Ethics, Values, and Philosophy

Efforts to diversify representation in science and engineering require initiatives that increase diversity of thought as well.

Timothy Lieuwen proposes a framework that universities can use to evaluate potential research funding relationships with oil and gas companies in light of their own values.

What researching a biography of the celebrated mid-century physician-humanist reveals about technological capability and human frailty.

Should octopus be farmed? This question is being debated in several pieces of legislation right now, including a bipartisan US Senate bill. For Jennifer Jacquet, the answer is a resounding no. On this episode, Jacquet discusses why octopuses are poor candidates for farming, how she built a social movement around octopus protection, and why we need public conversations about new technologies before investments begin.

Carolyn Russo explores how artists’ depictions of space exploration over the years bridged gaps between scientific, sociopolitical, and cultural viewpoints, inspiring the nation to dream bigger and reach for the stars.

For space exploration to benefit all of humanity, it needs a philosophy—a rigorous engagement on values, impact, and meaning.

Even in the absence of broader regulations on artificial intelligence, federal procurement provisions could set expectations for data quality, model performance, risk assessments, and documentation.

Computer scientist and “godmother of AI” Fei-Fei Li explains why artificial intelligence and public life are at an inflection point—and contemplates how to unleash positive changes while mitigating risks.

Data is powerful because it’s universal. The cost is context.

On this episode of Science Policy IRL, Alta Charo discusses her decades of experience formulating and informing policy on new and emerging technology such as stem cells, cloning, and CRISPR. A lawyer and bioethicist by training, she describes what it’s like to be one of the only non-scientists at the science policy table, how helping a close friend who died of ALS continues to inspire her work, and why science policy can help us become techno optimists.

Once called “living computers” by three of the founders of computer science, computational technology has pervaded society to such a degree that the humanities—which are increasingly regarded as less useful than STEM disciplines—are more crucial than ever to making sense of the present.

For students of science policy, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work on the Manhattan Project is a quintessential case study in the ethics of science. What does a new biopic about the scientist get right or wrong, which issues does it interrogate, and what does it elide?