Your Uber Will be Arriving Shortly

As a college student, I am no stranger to Uber. Whether it be taking one to a class I'm late for because I overslept, or simply because I need to replenish my stockpile of snacks, more often than not I find myself opening the Uber app to "call" a ride.

Are you my Uber?

In “Why we need better ethics for emerging technologies,” James Moor reflects on the concept that living in a period of technology promises dramatic change, in which it is not satisfactory to do ethics as usual. He argued that major technological upheavals require better ethical thinking in terms of being better informed and take meaningful ethical action in terms of being more proactive.

When we call for a ride on the Uber app, or any app that requires personal information like credit card numbers, phone numbers, or in this case drivers license data we rarely think about the implications of where the data is going and how it’s being used by either the app or the company behind it. However, in 2016 more people started to be aware of their data after a hacker was able to access the information of 50 million of Uber’s users as well as 7 million of its drivers. Of the drivers, 600,000 had their driver’s license numbers compromised. 

When Uber first launched in 2011, it was a fairly simple idea that people never even knew they needed. Moor claimed that technological advancements better society, but their novelty makes it difficult to predict ethical issues as situations may arise for which we do not have adequate policies for. The Massive data breach in 2016 was the epitome of what Moor reflects on. As more people, start using any particular technology and the tech increases its social impact it is obvious that the number of ethical concerns increases as well. Moor analyzed this phenomenon as well, terming it Moor's law.

The Uber breach highlights the failure of large corporations to adequately safeguard the private information of their customers. Not only are these breaches of security, but they are breaches of trust for consumers, as companies fail to disclose leaks until months or years later. There is still much education to be done, and discussion to be had, around proper protocols related to data breaches. 

Next time, think twice before you confirm your ride. I know I will.

Designing Technology to Make Life More Difficult?

Photo by Peak Wellbeing

      Shannon Vallor argues in the article Social networking technology and the virtues, that virtue ethics should be used to judge the ethicality of information technologies. She references Aristotle's idea that friendships are central to a good life, and such friendships should be evaluated on a set of virtues. Vallor expands upon Aristotle's original three, forming what she calls the communicative virtues: patience, honesty, empathy, fidelity, reciprocity, and tolerance. 

      Social networking technologies were designed, as their names suggest, to assist users in maintaining and growing their social networks. The key word here is assist. Luciano Floridi dispels the common notion that digital technologies are augmentative, which I discuss in my previous article The Great Digital Migration, and claims that they are instead changing the very nature of our being. Social networks may appear to be here to assist us, but the very act in doing so may instead be encouraging or discouraging development of our virtues.  


      As Vallor describes, 

"Most technologies are designed with the aim of making human activity easier, less risky, and more immediately satisfying... virtues are typically developed as a consequence of performing actions that are, at least initially, difficult. As Aristotle noted, virtues result from actions that pull against certain natural tendencies that would otherwise lead us away from excellence."

Face-to-face interaction is awkward at times. Keeping up with friends and family can be bothersome. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn exist to solve these problems associated with socializing, but the allure of their convenience and ease could replace those uncomfortable interactions that may be necessary to build virtues like patience, honesty, or empathy. 


      As a concluding remark, Vallor acknowledges the other side of the picture, describing how social networking technologies could aid in alleviating social pressures leading to deceive and maintain face, or tendencies to cling to physical groups. Moving forward, how should we take into account the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies? Should social platforms like Facebook leverage the benefits that difficult face-to-face interactions provide? Should the simple act of sending messages or friend requests be more complex and nuanced? 


Applying virtue ethics to designing technological tools, we must consider not only how the tool could assist us, but also how it could build upon our virtues, even if it means to sacrifice the efficiency and expedience that we're so used to.


References:



Vallor, S. Ethics Inf Technol (2010) 12:157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-009-9202-1

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

Bioethics and Environmental Ethics claim that bio-entities and ecosystems, or any form of life, are intrinsically worthy of life. Bring in Information Ethics, and this even includes that anything being or information is intrinsically worthy. This brought me to think about one of my favorite films, Ex Machina, and the display, or lack thereof, of ethical actions throughout the film.

Ava from Ex-Machina

[SPOILER ALERT] The film is about a sentient AI named Ava who was created by Nathan. It is revealed that Nathan treats her extremely unethically, and she eventually outsmarts Nathan and Caleb, a coder who is testing her intelligence and falls in love with her. Ava eventually uses Caleb's love for her to escape the lab and enter the real world where she believes she belongs.

Jimmy and Sophia play Rock, Paper, Scissors.

This idea of a fully sentient AI robot may seem far-fetched, but it could be around the corner. Hanson Robotics is working on Sophia, a humanoid robot built to mimic human behavior, and is an actual citizen of Saudi Arabia. Although this is a new field, the ethics surrounding any instance of being has been discussed since Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophers. Floridi explains how these philosophers set forth that simply being or any instance of information deserves to flourish in a way that is appropriate.

In the case of Ex Machina, I believe Ava was most definitely a sentient moral agent. She was an individual and human-based, or at least “reducible to an identifiable aggregation of human beings”. Less so with Sophia who even still is a moral agent, and even less so with my old Tamagotchi which was arguably being. But I don’t think it was unethical of me when my Tamagotchi died due to my disregard for mealtime. Or that I leave Alexa on my bookshelf all day, every day.

Although maybe far in the future, the creation of moral agents like Sophia brings up important ethical discussions and responsibilities that must be had. Ex Machina has warned us about the consequences if they are ignored.

The Ethics of Job Recruiting

I’ve been told to slow it down. Write a phenomenal cover letter. Try harder. Maybe if you narrowed your scope, you’d have a better chance of something. Aimless applications aren’t going to get you anywhere.

But on the other hand, I’ve been told that you never know until you try. A rejection isn’t an affirmation of your uselessness as a human being, it’s bringing you one step closer to an acceptance. Maybe your dream job is in Arkansas. And if anything, perseverance is something to be admired.

In-person interviews are still important, but not quite
as common as they used to be. Source

In Social networking technology and the virtues, Shannon Vallor argues that if virtue ethics is to be believed, habitual actions are important parts of moral development. So does desperately applying to every single job position of interest promote vices or virtues?

It’s clear that our parent’s “infallible” advice about getting a job no longer holds true. You can’t just “go to the headquarters, give them your resume and be personable!” when the job market spans the entire country. Most of the application process has been digitized, thanks to virtual employment marketplaces like ZipRecruiter and softwares like Zoom and Google Hangouts, resulting in unparalleled efficiency and speed. Luciano Floridi’s arguments in The Fourth Revolution take on a new dimension when applied to this current job search process — whatever “defines us uniquely” is no longer the mix of skills and hobbies it might have been in the past. If, according to your resume, you’re a senior at an elite university that knows Python, is passionate about AI, and wants to become a SWE at Google, you’re just one of thousands with the exact same list. You have to leverage your connections, know someone who knows someone, or just get lucky.

Interview chagrin hits hard. Source

I’ll argue that as long as you’re aware, digitized job applications promote positive moral development. Getting rejected repeatedly teaches us that we can’t have everything we want, that the world is bigger than we know, and that it’s important to keep trying. As Floridi hints, we’re actually pushed to understand ourselves better — do I actually want to work at Google, or do I just want the prestige? If we’re not at the center of the infosphere, how do we want to fit into it? And what will personal meaning and fulfillment look like in our lives, when we’re miles away from the pressure-pot competitiveness that permeates much of campus?