Accountability (39)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Downsizing, the procedure which shrinks people down to only a few inches, is invented to combat environmental harm by producing less waste.
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Thought Experiment in Technological Environmentalism
Downsizing, the procedure which shrinks people down to only a few inches, is invented to combat environmental harm by producing less waste.
Should the technology to edit humans be created and used if it means saving the planet? How would consent factor into this? Are there any other workable technologies for aiding the environment through means such as ameliorating climate change? Should technological innovation be directed toward first identifying problems and then encompassing the most radical solution possible?
Downsizing: Opening Sequence-
- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2015
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Communication between Earth and space happens primarily through data streaming methods, such as video chats or satellite broadcasts. With the launch of a spacecraft known as IRIS, Mark anticipates a delivery of food rations. However, he is unaware that the safety inspections have been bypassed, which results in the entire operation failing and the chances of his survival dramatically decreasing.
- Kinolab
- 2015
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2015
Mars Rescue Part I: Making Contact
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Communication between Earth and space happens primarily through data streaming methods, such as video chats or satellite broadcasts. With the launch of a spacecraft known as IRIS, Mark anticipates a delivery of food rations. However, he is unaware that the safety inspections have been bypassed, which results in the entire operation failing and the chances of his survival dramatically decreasing.
Does space travel and exploration seem like a good use of scientific or technological capital? Is it too dangerous of a frontier to dispense so many technological resources on? How is the development of data streaming methods over long distances depicted positively here? How does technological innovation have the potential to spur global alliances?
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2019
Because of the jobs offered by the booming tech industry, San Francisco has developed a caste-like hierarchy, in which the small group at the top of tech companies are the richest, while other citizens are left to get poorer as the middle class shrinks.
- Wired
- 2019
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2019
How Silicon Valley fuels an informal caste system
Because of the jobs offered by the booming tech industry, San Francisco has developed a caste-like hierarchy, in which the small group at the top of tech companies are the richest, while other citizens are left to get poorer as the middle class shrinks.
How does the little social mobility within technology “castes” impact the digital tech workforce? To what degree is human agency on both ends limited by the emergence of artifacts such as Taskrabbit or Instacart?
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- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
- Kinolab
- 2018
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- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Spreading Digital Resources and Global Inequality
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
What is the relationship between colonialism and imperialism and current digital divides? What are the vast, far-reaching consequences of a lack of digital connection for disadvantaged communities, especially communities of color? What responsibility to digitally privileged countries have to help those communities or countries that have less access to digital resources? How can the image of the internet as a democratizing force reach reality for all communities across the globe? How often do people consider that there are considerable physical infrastructure and resource needs for digital connection? How should we approach the distribution of technology to oppressed people around the world?
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- 5 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2019
Discusses the issues that come with allowing private companies to fight back against cyber attacks by chasing hackers across the internet, including greater conflict with other countries and potential lawsuits.
- MIT Technology Review
- 2019
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- 5 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2019
Five reasons “hacking back” is a recipe for cybersecurity chaos
Discusses the issues that come with allowing private companies to fight back against cyber attacks by chasing hackers across the internet, including greater conflict with other countries and potential lawsuits.
Do we need international norms to help defuse tensions in the cyberspace? What are the “alternatives” to hacking back? Would data be safer if it was not digital?
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- 5 min
- The Atlantic
- 2019
A book proposes we let robots do all of Earth’s physical labor, creating a world where virtually all human needs are met, in this new ideology called Fully Automated Luxury Communism, or FALC. This is modeled after certain fictions such as Star Trek.
- The Atlantic
- 2019
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- 5 min
- The Atlantic
- 2019
Give Us Fully Automated Luxury Communism
A book proposes we let robots do all of Earth’s physical labor, creating a world where virtually all human needs are met, in this new ideology called Fully Automated Luxury Communism, or FALC. This is modeled after certain fictions such as Star Trek.
Do you think the FALC ideology is tangibly possible? Which potential problems do you see in its implementation? If robots become advanced enough to become what are essentially human actors, can they be expected to complete all of the world’s labor without compensation?