Bnote12 -- version: Mon Apr 26 12:17:08 EDT 2010
Ch 12 - Evaluating Technology: Ethical Aspects of Emerging Technologies pp.361-388
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CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES
i.e., new fields created by intersecting science/technology
e.g., Virtual Reality (VR) = video technology + computers
Bioinformatics = ? + computers
new fields ====> new ethical/social concerns
e.g., new kinds of privacy concerns
genetic privacy ???
location privacy ???
AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE or UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING
AmI - Ambient Intelligence - "a technology that enables people to live and work in
environments that respond to them in 'intelligent ways'"
examples...... intelligent office
intelligent store
intelligent home .... features????
e.g., inhabitant recognition
lighting control
heating control
window/door control
knowledge of preferences
knowledge of activity patterns
smart home appliances -- stove
-- refrigerator
smart cabinets
networked info sharing (local & internet)
-- e.g., food reordering
intelligent building
Ambient Intelligence ingredients - Pervasive computing
- Ubiquitous communication
- Intelligent user interfaces
AmI: PERVASIVE COMPUTING
"a computing environment where information and communication
technology are 'everywhere, at all times'"
Computing technology in everything
"omnipresent computers"
"invisibly and unobtrusively"
How far have we come with this?
What is computing in?
Clothes?
Furniture?
Spectacles?
and.....?
Enabled by - smaller circuits
- printing/embedding circuits into objects
- printing objects (rapid prototyping)
Areas of life affected...? i.e., opportunities for ethical issues
AmI: UBIQUITOUS COMMUNICATION
"flexible and omnipresent communication possibilities between
interlinked computer devices that can be stationed at various locations"
Ubiquitous Communication = mobile phones + wireless networks
- wireless local/personal networks
- wireless body area networks (for wearables)
- RFID (smart labels)
Areas of life affected...? i.e., opportunities for ethical issues
AmI: INTELLIGENT USER INTERFACES
Intelligent User Interfaces = User Interfaces + Artificial Intelligence
Many more devices do/will have interfaces - 'fridge
- phone
- car
- house
- coffeemaker
- ATM
desire for easy, natural interaction, and efficiency
i.e., a 'fridge isn't a general purpose computer
What can an IUI provide for you?
It includes a user model and task model:
- it knows you
- it knows your preferences
- it knows/recognizes your goals
- it knows your activity patterns
- it allows "natural" interaction
e.g., eyes, gesture, expressions, brainwaves,...
- it can learn
- it can adapt dynamically
- it can have expectations
- it can respond to your emotions
- it can know your situation, context, or environment -- explain???
Areas of life affected...? i.e., opportunities for ethical issues
SOME ETHICAL & SOCIAL ISSUES AFFECTING AmI
AmI: Freedom & Autonomy
+ve we'll have more potential control over the environment;
our needs will be met more without requiring intervention.
* environment is responsive
* we can get detailed personalized info about our environment
* we expend less effort (on tedious stuff)
-ve delegation of control to machines
* the responses can be wrong
* humans need to correct errors
* AmI can work for others ---- for example? whose?
Other negative uses of AmI ????
Ubiquitous services <====> Ubiquitous hindrances!
for example...?
AmI: Technological Dependency
CURRENT:
Imagine that your cell phone stops working
How much does that change your life?
Imagine that there is no electricity for a week in the middle of winter.
How much does that change your life?
FUTURE:
Imagine that Ambient Intelligence is common,
and that it stops working.
How much does that change your life?
Imagine that Ambient Intelligence is common.
What will you stop being able to do? (i.e., forget)
Will there still be light switches?
AmI: Privacy & Surveillance
"all our moves, actions, and decisions will be recorded by
tireless electronic devices, from the kitchen and living room of
our homes to our weekend trips in cars"
Your life will be ... digitized
... stored
... retrieved
i.e., a huge Privacy issue
New issues due to AmI
- ubiquitous
Privacy threats are more pervasive
- invisible
You dont realize that AmI is present
- sensing
Becoming more personal (fear, stress, excitement, interest)
- memory
Can creat a "life-log" - all public & private life
Huge amount of data collection -- opportunies for data mining
-- to learn what?
Possibility of comprehensive surveillance network
-- in the wrong hands?
-- in the right hands?
Impact on population when nothing is private?
How might we act?
Opportunities for social control?
BIOINFORMATICS & COMPUTATIONAL GENOMICS
Bioinformatics = Biology + computers
Management of biological information
e.g., your records
population records
the Visible Human
Impacts?
Computational Genomics = Genetics + computers
Computational tools have enabled this field.
Science has been advanced by worldwide sharing of data
by electronic cooperation: e.g., polymath
by internationally edited/reviewed journals
by new data processing algorithms
by new vizualization techniques
Ethical Aspects of Bioinformatics
personal genetic information -- who owns it?
-- why is that important?
does it help Privacy if data is aggegrated?
i.e., actual data not stored
other medical records
datamining --> new categories
"profiles"
allows person --to--> record+genes --to--> disease mapping
e.g., person owns red BMW ==> more likely to get colon cancer
consequences??
Banker: would you lend them money?
Valid Informed Consent
for personal genetic data
i. Individuals must have adequate disclosure of info dissemination process.
ii. be able to fully comprehend what they are being told about the
procedure or treatment.
Potential secondary uses (due to data mining perhaps) known?
Contextual Integrity!
Legislation
Ethical Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) guidelines
In context of certain technology?
Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA)
what kind of discrimination?
