Deck 6: When Innovation Bytes Back: Ethics and Technology

Question 1

Why might the Internet perpetuate inequity worldwide? How can the Internet help to eliminate inequity? What changes do you think are presently occurring, and why?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Explain Richard de George's "Seven Theses for Business Ethics and the Information Age." Add an eighth thesis of your own.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Should robots be held to the same moral standards as humans? As technology advances, should robots become a source of moral worry?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Explain the idea of traditional teamwork. Can robots replace humans in these situations?

Question 5

Can you imagine a life without technology? How would your life change? How would your values change? Would the things about which you care most deeply remain the same?

Question 6

Write a discussion between Joy and Thompson on the future of mankind and technology.

Question 7

How much privacy should we demand at work? What are legitimate kinds and methods of monitoring one's employees?

Question 8

Should your government be examining email to uncover terrorism plots? Whose email? What constraints should operate on your government? Explain your answers.

Question 9

How does the Internet change our notion of property? Explain three different theories for the ownership of property. Then analyze how information on the web is treated by each.

Question 10

De George's "Seven Theses for Business Ethics and the Information Age" do NOT include:

A) The IT head-in-the-sand syndrome
B) Surmounting the information nexus
C) Confronting the communication complex
D) A clear American policy for information privacy
E) The role of business ethicists

Question 11

Bentham's Panopticon is:

A) A theory explaining property rights
B) A prison he designed so that all prisoners could be constantly watched
C) A technological advancement in the nineteenth century
D) A psychological theory about the effects of surveillance
E) A book he wrote about the rights of prisoners

Question 12

Buchanan considers the ethics of __________ access across the world.

A) municipalities'
B) proper advocacy
C) information
D) military
E) Internet

Question 13

Buchanan believes that what has not changed much in "nearly twenty years"?

A) The inequities of animal regulation
B) The inequities in information
C) The inequities in access to the newest software
D) The inequities of formal patience
E) None of the above

Question 14

According to Buchanan, the commoditization of information brings possible unnecessary forms of information to what?

A) Children
B) Uneducated adults
C) A country
D) Internet stock trading
E) One's credit score

Question 15

The __________ "is defined by the 'world-wide' presence of the Internet."

A) information age
B) business age
C) world market
D) stock exchange
E) New Age

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT one of Buchanan's concerns about information inequity?

A) Traditional cultures may be lost as everyone becomes more Westernized.
B) Citizens of developing nations don't get to be information suppliers.
C) Since most of the Internet is in English, non-English-speaking cultures may be damaged.
D) Individuals may take power away from governments and corporations.
E) Cultural niches may break down and make us all more similar.

Question 17

According to Groom and Nass, which of the following is NOT a feature of successful teamwork?

A) Sharing a common goal
B) Sharing mental models
C) Subjugating group needs to individual needs
D) Viewing interdependence as positive
E) None of the above

Question 18

Groom and Nass write that in controlled environments, robots in human-like social roles are demonstrating:

A) World domination
B) Entertainment value
C) Domestic servitude
D) Great promise
E) Human expectations

Question 19

Two major problems with using robots as teammates are:

A) Robots cannot repair themselves and cannot earn trust.
B) Robots cannot earn trust and are not self-aware.
C) Robots are not self-aware and cannot contribute to a joint project.
D) Robots cannot function in controlled environments and cannot repair themselves.
E) Robots cannot earn trust and cannot return friendship.

Question 20

The advantages that robots have over humans include:

A) They can process information from multiple points of view.
B) They can work from a mental model.
C) They are easy for humans to like and trust.
D) They are completely autonomous.
E) They use task-specific models.

Question 21

Groom and Nass think that the best organizational structure for humans working with robots would:

A) Combine humans and robots as a team
B) Recognize both human and robot strengths and weaknesses
C) Be practically impossible to achieve
D) Allow robots to take charge over humans
E) Require robots to use "mental models"

Question 22

What are some of the fears Clive Thompson explores in his article?

A) Will the Fifth Amendment protect you from self-incrimination by your own brain?
B) There is no fear involved in this new "mind-reading" technology.
C) Should an fMRI scan be part of an employee's performance review?
D) Both a and b
E) Both a and c

Question 23

The main point of Thompson's article is that:

A) The effect of technology on our lives is overall negative.
B) The effect of technology on us is overall positive.
C) There should be no mental privacy because memories are society's property.
D) Ethicists should campaigning against mind-invading technologies.
E) Ethicists should start working out theories about future technologies before they arrive.

Question 24

"Civil rights of the mind" refers to:

A) The 1960's slogan "Free your mind"
B) A right to private thoughts
C) A right to free expression
D) Equality of access to technology and learning experiences
E) The rights of future sentient robots or computers

Question 25

Moravec believes that in a free marketplace, superior robots would do what?

A) Take over the whole world
B) Affect all of the other species on the planet
C) Outcompete humans like a rival species
D) Be slaves to humans
E) Become doctors and lawyers

Question 26

Joy didn't believe that he had been dealing with __________ when he first began working in computer design.

