UNIV 2350: Technology in Society (Professor Duarte) : Technology & Ethics

Comprehensive encyclopedia article about the metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political philosophical questions on technology.

Brief overview on the impact of technology.

Encyclopedia article about ethics and technology.

Drawing on William F. Ogburn's cultural lag thesis, an inherent conflict is proposed between the rapid speed of modern technological advances and the slower speed by which ethical guidelines for utilization of new technologies are developed.

The author argues that each new communication technology either retrieves, amplifies, transforms, obsolesces, or mixes ethical issues from the past or creates new issues for the future.

Comprehensive overview of the term hacktivism by The International Encyclopedia of Communication.

The article discusses hacker George Hotz's impact on the technology industry. Hotz was the first person to hack into the iPhone smartphone from Apple, the PlayStation 3 gaming console by Sony, and inadvertently started the online "hacker wars" over ideology concerning the rights of companies versus online free speech. Hotz's achievements have lead companies to enter into a dialogue with hackers with the hopes of improving their security features and protecting them against future cyber-attacks.

Opposing Viewpoint introduction to digital media.

The article below deals with the issues regarding the interaction between the media and the society, and the impact of new technologies and media information on the development of the knowledge-based society.

Today, emerging military technologies—including unmanned aerial vehicles, directed-energy weapons, lethal autonomous robots, and cyber weapons—raise the prospect of upheavals in military practice so fundamental that they challenge assumptions underlying long-established international laws of war, particularly those relating to the primacy of the state and the geographic bounds of warfare. But the laws of war have been developed over a long period, with commentary and input from many cultures. What would seem appropriate in this age of extraordinary technological change, the author concludes, is a reconsideration of the laws of war in a deliberate and focused international dialogue that includes a range of cultural and institutional perspectives.

Despite uncertainty in defense funding levels, several emerging technology areas could shape the US military over the next decade or so, including unmanned systems, autonomous systems, cyber weaponry, three-dimensional printing, and directed-energy weapons.

The article discusses the use of robots or "robot soldiers" in warfare, with particular focus given to legal and ethical aspects of their use. The use of drone aircraft by the U.S. and other countries is examined, and problems with autonomous automated weapons including lack of accountability, the ethical problems of removing human judgment, and the potential of removing disincentives to armed conflict are explored. The necessity of strong ethical and legal frameworks being created for automated weapons is also emphasized..

The author discusses the conduct of war as a science and as an art. He discusses that warfare is too complex to be considered exclusively as science and the ever-changing character of warfare is due to science and technology. He suggests that several business models can be applied in managing military organization, force planning and designing of weapons. There exists a difference between using science and technology to enhance the combat potential of forces and applying it in conduct of war.

Encyclopedia article that discusses how technology has influence in war looking into World War I & II.

The article discusses the impact of technologies on the well-being of workers and their societies. It argues that, although the Industrial Revolution coincided with increasing numbers of jobs, there is no law of economics that states that that will always be true.