NANOTECHNOLOGY
"the study, design and manipulation of natural phenomena, artificial
phenomena, and technological phenomena at the nanometer level"
nanometer = one billionth of a meter
atom diameter = 0.1 to 0.5 nanometers
nano-level devices -- mechanical, electrical
nanomachines = nanites
nano-scale assembler - "a molecular machine that could be programmed
to build virtually any molecular structure or
device from simpler chemical building blocks"
i.e., Molecule by molecule manufacturing!!
real? * 2007 basic radio device
* Motors ...
'The bacterial flagellar motor is an example of finished
bio-nanotechnology, and understanding how it works and
assembles is one of the first steps towards making man-made
machines on the same tiny scale,' said Dr Richard Berry, a
Tutorial Fellow in Physics at Oxford University. 'The
smallest man-made rotary motors so far are thousands of times
bigger.'
This motor has the same power-to-weight ratio as an internal
combustion engine, spins at up to 100,000 rpm and achieves
near-perfect efficiency. Yet at only 50 nanometres across,
one hundred million would fit onto a period. [Physorg.com]
* computer memory device at HP
Predicted -- nanocomputers
computers + motors + mechanical & electrical parts gives......??
Nano-Robots!
Impact?
The Promise of Nanotechnology
Molecule by molecule manufacturing would:
1. be self-sufficient and dirt free
no chemical pollution
nanites can be used to remove environmental hazards
2. create unprecedented objects and materials
strong, lightweight materials
3. enable production of inexpensive high-quality products
especially technological devices (even smaller phones!)
4. be used to fabricate food rather than having to grow it
molecule by molecule food assembly
nanite garbage recycling
5. provide low-prices and superior equipment for health care
medical nanites -- could do what?
-- where? how?
defense against viruses!
6. enable us to enhance our human capabilies and properties
overcome disease, pain, etc.
remove aging?
-- any new ideas?
-- how many children?
-- do the old get younger, or stay old?
many conceptual muddles to come!
The Perils of Nanotechnology
Molecule by molecule manufacturing could result in:
1. severe economic disruption
abundance of low-cost products
rapidly changing employment patterns
2. premeditated misuse in warfare or terrorism
new weapons
fast manuf of old-style weapons
minuturized components
nanites as weapons???
3. surveillance with nano-level tracking devices
ubiquitous
internal
GPS devices in your bloodstream?
additional privacy concerns - location privacy
4. extensive environmental damage
passive:
Certain types of carbon nanotubes -- microscopic graphite
cylinders used in a small but growing number of Space Age
applications -- could pose a cancer risk similar to that of
asbestos if inhaled, scientists reported Tuesday.
[LA Times 2008]
active:
nanite assemblers in food chain
in the air
5. uncontrolled self-replication
nanite assemblers build nanite assemblers?
mutants?
use world's resources as fuel (grey-goo scenario)
even without replication they'll last a long time! removal??
6. misuse by criminals and terrorists
nanite weapons of mass destruction (black-goo scenario)
black market nanites
Precautionary Principle
Nanocomputing will produce "irreversible and entirely unforseeable side effects"
So CS professionals should NOT get involved. Right?
ACM & IEEE have no stance on this.
Precautionary Principle:
If some action has a possibility of causing harm, then that action
should not be undertaken, or some measure should be put in place to
minimize or eliminate the potential harms.
Harm:
Direct harm:
e.g., cancer causing
Harm by misuse
e.g., person privacy damaged
Harm by accident
e.g., runaway nanobots
Freedom of Research:
assume freedom
-- objectors should show that research is dangerous
research likely to cause harm
-- researchers should prove that it is safe
FUTURE CHALLENGES AFFECTING AI
"Spare parts" for bodies - e.g.?
Therapeutic vs. Enhancements
Natural vs. Technological?
Intelligent "Spare parts" for bodies (with AI)
Maintain and restore the body's natural functions?
Superhuman human?
Cyborg
do you believe that we will become cyborgs??
should it be limited??
what sort of cyborgs should be become??
Sphere of Moral Consideration
What can we "use" (or abuse) as we see fit?
- people
- animals
- plants
- environment
- robots?
"The robot's animacy was measured, amongst other measurements,
by the users' hesitation to switch it off. The results show
that participants hesitated three times as long to switch off
an agreeable and intelligent robot as compared to a non
agreeable and unintelligent robot."
<http://www.citeulike.org/user/bartneck/article/1178762>
What makes us think that we should apply moral consideration?
- thinking
- rational characteristics
- feelings
- learning
- looking like humans
- reproduction
"To kill a mockingbird robot"
Robots are being introduced in our society but their social status
is still unclear. A critical issue is if the robot's exhibition of
intelligent life-like behavior leads to the users' perception of
animacy. The ultimate test for the life-likeness of a robot is to
kill it. We therefore conducted an experiment in which the robot's
intelligence and the participants' gender were the independent
variables and the users' destructive behavior of the robot the
dependent variables. ... but we can conclude that the robot's
intelligence had a significant influence on the users' destructive
behavior.
<http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1228728>
Robots could demand legal right
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6200005.stm
(Dec 2006)
The paper which addresses Robo-rights, titled "Utopian dream or rise
of the machines?" examines the developments in artificial
intelligence and how this may impact on law and politics.
The paper says a "monumental shift" could occur if robots develop
to the point where they can reproduce, improve themselves or
develop artificial intelligence.
The research suggests that at some point in the next 20 to 50 years
robots could be granted rights.
If this happened, the report says, the robots would have certain
responsibilities such as voting, the obligation to pay taxes, and
perhaps serving compulsory military service.
Conversely, society would also have a duty of care to their new
digital citizens, the report says.
It also warns that the rise of robots could put a strain on resources
and the environment.
Moral Machines
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics (1942)
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow
a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Can we rely on people to get this right?
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