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- Convenors:
-
Gülizar Karahan Balya
(Middle East Technical University)
Aristotle Tympas (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Manolis Simos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Halil Turan (Middle East Technical University, Ankara)
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- Chairs:
-
Aristotle Tympas
(National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Halil Turan (Middle East Technical University, Ankara)
- Discussants:
-
Arsev Umur Aydinoglu
(Middle East Technical University)
Gülizar Karahan Balya (Middle East Technical University)
- Format:
- Traditional Open Panel
- Location:
- HG-08A20
- Sessions:
- Friday 19 July, -
Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam
Short Abstract:
The traditional moral theory approach does not suffice to address the existential threats of technological civilization. Ethics education regarding S&T has to be radically transformed. This panel attempts to discuss transformative methods and practices for ethics education in STS curricula.
Long Abstract:
The environmental degradation, advances in biomedicalization, and rampant digitalization pose existential threats that are constitutively coextensive with technological civilization. The notion of ‘existential’ encapsulates three aspects of this contemporary danger. First, the gravitas; as existential, these threats do not have to do with parts of our well-being, but with our being simpliciter. Second, the scope; they do not concern a particular group of people, but rather humanity as a whole. Hence, third, the urgency; the need for a reaction in a transformative way has already become more than imminent.
The traditional moral theory approach does not seem to suffice for addressing these challenges. Although this approach does not seem to support scientism, technosolutionism, and technological determinism explicitly, it seems to adhere to the metaphysical underpinnings of these theses. Moreover, it is an abstract, top-down, principle-based approach and comes either too early—regarding questions like ‘the scientist’s responsibility’—or too late—regarding questions of use. In contrast, STS approaches suggest a morally informed, bottom-up, social diagnosis of science and technology in the making, attempting to open the black-box of specific technologies, and investigate the power relations at play among different actants.
In light of the above, ethics education regarding S&T has to be radically transformed. This panel attempts to critically address the existing practices of ethics education in STS curricula and present transformative methods and practices for encouraging students to internalize ethical thinking. The panel topics that could possibly be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following:
-How STS approach can inform the teaching of ethics by philosophers
-How the two approaches can be combined to foster a more effective ethics education (effectiveness here understood in terms of creating morally responsible individuals)
-How new, nonanthropocentric approaches can be incorporated
-How could STS education itself be transformed in light of such a combination.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 19 July, 2024, -Paper short abstract:
This article advocates the implementation of open education strategies as a way to build critical consciousness and resistance to corporate domination and exploitation in Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) production.
Paper long abstract:
The emergence of the Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) movement signaled ethical concerns advocating the principles of freedom and unrestricted intellectual property within software development. However, the development of FOSS has also ushered in ethical challenges, including the unbridled exploitation of social commons by corporate entities and the pervasive reliance on uncompensated labor.
The prevalence of large software companies exercising hegemonic control over open-source production and often benefiting from the contributions of unpaid labor underscores the erosion of the movement's founding principles. Moreover, widespread lack of awareness and alienation among the public and software developers perpetuates this new status quo and hinders efforts to challenge established power dynamics.
In response to these challenges, improving ethical awareness among engineers and society at large is an urgent necessity. This article advocates the implementation of open education strategies as a way to build critical consciousness and resistance to corporate domination and exploitation in software production. These strategies involve leveraging open educational resources (OER), such as textbooks, lectures, and other materials that are freely available and openly licensed, allowing for their use, adaptation, and distribution without restrictions. By encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue and community participation, open education initiatives can empower individuals to recognize and confront the constraints imposed by the current technological environment. By making concerted efforts to instill ethical reflexivity and encourage alternative modes of technological development, we can aim for a future where principles such as freedom, equality, and protection of the social commons underpin the ethos of software innovation.
Paper short abstract:
An ethics of technology course ought to facilitate heightened engagement with technology from the perspective of applied ethics. The methodology we advocate for implementation within the ethics of technology course endeavors to foster ethical AI through a semester-long project.
Paper long abstract:
The theoretical acknowledgment of the ethical impact of technology within human existence has become the likely outcome of many ethics of technology courses. However, the transformative objectives of these courses often remain unrealized. What is currently imperative is to enable students to internalize ethical awareness, particularly in their daily and professional interactions with technology. To this end, an ethics of technology course ought to offer not only philosophical and STS perspectives on technology and merely point out the ethical challenges posed by emerging technologies. But it also ought to facilitate heightened engagement with technology from the perspective of applied ethics.
The methodology we advocate for implementation within the ethics of technology course endeavors to foster ethical AI through a semester-long project. Within this framework, students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds will be encouraged to select an AI tool pertinent to their academic or professional domain, engage in critical reflection and research regarding its scope and limitations, ascertain the needs this tool is capable of addressing, identify its functionalities and assess the tool’s efficacy, particularly taking into account the potential ethical implications it can generate. Ultimately, students will be asked to formulate and present recommendations for the refinement of the AI tool that is both ethically conscientious and operationally proficient. They will also be supervised to relate their findings with STS and ethical theories in such a way that the transformative potentiality of applied ethics can be realized to ultimately inform and consolidate these theories.