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Johns Hopkins University | AS.140.177

Freshmen Seminar: Techno-Ethics

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We are all familiar with bio-ethics: dealing with living subjects is an enterprise prone to ethically questionable practices, and we have learned the hard way to raise the ethical questions regarding biomedical projects. But what about technology? Can technology be unethical? Sure, one can design technologies of pain and destruction, or simply ignore regulations and make unsafe products—those technologies would be unquestionably unethical. But what if somebody comes up with new technology with the best intentions in mind? Could those technologies be ethically unsound? In addition to learning the skills required in college, academia, and professional world, the freshman seminar on Techno-ethics will explore the ethical issues involved in technological designs. Students will learn how to identify groups of people who could be harmed by technologies, how to detect factors that may result in unethical use of technologies, and how to pay attention to social dynamics that could turn even useful technologies into a nightmare.

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