A) a robot
B) an android
C) an intelligent spirit
D) an intelligent machine
E) a mind

Question 27

What term is typically used for those persons who would rather technology regress than progress?

A) Good ol' boys
B) GOT (good ol' time) groups
C) Luddites
D) Lemmings
E) Luminaries

Question 28

The "gray goo" problem that Joy talks about is:

A) How to create a "brain" out of circuits instead of biological brains
B) How nanotechnology could replicate itself and destroy all life on the planet
C) How aliens may have superior technology to our own
D) How to slow down dangerous technological advancement
E) How to download our consciousness into a robot body

Question 29

Why does Joy refer to the Dalai Lama and Woody Allen?

A) They are celebrities who agree with his opinion about technology.
B) They are celebrities who disagree with his opinion about technology.
C) They represent pro and con positions on the question of technology.
D) We need technology in order to learn from teachers and experience artwork.
E) They help make the point that technology is not the most important thing to humanity.

Question 30

When considering the dangers of future technology, Joy argues that the best course of action is:

A) Restrict such research to government facilities only.
B) Prevent research into those technologies entirely.
C) Develop those technologies quickly before another world power does so.
D) Allow research to continue but increase awareness of its dangers.
E) Allow research to continue and pass laws restricting its use.

Question 31

Web bugs:

A) Can potentially violate consumer privacy
B) Were used by DoubleDealer and HomeConnection to collect consumer data
C) Are not morally dubious at all
D) Both a and b
E) Do none of the above

Question 32

Why does Losey refer to SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act as "Intolerable Acts"?

A) Because there is no way people are going to tolerate these bills.
B) Because he considers them abuses of power, similar to the Intolerable Acts of 1774.
C) Because they were passed by the British Parliament, like the Intolerable Acts of 1774.
D) Because the aim of the bills is to protect property, like the Intolerable Acts of 1774.
E) Because the aim of the bills is to catch pirates, like the Intolerable Acts of 1774.

Question 33

All the thinkers we have considered in this chapter agree that technology is the best thing for society or is at least numbered among the very best things society has to offer.

Question 34

Generally speaking, technology does not pose any new legal problems.

Question 35

Thompson argues that civil liberties thrive only when the public demands them and understands that they are at risk of losing them.

Question 36

Joy argues that we should not restrain our search for knowledge.

Question 37

Throughout the life span of a team, the integrity of the team will never be challenged.

Question 38

Communication between teammates enables a team to distribute work efficiently.

Question 39

Thompson offers concrete answers to the questions surrounding privacy rights.

Question 40

Buchanan believes that information inequity could be resolved through simple measures like giving computers to citizens of developing nations.

Question 41

The Internet transfers mostly Western cultural values and perspectives.

Question 42

Buchanan believes that the Internet is a good way to preserve cultural uniqueness.

Question 43

Many robot researchers assume that robots should be teammates to humans.

Question 44

Robots can manifest "humanness" when they are part of human teams.

Question 45

Most people already recognize that technology will soon threaten our mental privacy.

Question 46

Joy believes that scientific knowledge is NOT the most important aim of humanity.

Question 47

Nanotechnology will probably be used only for constructive, positive purposes.

Question 48

De George thinks that many businesses do not yet appreciate the importance of the information age.

Question 49

One thesis of __________ explains how the lack of awareness and the ethical implications of the information age constitute nothing short of a myth.

Question 50

__________ is the term Buchanan uses when describing access to, control over, dissemination of, and content construction of information in various parts of the world compared with each other.

Question 51

Buchanan claims that "the continual neglect of developing nations as potential __________" appears to be an awful lot like imperialism and colonialism.

Question 52

"Social fragmentation" means the loss of traditional ______________ that hold people together socially.

Question 53

Thompson believes we need to stop seeing advanced "mind reading" technology as __________ and start thinking about how we'll react to it.

Question 54

Kluckhorn implies that the Internet might indeed exude its own __________.

Question 55

Groom and Nass acknowledge that robots perform well in _____________ environments.

Question 56

Two major problem areas discussed by Groom and Nass about robots are the robot's inability to earn __________ and a lack of __________.

Question 57

A robot that is treated as a __________ does not have the autonomy and flexibility of a teammate.

Question 58

Teams are just one possible ________________ structure in which humans and robots can work together.

Question 59

Cyberattacks against commercial websites cause direct financial losses and also cause a loss of __________.

Question 60

__________ is the new subfield of nanotechnology in which individual molecules are circuit elements.

Question 61

Foucault certainly does not recommend Bentham's __________ as a morally praiseworthy means of exercising social and (more specifically) employee control.

Question 62

Thompson's "civil rights of the mind" is an issue of mental _____________.

Question 63

A disastrous, terrible vision of the future is called a _____________.

Question 64

The threat of uncontrolled nanotechnology destroying all life on Earth is called the _____________ problem.

Question 65

Joy references ____________________, who believes that neither material possessions nor scientific progress is what really makes us happy.