Michael DeLucia, Author at Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Southern California Import Woes

Though all eyes have been on the Suez Canal situation lately, Los Angeles is in the midst of its own slightly-less-flashy shipping crisis—so, what should we do?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Fuzzy Ownership of NFTs

Michael DeLucia March 8, 2021 Blockchain Cryptocurrency Ethereum NFT

The rapid expansion of the market for NFTs, a popular new kind of cryptocurrency, raises questions about the intricacies of digital ownership.

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Learning to Trust Black Box Artificial Intelligence

Michael DeLucia February 8, 2021 Artificial Intelligence Black Box Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce’s “AI 2.0” has a massive series of checks to ensure its integrity; should this be the standard for other “explainable” AIs?

Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

Galactic Law and Ownership

Michael DeLucia November 9, 2020 Law Mars Property Space SpaceX

11/9/2020 Space exploration is as fascinating as it is frightening. With plans to explore Mars and beyond proposed for upcoming decades, sooner rather than later,…

Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

Balancing Integrity with Privacy in Virtual Learning

Michael DeLucia October 5, 2020 COVID-19 Education Privacy

10/5/2020 With the coronavirus pandemic continuing much longer than anticipated, schools adjusting to fully virtual classes or a hybrid model are scrambling to find ways…

Fall 2020 Featured Volume 4 Issue 2

The Ethics of Self-Driving Cars

Isabel Yarwood Perez December 12, 2020

Self-driving cars process huge amounts of sensory information in a very short amount of time. The processing speed of this information allows self-driving cars to make an informed decision on how to act in the case of an accident. In scenarios where casualties are unavoidable, this produces an ethical dilemma in determining who should survive, raising questions about how the value of a life should be calculated. Ultimately, because all lives are equal and no individual should have power over deciding the fate of the lives of others, self-driving cars are unethical.

Fall 2020 Featured Volume 4 Issue 2

Profitable Risk: The Dangers of Consumer Spaceflight and Space Tourism

Brandon Dillon December 12, 2020

Society is rapidly approaching an era in which ordinary civilians can purchase tickets to become passengers on space vehicles. Companies worldwide are deep in the development of infrastructure and technology to provide spaceflight for amusement and transportation. These endeavors deviate fundamentally from traditional spaceflight and raise questions about the ethical implications of commercial spaceflight with civilian passengers.

Fall 2020 Featured Volume 4 Issue 2

Autonomous Accidents: The Ethics of Self-Driving Car Crashes

Teagan Ampe December 12, 2020

Self-driving cars are no longer confined to the realm of sci-fi; a variety of autonomous vehicles are under development by companies around the world. Before they hit consumer markets, though, manufacturers, lawmakers, and society as a whole must decide how cars should behave ethically in the worst-case scenario: a possibly fatal crash.

Fall 2020 Featured Volume 4 Issue 2

Sounds So Good It Hurts

Ryan Dale December 12, 2020

The audio industry is not typically one that most would consider dangerous. However, the act of music compression and the expansion of large music festivals has created a perfect environment for damaged hearing. The engineers in this industry are instrumental in this process, and they have an obligation to prevent these hearing related injuries. This is due to their responsibility to look out for the common good, the utility of society, their own virtue, and the implications of their ethical code.

Featured Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Facebook Finally Takes Responsibility, But Is It Enough?

Tyler Amano-Smerling April 12, 2021

Facebook’s oversight board wants to begin examining the company’s ad algorithm, but with the board’s lack of technical knowledge and absence of significant regulatory power, are they ethically qualified to do so?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Southern California Import Woes

Michael DeLucia April 5, 2021

Though all eyes have been on the Suez Canal situation lately, Los Angeles is in the midst of its own slightly-less-flashy shipping crisis—so, what should we do?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

The Implications of the Suez Canal Crisis

Isabel Brieler March 29, 2021

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?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

An Examination of Uber’s Responsibility to Their Drivers

Sabrina Sy March 22, 2021

A recent ruling from a court in Britain has caused Uber to reclassify its drivers, allowing them increased benefits such as a minimum wage – is this something that can or should occur in other countries?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

When Science Fails Minorities: Complications with the COVID-19 Vaccine

Tyler Amano-Smerling March 15, 2021

Some minorities have understandable fears about the COVID-19 vaccine—how can those fears be assuaged, and whose responsibility is it to do so?