Themes (326)

View options:

Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.

FILTERreset filters
Themes
  • Privacy
  • Accountability
  • Transparency and Explainability
  • Human Control of Technology
  • Professional Responsibility
  • Promotion of Human Values
  • Fairness and Non-discrimination
Show more themes
Technologies
  • AI
  • Big Data
  • Bioinformatics
  • Blockchain
  • Immersive Technology
Show more technologies
Additional Filters:
  • Media Type
  • Availability
  • Year
    • 1916 - 1966
    • 1968 - 2018
    • 2019 - 2069
  • Duration
  • 41 min
  • The New York Times
  • 2021
image description
Sexism and Racism in Silicon Valley

In this podcast episode, Ellen Pao, an early whistleblower on gender bias and racial discrimination in the tech industy, tells the story of her experience suing the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination. The episode then moves into a discussion of how Silicon Valley, and the tech industry more broadly, is dominated by white men who do not try to deeply understand or move toward racial or gender equity; instead, they focus on PR moves. Specifically, she reveals that social media companies and CEOs can be particularly performative when it comes to addressing racial or gender inequality, focusing on case studies rather than breeding a new, more fair culture.

  • The New York Times
  • 2021
  • 12 min
  • Kinolab
  • 1973
image description
Simulated Humans and Virtual Realities

Simulacron is a virtual reality full of 10,000 simulated humans who believe themselves to be sentient, but are actually nothing more than programs. The identity units in Simulacron do not know or understand that they are artificial beings, and they behave under the idea that they are real humans. “Real” humans can enter this virtual reality through a brain-computer interface, and control the virtual identity units. Christopher Nobody, a suspect whom Fred is trying to track down, had the revelation that he was an identity unit, and that realization led to a mental breakdown. In following this case, Fred meets Einstein, a virtual unit who desires to join the real world. As Einstein enacts the final stages of this plan, Fred discovers a shocking secret about his own identity. For a similar concept, see the narrative “Online Dating Algorithms” on the Hang the DJ episode of Black Mirror. 

  • Kinolab
  • 1973
  • 9 min
  • Kinolab
  • 1995
image description
Self-Sustaining Programs

In this world, a human consciousness (“ghost”) can inhabit an artificial body (“shell”), thus at once becoming edited humans in a somewhat robotic body.  The Puppet Master, a notorious villain in this world, is revealed not to be a human hacker, but a computer program which has gained sentience and gone on to hack the captured shell. It challenges the law enforcement officials of Section 6 and Section 9 saying that it is a life-form and not an AI. It argues that its existence as a self-sustaining program which has achieved singularity is not different from human DNA as a “self-sustaining program.” The Puppet Master specifically references reproduction/offspring, not copying, as a distinguishing feature of living things as opposed to nonliving things. Additionally, it developed emotional connection with Major which led it to select her as a candidate for merging. It references how it can die but live on through the merging and, after Major’s death, in the internet.

  • Kinolab
  • 1995
  • 3 min
  • Kinolab
  • 2009
image description
Digital Environment Analysis

In a distant future after the “Water War” in which much of the natural environment was destroyed and water has become scarce, Asha works as a curator at a museum which displays the former splendor of nature on Earth. She receives a mysterious soil sample which, after digital analysis using a object recognition to take data from the soil, surprisingly contains water.

  • Kinolab
  • 2009
  • 5 min
  • ZDNet
  • 2020
image description
AI Failure in Elections

In recent municipal elections in Brazil, the software and hardware of a machine learning technology provided by Oracle failed to properly do its job in counting the votes. This ultimately led to a delay in the results, as the AI had not been properly calibrated beforehand.

  • ZDNet
  • 2020
  • 10 min
  • Kinolab
  • 1998
image description
Celebrity Culture, Streaming Life, and Reality Television

Truman, the result of an unwanted pregnancy, was the first baby to be legally adopted by a corporation. From this adoption, he grew up on the set of a reality TV show in a massive sound stage, completely unaware that he was constantly being filmed and watched by viewers all across the world. As an adult, he begins to suspect that something about his reality is very wrong, and confronts his wife about this perception. Sylvia, a love interest of Truman, affirms her stance that documenting Truman without his consent is an unethical form of entertainment since he has no agency. Ultimately, he is able to reclaim this agency by leaving the show’s set and joining the real world.

  • Kinolab
  • 1998
Load more