Genetic Engineering Archives - Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Spring 2019 Weekly News Profile

Problems with CRISPR: Unintended Brain Enhancement on China’s Gene-edited Twins

3/1/2019 Profiled article A. Regalado, “China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced”, Feb. 21, 2019. [Online] MIT Technology Review. Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612997/the-crispr-twins-had-their-brains-altered/ [Accessed 24…

Spring 2019 Weekly News Profile

Clean Meat or Lab Meat

Laura Cook February 8, 2019 Bioengineering Cultured Meat Genetic Engineering Lab Meat

2/8/2019 Profiled article W. Johnson, A. Maynard, and S. Kirshenbaum. “Burgers grown in a lab are heading to your plate. Will you bite?” The Washington…

Spring 2018 Volume 2 Issue 1

Fighting the Feverish Flyers

Douglas Yuk May 21, 2018 Dengue Fever Genetic Engineering Genetically Modified Organisms

It has been estimated that 50 million to 100 million people are infected by dengue fever each year, a number that is larger than the…

Spring 2018 Volume 2 Issue 1

Genetic Engineering in Farmed Animals: Solving or Prolonging Cruelty in Animal Agriculture?

Megan Wagoner May 21, 2018 Animal Agriculture Environmental Effects Genetic Engineering

Introduction In the United States, meat consumption has more than doubled in the last 50 years, from 15.8 million tons total in 1960 to 34.0…

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

The Inequality of Virtual Reality

Tyler Amano-Smerling February 22, 2021

Virtual reality seems like a great escape, especially after nearly a year of lockdown, but it’s rife with inequities; do technology companies have a responsibility to combat these inequities before VR becomes a larger part of our daily lives?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

Learning to Trust Black Box Artificial Intelligence

Michael DeLucia February 8, 2021

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?

Spring 2021 Weekly News Profile

How Apps are Influencing Reddit’s War with Wall Street

Isabel Brieler February 1, 2021

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…

Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

Galactic Law and Ownership

Michael DeLucia November 9, 2020

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,…