, and Professional Ethics
1 Michael Boylan, “Ethical Reasoning” 5
2 Michael Boylan, “‘Nature’ as a Background Condition” 15
Section 2: Humans and Machines: A New Ethical Paradigm?
3 Morgan Luck and Stephen Clarke, “Transformative Technologies, the
Status Quo, and (Religious) Institutions” 35
4 Felicia Nimue Ackerman, “Transhumanism: Is This a Step Forward?” 49
5 Mark Vopat, “AI and Human Rights: Present and Future Moral
Challenges” 61
PART TWO: APPLICATIONS
Section 1: The Practical Scope of Technology Ethics
6 David E. McClean, “Is There a Need for a New, a Technology,
Ethic?” 79
7 Marvin T. Brown, “The Social Worlds of Technology” 89
Section 2: The Ownership of Technology and Technology Transfer
8 David Koepsell, “Ownership of Information Technology” 103
9 Luciano Floridi, “The Fight for Digital Sovereignty” 115
v
vi CONTENTS
Section 3: Information Technology and Social Media
10 Dean Cocking and Jeroen van den Hoven, “The Moral Fog of
Social Media” 131
11 Dean Cocking and Brigid Evans, “Becoming Good and Growing
Up Online” 141
12 Edward H. Spence, “The Privacy Paradox” 153
PART THREE: CHALLENGES
Section 1: AI and Its Applications
13 Rita Manning, “AI in Health Care: Ethical Issues” 169
14 Jens Kipper, “The Ethics of Self-D riving Cars” 181
15 Sven Nyholm, “Moral Dilemmas of Self- Driving Cars” 193
Section 2: Cybersecurity
16 Seumas Miller, “AI and Criminal Justice: Individual Autonomy,
Joint Rights, and Collective Responsibility” 207
17 Rosalie Waelen and Philip Brey, “Ethical Dimensions of Facial
Recognition and Video Analytics in Surveillance” 217
18 Karsten Weber and Nadine Kleine, “Cybersecurity in Health Care” 233
Section 3: Technology and War
19 Wanda Teays, “The Ethics of Drone Killings and Assassinations” 257
20 Shannon E. French, “War and Technology: Should Data Decide
Who Lives, Who Dies?” 277
Appendix: Films and Documentaries on Technology Ethics,
Wanda Teays 295
Notes 297
Index 327
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to our editor, Natalie Mandziuk, and the team at Rowman &
Littlefield. Thank you so much for all your encouragement and support.
Thanks also to the contributors to this timely anthology. We are grateful to
you for the ideas and insights expressed in your chapters. And thanks to you, our
readers, for sharing an interest in this growing field of technology ethics.
vii

Preface
Some have claimed that the making of tools is what (in a primitive way) has
separated us from other animals and has allowed the development of language—
and reason itself.1 Thus, the relationship between technology and what it means
to be human goes back to the very beginning.
A more recent starting point might be the Industrial Revolution that
continued for a hundred and fifty years and then gave way to the Information
Age—including social communications, artificial intelligence, and an interface
with robots and technology that influences almost everything from health to
warfare. Thus, the way humans interface with technology creates a panoply of
new possibilities of action—many of which bring with them ethical problems.
We cannot be so overwhelmed with the efficiency of production provided by
machines that we ignore moral problems that may be important.
This conflict between prudential advantage and ethical norms is at the heart
of applied ethics. It is our hope that this collection of essays helps readers think
about some of these issues within domains in the world we live in. We seek to
promote discussion on how we might take the best from technology while avoid-
ing possible ethical pitfalls.
This area of discourse will, we believe, continue to grow as one of the pri-
mary areas of interest in applied ethics in the years to come.
This is just the beginning!
—Michael Boylan and Wanda Teays
ix