Past Lectures
Updated monthly.
Designing Ethical Interfaces
November 18, 2019
12-1pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
What pragmatic steps can designers take toward creating ethical interfaces?
This talk proposes that “designing for conversation” become the primary goal of interaction designers. This doesn’t mean voice alone: here “conversation” means the authentic, connected, co-participatory, open-ended, social and cognitive resonance experienced in the best human-to-human conversations. In any modality, with humans or machines, only such interactions have the power to reach agreement, build trust, forge relationships, and enable the cooperation and collaboration that we call community, governance, culture, and society.
So, the minimal ethical interface is a conversation that enables reliable interactions about action and intent. Principles, parables, cybernetic models, and implementations are used as exemplars.
About the Speaker
Paul Pangaro'scareer spans startups, consulting, research, and teaching. He studied theatre, film criticism, and computer science while earning a B.S. at MIT, spending the rest of his time acting in plays and writing software for interactive graphics and computer-generated film. On graduating Pangaroworked on neural simulations with Jerry Lettvinand then joined the research staff of the MIT Architecture Machine Group where he met Gordon Paskand consequently completed a PhD with Paskat Brunel University (UK). He has built systems for rich interaction with online content, designed processes of organizational transformation (including “innovation”), and proposed methods for designing. His researching and making is grounded in the twin concepts of “design for conversation” and “design as conversation.” From 2015 through 2018 he chaired the MFA Interaction Design program at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. In January 2019 he joined Carnegie Mellon University as Professor of the Practice in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. His work can be found at http://pangaro.com/.
"The Accidental Ethicist" with Molly Wright Steenson
October 21, 2019
12-1pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
Many of us walk into situations now where we need to deal with ethics in new ways—we're discovering that we're accidental ethicists. The stakes are high, and real questions of truth and harm lie in the balance. And the problem is that our existing frameworks may only be making things worse. What can accidental ethicists do? Molly Wright Steenson is a design professor and historian focused on AI and its impact over the last 60 years. At CMU, she's the K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics & Computational Technologies, the Senior Associate Dean for Research for the College of Fine Arts, and calls the School of Design home. Her work as an accidental ethicist crosses over all of these domains, from the history of Department of Defense funding to startup culture, and she'll discuss them in this talk.
About the Speaker
Molly Wright Steenson is the K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics & Computational Technologies, Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Art, and Associate Professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. A designer, writer, and historian, she is the author of "Architectural Intelligence: How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape" (MIT Press, 2017), which traces the radical history of AI’s impact on design and architecture, and the co-editor of "Bauhaus Futures" (MIT Press, 2019), which has just been published this month. Molly cut her teeth on the Web in 1994 and has worked at groundbreaking design studios, consultancies, and Fortune 500 companies. She holds a PhD in Architecture from Princeton University and a master’s in architectural history from the Yale School of Architecture.
Technology and Tactics: A Manifesto for Sociotechnical Liberation
September 16, 2019
12-1pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
As we stare down the barrel of a technocapitalist apocalypse, we find ourselves with questions to answer. Will we work to salvage the existing world, or work to imagine and create new ones? What is the role of technologists in this work - and how do we determine whether and when pragmatic, reformist tactics or utopian, radical tactics are appropriate?
These are not new questions, because oppression is not a new phenomenon. Other movements, in other moments, have confronted and answered these questions. In this talk I will explore what the current debates around high technology can learn from current and historical campaigns (including the gay rights, black liberation and trans liberation movements) and map out possible ways to approach liberation through a diversity of tactics.
About the Speaker
Os Keyes is a researcher and writer based at the University of Washington, where they study gender, technology and (counter)power. Current projects cover facial recognition, critical tactics for technology, and the consequences of classification. They are the inaugural recipient of an Ada Lovelace Fellowship, and have been published in Slate, Real Life, Logic, and Scientific American.
TL;DR Ethics:
One Hour, One Chalkboard, and a Comprehensive Structure of Ethical Theories for Computer Scientists
September 9, 2019
12-1p
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract
Computer Scientists seeking to learn more about ethics are often confronted by a bewildering variety of ethical theories that often seem to be answering different questions. Combined with the fact that common terms are often defined differently by different scholars, the appearance of disconnected diversity can foster a sense of relativism or ethical nihilism (the view that ethical theories don’t really matter). In this lecture I present a taxonomy for moral theories that shows how a wide range of standard ethical theories can be constructed as a the result of different responses to a small set of related questions. The framework that emerges provides a comprehensive map of actual and possible consequentialist theories and a rough set of heuristics for constructing non-consequentialist theories. The lecture highlights where a variety of technical issues (such as the nature of rationality and rational choice in computational systems) intersect with fundamental ethical questions. It also exposes a broad set of common views about ethical theories as either false or misleading. The goal is not to defend a particular position but to present a taxonomy that displays the concrete questions over which different theories disagree, so that debate in this area will appear more systematic and amenable to rational argument.
