Featured Archives - Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Featured Summer 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2

How Free is Freemium? An Analysis of the Ethics of the Freemium Model in Video Games

The freemium game model has seen many variations throughout the evolution of the gaming industry. This paper explores the many forms that freemium models have taken, analyzing the practices employed by developers to monetize their games. The ethical implications of these practices will be examined, focusing on the impact of these practices on player experience, fairness, and the overall health of the gaming community.

Cryptocurrency lying on white-yellow background

Featured Summer 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2

Balancing the Ledger: A Critical Examination of Cryptocurrency Ethics

Simon Lewis June 24, 2024 Bitcoin Blockchain Cryptocurrency Digital Divide Engineering Ethics Justice Utilitarianism

Despite a significant drop in interest surrounding cryptocurrency technology recently, techno futurists continue to center their claims and justifications around a promised future of decentralized control, security, and transparency. This paper examines the ethical implications of the technology in the context of such promises. It challenges the optimistic narrative by discussing the often-ignored consequences that cryptocurrencies impose on various parts of society, particularly those who are already marginalized. The exploration delves into issues such as the digital divide, the inherent volatility and unpredictability of cryptocurrencies, and their ecological footprint, disputing claims that the benefits outweigh the harms.

Girl blended into a background full of code

Featured Summer 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2

Ethics of Data Sharing and Digital Privacy

Mary Karapetyan June 24, 2024 Data Breach Data Ethics Data Privacy Security

In today’s connected world, data has become an integral part of driving innovation, shaping the way people interact with the digital world. However, concerns surrounding data privacy have also emerged as a crucial challenge faced in the digital age. Data engineers, corporations, and governmental organizations need to take responsibility for safeguarding data and protecting user privacy, especially as the exchange of personal information becomes more prevalent. It is important to understand the components of data ethics and the current legal and ethical frameworks for data sharing, as well as case studies, such as the 2023 MGM Casino Cyberattack, to find potential resolutions for this issue.

Featured Summer 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2

Lost in Space: The Ethics of the Private Space Race

Anisha Palaparthi June 24, 2024 new space race Private space industry space ethics space-for-space

Space exploration has long been an important mission for humanity, one that has seen immense progress in recent years due, in part, to the growth of the private space industry. Private corporations have made significant progress in space travel and technology and have laid the groundwork for a “space-for-space” economy: a new economic paradigm detached from existing markets that serves life in space rather than focusing efforts on improving life on Earth. The role of private enterprises calls into question the ethical considerations of granting corporations access to the vast resources of space and implores us as engineers to define ethical standards to balance technological innovation with societal progress.

Featured Summer 2024 Volume 7 Issue 2

Eyes in the Sky: Ethical Considerations of Commercial Satellite Surveillance

Rachel Pak June 24, 2024 Data Privacy Engineering Ethics Satellite Regulation Satellite Surveillance

Satellite data is an indispensable resource that now constitutes a large portion of the commercial world in the United States. However, as satellite technology improves, the collection and distribution of high-quality data poses a threat to national security and personal privacy. Further, the nature of international space legislation leaves the U.S. vulnerable to collect and distribute threatening data. This calls the ethics of satellite surveillance into question. Engineers, the last barrier between companies and increasingly detailed data, must step up and consider the ethics of further developing satellite capabilities.

Featured Summer 2024 Weekly News Profile

Smartphone Addiction on the Rise: Are Flip Phones Making a Comeback?

Mary Karapetyan June 24, 2024 Digital-Wellness Human-Computer Interaction Smartphones

Smartphone addiction has become a significant concern, leading to a growing need for a “digital detox.” Social media, streaming services, and mobile games are primary contributors to increased screen time among smartphone users. Carefully curated algorithms drive users to spend countless hours on these applications, triggering dopamine releases and potentially leading to addiction. To address this concern, more people are opting to switch to a classic flip phone as a way to reduce their screen time and break the cycle of smartphone addiction.

Featured Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

Fighting for our Latino Migrant Workers after Baltimore’s Bridge Collapse

Janessi Diaz April 10, 2024 Baltimore Strong Bridge Collapse Civil Engineering

Tragedy struck on the night of March 26 when the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came tumbling down. The collapse occurred after a large container ship, the Dali, collided with the bridge. However, the collapse was far from the most heartbreaking news of the event; Six men who had been working on the bridge when it fell lost their lives. The six men, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Miguel Luna, Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, Carlos Hernandez, Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, and Jose Mynor Lopez, were all migrant workers from Central America. As we remember and honor their lives, their deaths highlight the lack of care in the construction industry when it comes to protecting Latino migrant workers.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 Summer 2024 Weekly News Profile

Smartphone Addiction on the Rise: Are Flip Phones Making a Comeback?

Mary Karapetyan June 24, 2024

Summer 2024 Weekly News Profile

Spraying the Bay: A Controversy

Janessi Diaz May 27, 2024

Geoengineers at the University of Washington may have discovered a way to lower regional temperatures through the use of artificial marine cloud brightening (MCB). The team settled down in Alemade, California to start test runs of their project in early April. However, a lack of transparency on their part may get their research shut down.

Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

Houston, We Have a Problem

Janessi Diaz May 1, 2024

Starliner’s long-awaited Crew Flight Test will finally happen on May 6. Starliner is the Boeing-produced capsule that will hold the astronauts on their journey to the International Space Station. Although the launch date is set in stone, the constant malfunctions that have plagued Starliner and Boeing’s declining credibility indicate that a further delay would be the safest thing to do to ensure the crew’s safety.