Ethics
Cedar the Goat’s Story Revealed Our Beliefs about Pets and Livestock
People who raise animals for slaughter do hard, emotional labor that spares everyone else who eats meat from that burden, concludes a sociologist
Ethics31 articles archived since 1845
Ethics
Amid War in Ukraine, Open-Source Intelligence Investigators Need Better Ethics
Much of the open-source intelligence (OSINT) community ignores ethical questions and the safety risks of reporting discoveries from the war in Ukraine
Artificial Intelligence
AI Is Getting Powerful. But Can Researchers Make It Principled?
Can researchers create AI algorithms that are ethical today—and will be safe in the future?
Ethics
It's Not Just O'Reilly and Weinstein: Sexual Violence Is a Global Problem
Gender-based violence transcends national borders and class boundaries to touch the lives of roughly 33 percent of all women worldwide
Policy
Internet and Extremism Experts Predict More Hate Speech and Conspiracy Theories on Musk’s Twitter
Under Elon Musk’s leadership, extremists could flock back to Twitter under the guise of “free speech,” and researchers are gearing up to study their impact
Education
Why Scientists Must Stand for Affirmative Action and against Scientific Racism
The Supreme Court could destroy affirmative action in higher education, and STEM professionals must stand against the white supremacy and scientific racism that fuels arguments against it...
Culture
Queen Elizabeth II’s Legacy Keeps the White World Rich and the Black World Poor
The British royal family once led an empire based on white supremacy that caused suffering that continues today
Privacy
How Iran Is Using the Protests to Block More Open Internet Access
The Iranian government is taking advantage of Internet shutdowns to push citizens onto a local intranet that is vulnerable to surveillance and censorship
Privacy
How Census Data Put Trans Children at Risk
The Census Bureau must improve its data anonymization methods to protect vulnerable groups
Ethics
Scientists Must Consider the Risk of Racist Misappropriation of Research
The Buffalo massacre shooter contorted genetic studies to support his hateful views
Ethics
The Field of Firearms Forensics Is Flawed
The matching of bullets to guns is subjective, and courts are starting to question it because of testimony from scientific experts
Consciousness
We Shouldn’t Try to Make Conscious Software—Until We Should
Eventually, the most ethical option might be to divert all resources toward building very happy machines
Ethics
Meet the White House’s New Director of Environmental Justice
Jalonne White-Newsome went from being a Dow Chemical devotee to a leading injustice advocate
Artificial Intelligence
How Language-Generation AIs Could Transform Science
An expert in emerging technologies warns that software designed to summarize, translate and write like humans might exacerbate distrust in science
Privacy
Some Medical Ethicists Endorse NFTs—Here’s Why
The technology could help patients exert control over their medical data
Anthropology
Anthropology Association Apologizes to Native Americans for the Field’s Legacy of Harm
For decades anthropologists exploited Indigenous peoples in the name of science. Now they are reckoning with that history
Ethics
The Manhattan Project Shows Scientists’ Moral and Ethical Responsibilities
As more of physics research is funded by the military, it is important to learn the full history of our past
Policy
Two Scientists Will Replace U.S. Science Adviser Eric Lander
Celebrated sociologist Alondra Nelson and genome leader Francis Collins will temporarily split Lander’s duties
Psychology
How Targeted Advertising on Social Media Drives People to Extremes
People seeking to radicalize others are using ads to push conspiracy theories and extremist views
Ethics
Will Giving COVID Booster Shots Make It Harder to Vaccinate the Rest of the World?
Wealthy countries have bought up most of the available vaccine doses for booster shots but still have far more than they need