Learning Objectives:
1. To be able to generate a wide range of ethical theories from a small set of related questions.
2. To identify concrete issues that differentiate alternative theories.
3. To identify where a range of technical issues intersect with basic ethical questions.
4. To develop a better sense of how to reason about the relative strengths and weaknesses of different ethical theories.
About the Speaker
Alex John London is the Clara L. West Professor of Ethics and Philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. An elected Fellow of the Hastings Center, Professor London’s work focuses on ethical and policy issues surrounding the development and deployment of novel technologies in medicine, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, on methodological issues in theoretical and practical ethics, and on cross-national issues of justice and fairness. His papers have appeared in Mind, The Philosopher’s Imprint, Science, JAMA, The Lancet, The BMJ, PLoS Medicine, Statistics In Medicine, The Hastings Center Report, and numerous other journals and collections. He is also co-editor of Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine, one of the most widely used textbooks in medical ethics.
Deriving Environmental Ethics from Sound Science
Earth Day, April 23rd, 2019
1:15-2:15pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
The technological advances of the twentieth century drive the two most critical challenges of the twenty-first century. Ten thousand years of physical and biological stability of the planet shows signs of destabilizing. Yet, the credibility of scientists has come under attack, and science has become politicized and isolated from the mainstream of public influence. Yet, we can derive recommendations based on sound science to help to shape environmental protections. The acute environmental crises we face cross political and geographic divisions, and involve placing constraints on unfettered multi-national corporate interests whose only guide is success in the marketplace. We can recommend principles that support precaution in man-made intrusions into the living world. Governing our multiple forms of civilization according to the common laws of nature that drive life on earth can help to cross the barriers that divide us. Focus on environmental ethics can enlighten the debate over intergenerational and inter-cultural justice because the choices we face are a matter of ethics, not technology.
About the Speaker
Patricia M. DeMarco is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. with a doctorate in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh. She has spent a thirty -year career in energy and environmental policy in both private and public sector positions, including Commissioner of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska and Demand Side Manager for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative. She was the Executive Director of the Rachel Carson Homestead Association and Director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham University. Her book, titled “Pathways to Our Sustainable Future – A Global Perspective from Pittsburgh” explores positive pathways toward sustainability, based on 28 case studies in Pittsburgh. Inspired by Rachel Carson’s environmental ethic.
Where Did All the Porn Go?: The Sexual Sanitization of the Web with FOSTA/SESTA
March 18, 2019
12-1:15pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 8102
Abstract:
In 2018, the US passed legislation called FOSTA/SESTA. Advertised as a bill to stop sex trafficking, this bill had the side effects of further criminalizing prostitution, holding technology platforms liable for any sexual content that could be construed as prostitution, and has caused major websites to restrict sexual content. While the bill may have been well-intentioned; it has caused significant collateral damage; shutting down safety networks for sex workers; and pushing LGBTQ and other marginalized sexual communities off of the web. FOSTA/SESTA is a case study in how legislators, designers, and technologists must include all relevant stakeholders to prevent unintended effects.
About the Speakers
Jessie Sage (@sapiotextual) is a sex worker, writer, and public speaker covering sexual politics, sex work, and feminism. She has a weekly sex column in the Pittsburgh City Paper, and co-hosts the Peepshow Podcast. She's written for The Washington Post, VICE, Men's Health Magazine, The Establishment, and more. She is also an organizer of SWOP Pittsburgh (Sex Worker Outreach Project).
PJ Sage is co-host of the Peepshow Podcast, which focuses on sex and social justice. He teaches Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies and is writing a dissertation on the professional cam models' labor and intimacy with clients. He is an Associate Editor at QueerPGH and an organizer with the Pittsburgh chapter of the Sex Workers' Outreach Project. He is also an XBIZ nominated adult clip producer and photographer.
Re-Purposing Technology for Collective Benefit: Why the Impacts and Ethics of Technology are Concerning to Our Future and What We Can Do About It
Mike Skirpan
Feb 25, 2019
12-1:15pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
By many technology is seen as a great catalyst for change in our society and institutions. While technology has entered into and transformed many aspects of our lives, the benefits continue to be for the most privileged and the harms adverse to the most vulnerable and marginalized. Recent years has exposed that even top technology firms such as Facebook and Google have a limited understanding of the social impacts their technologies create and how to address those issues. In this presentation, Dr. Michael Skirpan will pool insights from a diversity of his work in emerging technology development, community advocacy, and computing ethics. The talk will frame some of the promise and failures of emerging technologies to promote positive, equitable change and the practices that technologists and organizations might take to improve results in the future.
About the Speaker
Mike Skirpan is an ethicist, writer, artist, educator, and concerned citizen based out of Pittsburgh, PA. Currently he serves as the executive director at Community Forge and as a special faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Philosophy focused on designing curricula and initiatives to teach ethics in computing.
He received his PhD from CU-Boulder's Department of Computer Science in Fall 2017. His thesis focused on the use of socio-technical narrative as a way of communicating, comprehending, teaching, and debating the ethics of new and near-future technologies. His research spans topics such as design fiction, technology ethics, classroom design, engineering ethics pedagogy, futures, and risk.
Outside of academia, Skirpan runs Community Forge, a mission-driven organization dedicated to rehabbing the Johnston Elementary School in Wilkinsburg, PA into a community centered focused on education, arts, civics, and local business development.
