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Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Viterbi Conversations in Ethics
Viterbi Conversations in Ethics
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  • Volume 6 Issue 3
    • Letter from the Editor
    • The Grand Challenges: Authorial Particularism and a Lost Opportunity for an Equitable Society
    • Technological Determinism in the Grand Challenges
    • The Lies We Tell to Inspire: Responding to the Engineering Double Standard
    • How the Technical Sciences and the Social Sciences Should Go Hand-in-Hand
    • Redefining Societal Progress for Engineers
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    • This Week: The Importance of Inclusivity in Medicine in the Cast of Maternal Mortality
    • Last Week: Historic Bank Collapse May Have a Lasting Effect on the Tech Industry
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Author: Isabel Brieler

Spring 2022 Weekly News Profile

Wordle’s Rough Streak

Isabel Brieler February 22, 2022 AppsNew York TimesWordle

With popular puzzle game Wordle’s transition to the New York Times, users have become frustrated with the once beloved game.

View More Wordle’s Rough Streak
Spring 2022 Weekly News Profile

SpaceX and Amazon’s Starlink Spat

Isabel Brieler January 17, 2022 FCCInternetSatellitesSpaceX

In the most recent update to SpaceX and Amazon’s ongoing conflict over the proposed Starlink Satellite Internet plan, Amazon has requested further delays to SpaceX’s launch schedule in order to “allow for more thorough analysis.”

View More SpaceX and Amazon’s Starlink Spat
Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Into the Metaverse: Facebook’s Big Rebrand

Isabel Brieler November 8, 2021 AntitrustFacebookSocial MediaVirtual Reality

Facebook’s rebrand as Meta signals the beginning of a new era for the tech giant, but is it all just a distraction from the company’s recent negative press?

View More Into the Metaverse: Facebook’s Big Rebrand
Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Apple’s Control of the App Market

Isabel Brieler October 11, 2021 AppleMonopolyVideo Games

Apple has faced a lawsuit over their in-app payment policies, and recently filed an appeal to delay the judge’s decree that they allow app developers to direct users to third-party payment platforms — but do they have an ethical justification for this?

View More Apple’s Control of the App Market
Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Sacrificing the Innocent in the Battle Against Climate Change

Isabel Brieler August 30, 2021 Carbon EmissionsClean EnergyClimate ChangeSustainability

President Biden is pushing for the implementation of CO2 pipelines to help decrease emissions, but if they come at the cost of the disadvantaged communities they travel through, are they worth it?

View More Sacrificing the Innocent in the Battle Against Climate Change
Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

A Responsible Rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccines

Isabel Brieler April 26, 2021 COVID-19Johnson & JohnsonVaccinations

The CDC and FDA have recommended a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over concerns about rare blood-clotting side effects, but given its wide-reaching consequences, was this an ethical decision?

View More A Responsible Rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccines
Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

The Implications of the Suez Canal Crisis

Isabel Brieler March 29, 2021 GlobalizationShippingSuez CanalTransporation

A single ship has blocked a canal that handles 30% of the globe’s shipping traffic for days (and at the time of writing, is still stuck there). Does this have larger implications for the way the world currently approaches manufacturing and globalization?

View More The Implications of the Suez Canal Crisis
Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Implications of Interplanetary Translocation

Isabel Brieler March 1, 2021 MarsMicrobiologyNASAPerseveranceSpace

The recent successful landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars gives us cause to consider the extent to which we are ethically obligated to prevent the “contamination” of other planets with earthly life.

View More Implications of Interplanetary Translocation
Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

How Apps are Influencing Reddit’s War with Wall Street

Isabel Brieler February 1, 2021 GameStopHedge FundsRobinhoodStock Market

2/1/2021 While 2020 was undoubtedly a strange year for the stock market, with industries swinging unprecedentedly up and down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, January…

View More How Apps are Influencing Reddit’s War with Wall Street
Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

Tech Companies Accruing Monopolies that Harken Back to the Days of “Oil Barons and Railroad Tycoons”

Isabel Brieler October 26, 2020 AntitrustDOJGoogleMonopoly

10/26/2020 A sixteen-month investigation into tech giants including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google has finally been completed with the filing of a lawsuit against Google by the…

View More Tech Companies Accruing Monopolies that Harken Back to the Days of “Oil Barons and Railroad Tycoons”

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Podcast

Featured Spring 2023 VCE Podcast

Electric Vehicles: Climate Saver?

VCE January 31, 2023

Hosts Maya and Josh discuss the ethics of lithium battery mining and electric vehicle use with a panel of engineering essayists.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Predictive Policing

VCE October 31, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind predictive policing.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Clean Energy

VCE October 31, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind clean energy.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Cryptocurrency

VCE October 24, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind cryptocurrency.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Autonomous Vehicles

VCE October 24, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind autonomous vehicles.

Grand Challenges Special Issue

Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

Redefining Societal Progress for Engineers

Natasha Singh March 29, 2023

Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges focuses heavily on the pitfalls of technological determinism. This paper supports Cech’s argument through a discussion of current examples of the consequences of technological determinism, such as the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements, medication accessibility, and facial recognition technology. Though the consequences of a zealous engineering mentality are commonplace in our society, there are also current examples of tech companies neglecting to develop technology due to its possible negative consequences.

Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

How the Technical Sciences and the Social Sciences Should Go Hand-in-Hand

Charles Liu March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges presented by the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) fail to involve ethics as a part of the solution to these issues. Traditionally, engineers have kept their work separate from its societal implications. Engineers and their non-technical counterparts have an obligation to view all technical solutions under the moral lens of ethicists and futurists. Going forward, engineers must be aware of their limits and work with experts outside of their fields to develop solutions that will be cognizant of society as a whole.

Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Lies We Tell to Inspire: Responding to the Engineering Double Standard

Shub Gaur March 29, 2023

The National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges are critiqued by Dr. Erin Cech for what she describes as a double standard in engineering. Though Cech rightly discusses a lack of accountability and acknowledgement within the profession, her argument lacks nuance. The Grand Challenges were ultimately a promotional tool meant to inspire the next generation of engineers, yet Cech holds them to a standard of being professional rules and guidelines. This paper will discuss the distinctions that Cech’s argument lacks, including placing an unreasonable amount of responsibility on engineers and overstating their influence.

Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

Technological Determinism in the Grand Challenges

Thomas Peters March 29, 2023

Technological determinism is denounced by Dr. Erin Cech in her critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges report. This discussion focuses on the strengths of Cech’s argument surrounding the engineering double standard in social media, virtual reality, and reverse-engineering the brain. Though she makes many strong arguments, pieces of Cech’s argument fall short. Pointing fingers at the entirety of the engineering community and holding the Grand Challenges to a standard for which they were not intended weaken Cech’s overall discussion. However, her argument is ultimately a valid discussion of a profession that would benefit from wider perspectives in a world full of complex issues.

Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Grand Challenges: Authorial Particularism and a Lost Opportunity for an Equitable Society

Huzaifa Aslam March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges were developed by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in an effort to expose future generations to the wide range of innovation and technology that they could one day take part in. As detailed by the Challenges’ creators, the list includes challenges that are most significant to our current world. Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the Grand Challenges is that a lack of diversity in the panel of engineering experts led to a lack of oversight into issues that are actually pertinent to developing nations. Cech’s argument that the Grand Challenges are a missed opportunity for social justice holds validity, but her mischaracterization of the lack of diversity requires further consideration.

Weekly News Profile

Featured Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

The Importance of Inclusivity in Medicine in the Cast of Maternal Mortality

Jennah Saqib March 27, 2023

Despite advancements in medical technology over the past 30 years, an ethnic and racial disparity still exists in healthcare. In particular, maternal mortality rates show high regional dependencies, and in the United States, Black women are more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication than white women. Engineering students are working on solutions to combat this problem and provide more support for mothers.

Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

Historic Bank Collapse May Have a Lasting Effect on the Tech Industry

Jackie Finnemeyer March 20, 2023

In just two days, the 16th largest bank in the United States collapsed. Following the bank’s failure, many tech startup CEOs and financial analysts have more questions than answers. As Washington disagrees over what caused the collapse, several technology startups are left wondering what place, if any, their companies have in the technology landscape of the future.

Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

Advancements in Superconductors: New Hopes or False Promises?

Kaylee Tseng March 15, 2023

A new publication in Nature reported the development of a near-ambient superconductor, a material without electrical resistance. Traditionally, materials only display superconductivity at low temperatures (-123 °C) or high pressure (>990,000 atm). The introduction of a superconductive material that operates at ambient temperatures and lower pressure could introduce faster and more energy-efficient technologies. However, a lack of rare resources and scrutiny of initial data may prevent this technology from reaching its full potential.

Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

Using A.I. to Detect Breast Cancer

Sabrina Sy March 7, 2023

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have begun to deliver breakthroughs in breast cancer screening and detection, especially for signs that doctors miss in their examinations. Nevertheless, the use of cancer detection technology still faces many obstacles before it can be used ubiquitously in healthcare.

Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

Why Educational Game Design Matters

Jennah Saqib February 26, 2023

Kerbal Space Program 2 has just been released, and the scientific community is beyond thrilled. The original Kerbal Space Program is a beloved video game that encourages players to learn rocket science through a complex and realistic physics engine. It tackles a unique design challenge of being educational and fun and has suggested the value of enjoyment as the most necessary aspect of learning.

Topics

Aerospace Engineering Algorithms Apps Artificial Intelligence Autonomous Vehicles Biomedical Engineering Black Lives Matter Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Climate Change Computer Science COVID-19 CRISPR Data Privacy Education Energy Environment Environmental Engineering Environmental Ethics Facebook Fossil Fuels Genetic Engineering Health Hospitals Machine Learning Mars Mechanical Engineering Medicine Mental Health Military Misinformation NASA Pharmaceutical Privacy Racial Bias Social Media Space Surveillance Sustainability Tech Vaccinations Video Games Virtual Reality Volume 6 Issue 3 War
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