6.02: The Ethics of Technology

A Christian view of ethics and technology - or, how we think about everything from Uber and Facebook to dealing with poverty.

Show Notes

We talk about out explicitly Christian ethics - including our ethics of technology. How do we reason about technologies as individuals and communities? What is human flourishing?

Links

Our previous discussion of self-driving cars (and note the title we picked two and a half years ago): 3.13: Inevitable

Articles on the self-driving car crash:

“A self-driving Uber car has killed a pedestrian in Arizona” “Uber ‘likely’ not at fault in deadly self-driving car crash, police chief says” (The Verge) “Can You Sue a Robot?”, Ian Bogost/The Atlantic - a fairly thoughtful argument… which nonetheless ends up with some sweeping judgments of just the sort that we’re not sure are warranted in this specific case. John Gruber representing the “just get us to the future; it’s worth the cost” side of things -

Mentioned on the show:

Prolegomena Specifically referenced: Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (wikipedia article)

“All the Poor and Powerless”, by Shane and Shane

L. M. Sacasas with some important reservations about Heidegger - reservations we share about a man who, whatever his influence, seems to have been a Nazi sympathizer.

Mal’s speech in Serenity:

A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that.

Music “True Refuge”, by Ezra Feinberg. Used by permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Sponsors

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Andrew Fallows Kurt Klassen Jake Grant Jeremy W. Sherman

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