IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2014 - 6

* Will it be ethical for a third party to purchase
that information, and use it in their business intelligence efforts?
* Will it be ethical for our government to have that
information? And, if we are agreeable to that-
will it be ethical for our government to share that
information with other governments?
■

As we engage in efforts to map the electrical
complexities of the human brain, we will develop
a roadmap that allows us to once and for all see
the pathways for memory, for emotion, for reasoning, and for countless other neural activities.
We will be able to effect dramatic change in the
human mind.
* Will it be ethical to alter those pathways? If so,
where will the line for alterations be drawn?
Brain injuries? Mental illness? Developmental
disabilities? More to the point-who decides?
The patient? The caregiver?
* Will it be ethical to enhance the human mind?
If we know the neural pathways, it is a short
step to recreating them. What choices will need
to be made when the brain of a Nobel Prize
winner can be downloaded from the cloud-
and uploaded into the mind of a ten-year-old?
* As machine learning improves, there will be questions about what should be given over, as a responsibility, to an artificial agent-and what should not.
* Will it be ethical for artificial agents to determine the outcome of elections, based upon data
from the populace?
* If so, who determines what data will be utilized? Who determines what individuals the
data will be gathered from?

■

Will it be ethical for artificial agents to determine the outcome of healthcare treatments,

based upon a combination of your data and data
from a larger cohort?
* If so, will it be you who makes a treatment decision, based upon the input from that artificial
agent? Or your doctor? Or the hospital? Or an
insurance company?
As those bent on exploiting technology for nefarious purposes create new crimes in the digital world, there will be questions about what
actions should, and should not, be undertaken
to foil their efforts.
■

Will it be ethical to commit small crimes in order
to catch those committing more significant crimes?
* Is the invasion of an individual's privacy at a
decision-making level justified when trying to
save a thousand lives? Is it justified when trying
to save just one?

■

Will it be ethical to use the private data of a population to anticipate criminal or terroristic behavior?
* Who will use that data? Governments? The private sector? Local police forces?

I know that today and tomorrow, topics such as
these have been and will be the focus of your discussions. As I said at the outset, the Symposium's theme
of "Ethics And..." was an exceptional choice, for it
points to the breadth and scope of how many facets
of our lives, our professions, and our societies require
ethical choices and right action.
We all bring different perspectives to the practice of
ethics, and what is a "right" choice, as we would define
it. But at the core of all of this lies a deep and abiding
commitment to the health, well-being, and future of our
families, our communities, and our world.

Visit us and join
the discussion!
ieeessit.org

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

FALL 2014

http://www.ieeessit.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2014