Authors

  • Julian Savulescu
    Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics Director, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Mark Sheehan
    James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
  • Peter Taylor
    Research Associate, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
  • Anders Sandberg
    James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
  • Guy Kahane
    Deputy Director, Oxford Uehrio Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Toby Ord
    Research Associate, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Dominic Wilkinson
    DPhil Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Rebecca Roache
    James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
  • S. Matthew Liao
    Deputy Director, and James Martin Senior Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
  • Steve Clarke
    James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
  • Neil Levy
    James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
  • Tom Douglas
    DPhil Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Rafaela Hillerbrand
    James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
  • Luciano Floridi
    Research Chair in Philosophy of Information, Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford
  • Janet Radcliffe Richards
    Distinguished Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
  • Nick Bostrom
    Director, Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
  • Lachlan de Crespigny
    Principal Fellow, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne; Honorary Fellow, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Research Associate, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
  • Roger Crisp
    Uehiro Fellow

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Information Ethics

August 20, 2008

Silicon dreams: digital drugs and regulation

A new worry has hit parents: digital drugs. The idea is that sounds can affect brain states, so by listening to the right kind of sounds desired brain states can be induced - relaxation, concentration, happiness, PMS relief or why not hallucinations? Apparently "idosers" walk around high on sound. Just the right thing for a summer moral panic - kids, computers, drugs and pseudoscience.

Continue reading "Silicon dreams: digital drugs and regulation" »

August 11, 2008

Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly? (Or: are you a sneaky superhero?)

If, like me, you were one of the kids whose preferred superpower was invisibility, you may soon be in luck. The BBC reports today that US scientists have created a material that could one day be used to make people and objects invisible. The material, which has so far been created only on a microscopic scale, neither absorbs nor reflects light, meaning that anyone looking at an object covered in it would see what lies behind the object rather than the object itself. It’s likely that such technology will be snapped up first by the military, but perhaps, in years to come, invisibility cloaks will be available to all.

For some, the idea of being invisible is distasteful. Being invisible means being able to get away with anything - and why bother to act morally when you can be sure that you’ll never be caught out? In this case, would a world full of people who can turn invisible at the drop of a hat be a world full of thieves, cheats, and sneaks?

Continue reading "Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly? (Or: are you a sneaky superhero?)" »

June 16, 2008

Lex Orwell: When is a Surveillance Society OK?

The current Swedish debate about a bill to allow military intelligence to intercept phone and Internet communications has produced something most unSwedish: a grassroots "blogquake" that has upset the staid logic of traditional politics. Given the threat that the bill may fall because of MPs disobeying their party whips (normally unheard of in Swedish politics) there is a real chance the bill is even withdrawn at the last minute. But even if it is, this is an issue that will return again and again: exactly how much information should the government be allowed to gather and for what purposes?

Continue reading "Lex Orwell: When is a Surveillance Society OK?" »

May 16, 2008

A Pipeline to Truth? Fighting Absenteeism with Voice Analysis

The Daily Mail warns that bosses want to use over-the-phone lie detectors to catch out workers pulling a sickie. The issue is the new generation of voice analysis software that listens in when someone calls in sick, and prompts the person talking the call on whether the person is suspiciously stressed. Yet another step towards 1984, a great way of saving money and improving the truthfulness of people, or a double deceit?

Continue reading "A Pipeline to Truth? Fighting Absenteeism with Voice Analysis" »

May 01, 2008

Genetic discrimination and the future of health insurance

The US Congress today passed legislation banning the use of genetic information by insurance companies, unions and employers. As Dominic Wilkinson noted in his post on 26 April, this legislation might have interesting implications for professional sport. The reform also raises questions about the future of insurance markets.


Continue reading "Genetic discrimination and the future of health insurance " »

April 08, 2008

The stresses of 24 hour creative work: How much would Aristotle blog?

New York Times writes about the stressful lifestyle of for-pay bloggers. The bloggers get rewarded for being prolific and quick to comment, but since the Internet never sleeps they feel a pressure not to sleep either. The result is physical and emotional stress that never lets up – especially since often the home is also their workplace. This is just one example of the high stresses of many new creative class occupations. Is there any way out of knowledge-economy workaholism?

Continue reading "The stresses of 24 hour creative work: How much would Aristotle blog?" »

March 27, 2008

PatientsLikeMe.com

The New York Times recently published a feature article on a website called PatientsLikeMe. This is an online community like facebook or MySpace, but with a medical twist. The members have serious medical conditions, like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or HIV, and they use site to post quantitative information about their treatment and symptoms. The site then presents this information for all to see. For example, users can search the website for a drug and then view bar graphs illustrating reasons that members take the drug, the distribution of dosages, length of treatment, reasons for stopping treatment, and patient ratings of the treatment. Individual profiles also show line graphs plotting disease progression and showing major treatment events. The aim is to offer patients the information required to better tailor their own treatment.

It’s easy to think of both risks and benefits of this sort of website.

Continue reading "PatientsLikeMe.com" »

February 14, 2008

The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information

The editors of Nature have today called for the US Senate to bypass Senator Tom Coburn’s (Republican, Oklahoma ) ‘hold’ the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Bill. The Bill, if enacted “would protect people from being discriminated against by health insurers or employers on the basis of their genetic information” but Senator Coburn has used a procedural manoeuvre called a “hold” to prevent it from coming to a vote in the Senate. In their editorial the editors suggest that by putting a hold on this Bill, the senator from Oklahoma is preventing the enormous research and clinical progress from continuing and further developing the era of personalised medicine.

Continue reading "The Rogue Senator and the Protection of Genetic Information" »

January 21, 2008

I'm Not a Number; I'm a Human Being: RFID Tags and Our Personas

Swedish athletes Carolina Klüft and Stefan Holm (currently reigning Olympic champions in the heptathlon and high-jump events) recently suggested that elite athletes might have an obligation to implant chips or carry GPS transmitters in order to allow anti-doping organisations to track them. Meanwhile medical researchers debate whether patients should be tagged implanted chips for identification purposes. While such suggestions almost universally provoke a shudder and remarks about Orwell's 1984 other people voluntarily chip themselves: some to access nightclubs, others to "hack" themselves. We might resist some privacy invasions, but eagerly invite others. Should we just get it over with and let the government tag us all?

Continue reading "I'm Not a Number; I'm a Human Being: RFID Tags and Our Personas" »

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