Teagan Ampe, Author at Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Climate Change Reparations: Who Should Carry the Cost?

The damaging effects of climate change are not distributed equally among the world’s nations — those who pollute the least bear more of the burden, so are these countries owed reparations for their losses? If so, who should pay?

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

The Third Dose Debate

Teagan Ampe October 4, 2021 Boosters COVID-19 Vaccinations

Some people in the U.S. are now eligible for a booster COVID vaccine, but is it ethical to get a third dose while vast swaths of the globe have yet to receive their first?

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Your Right to Repair

Teagan Ampe September 6, 2021 Computer Science Mechanical Engineering Planned Obsolescence

The Right to Repair movement wants to give you the power to repair your own devices without having to rely on their manufacturers — but do those companies’ concerns mean that the movement isn’t ethically sound?

Fall 2020 Volume 4 Issue 2

Autonomous Accidents: The Ethics of Self-Driving Car Crashes

Teagan Ampe December 12, 2020 Autonomous Vehicles Rawlsian Ethics Rights Approach Utilitarianism

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 Weekly News Profile

Fines for Fire-Induced Blackouts?

Teagan Ampe November 2, 2020 Blackouts California Fires Liability

11/2/2020 The California wildfires of October 2019 affected vast swaths of residents, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes and many to lose their…

Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Unnerving Implications of Brain-Computer Interfaces

Teagan Ampe September 28, 2020 Autonomy Brain-Computer Interfaces Computer Science Privacy

9/28/2020 Elon Musk has always been one for lofty technological goals, but he’s not always concerned with their societal or ethical implications. During a recent…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Explaining Artificially Intelligent Decisions

Teagan Ampe July 27, 2020 Artificial Intelligence Bias Machine Learning Right to an Explanation

7/27/2020 AI decision-making is everywhere these days. Getting a loan, getting an apartment, getting bail: in all three of these cases, there could be analgorithm taking…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Difficulties of Distanced Learning

Teagan Ampe July 2, 2020 COVID-19 Education Remote Learning

7/2/2020 Remote learning just isn’t the same. Ask any college student, or really any student who’s old enough to articulate their thoughts and has in…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Delivery While We’re in Dire Straits

Teagan Ampe June 1, 2020 COVID-19 Delivery Food

6/1/2020 Despite everything, life goes on: we sleep, we wake up, we check our phones while trying not to think too hard about how large…

Current Issue

Fall 2021 Featured Volume 5 Issue 2

Curing the Human Condition: The Ethics of Editing Our Own DNA

Connor Powers October 26, 2021

Thirty-two million Americans currently have health conditions linked to genetic defects, nearly all of which can be corrected by genetic editing with CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Opponents of gene editing abound, from those who point to their potential role in increasing the privilege gap between the rich and poor, to people who object morally to the idea of humans meddling with their own DNA, to pharmaceutical companies whose profits would be threatened by a reduced need for medication. However, after analysis of the ethicality of genetic editing technology with the frameworks of common good, utilitarianism, and fairness, it is evident that the eventual species-scale benefits that will be brought about by the technology outweigh its risks and flaws.

Fall 2021 Featured Volume 5 Issue 2

Animal Testing as a Means of Survival

Isabelle Lau October 26, 2021

The morality of animal testing has been widely debated since its origins in Ancient Greece. Testing on animals allows the evaluation of new drugs and procedures without harming humans but raises the question of whether animals should be forcefully used for human gain. This paper recommends that animal testing only be used for approved medical research necessary for human survival and when all other animal-free methods are inadequate. If researchers need to use animal testing, they must scrupulously follow guidelines to minimize animal pain and suffering.

Fall 2021 Featured Volume 5 Issue 2

The Ethical Challenges of Neural Technology

Sabrina Sy October 26, 2021

Neural engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that utilizes engineering techniques to discover the function and manipulate the behavior of the human brain. Current research in neural engineering focuses on the development of treatments for neurological disorders that deplete the health of the nervous system and explores how the nervous system operates in both health and disease. Neural engineering has huge potential to relieve suffering in those who have lost functionality in their nervous systems, but the further development of this technology raises a number of ethical questions about identity, privacy, responsibility, and justice. These questions must be thoroughly addressed in order to guarantee the most responsible future development and use of neural engineering technologies.

Fall 2021 Featured Volume 5 Issue 2

Biohacking: The Ethical Implications of Democratizing Biotechnology

Lindsey Marks October 26, 2021

Biohacking is a Do-It-Yourself movement that encourages experimenting with biotechnology tools to find ways to improve one’s health and enhance one’s natural capabilities, and many in the movement advocate for the democratization of scientific tools so that everyone can participate in such scientific discovery. However, some biohackers take their experimentation to the extreme, and not all of them seem to understand the responsibility and risks associated with the scientific methods they employ. As a result, tension between the biohacking community and the professional science community has grown as biohacking continues to increase in popularity. Though the biohacking movement makes salient points about the way ethical precautions and regulation slow innovation, this paper explores the need for codes of ethics governing the pursuit of scientific discovery and how biohackers and traditional, trained scientists can reach common ground.

Fall 2021 Featured Volume 5 Issue 2

Why We Should Embrace Artificial Wombs

Timothy Wang October 26, 2021

A human fetus developing outside of a uterus may seem like science fiction at first, but artificial wombs are quickly becoming a reality. They’ve already been tested successfully on lambs, and some researchers predict they’ll be ready for human use in less than a decade. Despite criticism from opponents who see artificial wombs as “unnatural” or believe they will be harnessed to create genetically modified “designer babies,” this paper argues that the technology, once proven safe, is wholly ethical – and in certain cases, it may even be unethical not to use it.

Weekly News Profile

Fall 2021 Featured Weekly News Profile

Europe’s Emerging Energy Crisis

Isabel Yarwood Perez November 22, 2021

Europe’s energy crisis this winter has forced countries into an increased reliance on fossil fuels; is there a way to make sure everyone has their energy needs met without worsening carbon emissions?

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Climate Change Reparations: Who Should Carry the Cost?

Teagan Ampe November 15, 2021

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Revising Building Safety Standards

Michael DeLucia November 1, 2021

A coalition of building professionals has recommended widespread structural recertification and building safety inspections to the Florida state legislature as a result of the Surfside condominium collapse.

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Surgeons Perform First Successful Pig-to-Human Transplant Using a Genetically-Engineered Animal

Sabrina Sy October 25, 2021

In a revolutionary feat of science, medicine, and engineering, surgeons at NYU have successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a human. However, as biotech companies rush to develop suitable animal organs for transplants, we must address the ethical concerns behind xenotransplantation.