Panel: The Personal Ethical Views of Your Professors
February 11, 2019
12:15p-1:30pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
In the classroom, many professors often try to maintain a neutral perspective on ethical and political topics. We've put together a panel of professors that teach tech ethics or related topics. Come to hear their wisdom, personal views, and stories of ethical reckonings.
About the Speakers
Mara Harrell
Fei Fang
Jim Herbsleb
John Hooker
Must Silicon Valley Go to War? A Discussion about Computer Science, Robotics, and the Government
Jay Aronson
November 26, 2018
12-1pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 4405
Abstract:
Earlier this year, more than 3000 Google employees wrote a letter to the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai urging him to pull out of a Pentagon initiative called Project Maven, which seeks to use machine learning and computer vision to improve the analysis of drone video footage. They began their letter by arguing that “Google should not be in the business of war.” There have been similar calls for Amazon to stop providing its Rekognition facial recognition system to the U.S. government for border patrol and other public safety uses. On the other hand, many corporate executives, scientists, and government officials argue that technologists do nobody any favors by denying the government access to the technologies it needs to keep citizens safe. As one commentator recently argued in a New York Times Op-ed, “Silicon Valley must go to war.” Such debates are not new. They have been taking place in the United States for well over a century if not longer. During this talk, I will explore some of this history and examine current debates about the use of AI, ML, robotics, and computer vision in military contexts, addressing both structural issues and the more localized dilemmas that researchers and graduate students face on a daily basis. I will argue that while there are no easy answers to these ethical challenges (especially because it is nearly impossible to neatly separate civilian and military uses of most computing technologies), technologists cannot ignore the fact that their work is inherently political and has real world consequences. They must continue to wrestle with the ethical and moral challenges their work raises even if they cannot come to any satisfactory conclusions. This may sometimes entail not taking a grant or doing a project even if they know that someone else will take the money and do it in their place.
About the Speaker
Jay D. Aronson is the founder and director of the Center for Human Rights Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also Professor of Science, Technology, and Society in the History Department there. Aronson’s research and teaching focus on the interactions of science, technology, law, media, and human rights in a variety of contexts. He is currently engaged in a long-term project on the use of video evidence in human rights investigations. The goal of this work is two-fold: from a more practical perspective, to facilitate partnerships between computer scientists and human rights practitioners to develop better tools and methods for acquiring, authenticating, analyzing, and archiving human rights media; and from a more scholarly perspective, to understand the extent to which the democratization of human rights documentation (through the global spread of social media and mobile phones) may lead to an increase in accountability and the prevention of atrocities. Previously, Aronson spent nearly a decade examining the ethical, political, and social dimensions of post-conflict and post-disaster identification of the missing and disappeared in collaboration with a team of anthropologists, bioethicists, and forensic scientists. His recent book, Who Owns the Dead? The Science and Politics of Death at Ground Zero (Harvard University Press, 2016), which analyzes the recovery, identification, and memorialization of the victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, is a culmination of this effort. Aronson has also been involved in a variety of projects with colleagues from statistics, political science, and conflict monitoring to improve the quality of civilian casualty recording and estimation in times of conflict. Aronson received his Ph.D. in the History of Science and Technology from the University of Minnesota and was both a pre- and postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Technology and Us: Locating Accountability
September 26, 2018
12-1pm
Gates-Hillman Center, Room 6501
Abstract
Morality is portrayed as the sole province of the moral subject who, unlike the material object of technology, possesses consciousness, intentionality and free will, all of which are necessary for the attribution of moral responsibility. This classical framework puts humans squarely in control over the development and deployment of technology and the responsibility for its consequences rests on our shoulders. At every stage of technological evolution, we see ourselves as the cause behind the effects of technology, directing it toward the ends we envision, either good or bad. The way we think about our relationship with technology, however, also informs and, more importantly, misinforms the solutions we apply.
This viewpoint of our relationship with technology is informed by a Cartesian conception of the self that is ontologically prior to the phenomenal world. We are the subjects, in other words, and technology is the object. But should we consider whether technologies possess moral significance on us and if so when? A novel perspective on this question requires a dissection of the usual dichotomy between subject and technology to consider if the human behaviors we seek to regulate might be a consequence of the mediating role of technology, co-constituting the relationship between us and the phenomena we encounter and, more importantly, exacting a moral significance on us.
About the Speaker
Lisa Nelson holds a PhD and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin‐Madison and specializes in the field of science, technology, and society. She was a co‐principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to explore the societal perceptions of biometric technology. This research is published in America Identified: Biometric Technology and Society (MIT, 2011). In 2018, she published a book with Cambridge University Press entitled Social Media and Morality: Losing Our Self Control. She has also written several articles in journals including I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, Public Administration Review, and the University of Chicago Policy Review. Lisa is currently an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, a Fellow at the Philosophy of Science Center, and an affiliated faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Recently, she was appointed as an affiliate scholar in the University of Pittsburgh, CyberInstitute. From 2011-2013 she also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Data Privacy and Integrity Committee.