The article discusses what options
we as humans have to safeguard ourselves against unethical usage of technology
and who gets to make decisions regarding it. There are many unanswered ethical
questions regarding artificial intelligence, virtual reality, medical
breakthrough, and many others. Many for-profit companies and academic
institutions come up with new technologies every now and then that have the influence
to impact the lives of many around the world. The question is how do we prevent
these technologies from interfering with our moral and ethical standards. We
could rely on scientists but their research can easily take several months if
not years. Inventors and entrepreneurs cannot be totally trusted either as there
are profiteers who are willing to sacrifice anything for their self-benefits.
We normally expect government regulators to pass laws to keep things in check but regulators
are often not experts in the field. Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony regarding
user data protection by Facebook proved this. Forming neutral external organizations
whose responsibilities are to specialize in tech ethnics, and oversee tech
companies, and make ethical decisions for the general public sounds tempting but who is going
to appoint who? The author comes up with three suggestions to solve the ethical
issues regarding technology:
1.
Understanding the consequences of the technologies
we are already using
2.
Making information known to the public so that
the public will make educated decisions based on what they know
3.
Requiring companies to dedicate their resources
to make sure they better understand the consequences of their technologies
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