CS440 Social and Ethical Issues
Fall 2016, San Diego State University
Instructor: Shawn Healey
Email: [email protected]
Lecture: 1600-1715 TTh, E-423B
Office Hours: 1430-1530 TTh, GMCS-540
“Impact of computers, applications and benefits, copyright, privacy, computer
crime, constitutional issues, risks of computer failures, evaluating reliability of
computer models, trade and communications in the global village, computers
in the workplace, responsibilities of the computer professional.”
Prerequisites: CS 108 (or equivalent) or instructor’s consent.
Required Course Materials
The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, by D. Solove.
ISBN: 978-0-300-14422-2
The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It, by J. Zittrain.
ISBN 978-0-300-15124-4
The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, by L. Lessig.
ISBN 978-0-375-72644-6
The Naked Future: What Happens in a World that Anticipates Your Every Move?, by P. Tucker.
ISBN 978-1-59184-586-7.
Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong, by W. Wallach and C. Allen.
ISBN 978-0-19-973797-0.
Course Information
This course helps develop the student by exploring, among other topics, the consequences of
computing. Our creations impact people’s lives, and through the course of the semester, we will
examine some of the vicissitudes of society brought about by technology. Beneath the promise of
empowerment and freedom, computing conceals its potential for absolute control.
This class helps ensure that the tools one creates are, in fact, the ones one intended. We will do so by
visiting several major themes.
Topics
We will explore some of the ways in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements in our field possess
the potential to impact the human condition. Is the perception of the danger they represent overblown,
or are we blissfully unprepared for annihilation? Can there exist a middle ground? Does my use of the
word ‘annihilation’ introduce a false sense of urgency into the narrative?
Social media swiftly transformed the ideas of reputation and privacy, and it did so without public
debate. We finally created the elusive “permanent record” with which vice-principals used to threaten
troubled students. Does humanity possess the right to be forgotten? We will examine the dual nature of
the camera phone, for while it frequently defends the weak against the strong, it may also destroy
personal and professional lives. Have we over empowered norm-enforcers?
With the arrival of the tablet and increase in embedded technologies, we will differentiate between
generative and non-generative technologies and the values they each possess. Moreover, you will know
why the reported death of the PC is neither eminent nor a thing to celebrate. We will explore the
shifting business models of some of our modern technology giants as they use both technology types to
their advantage.
We will review the intellectual property concepts of copyright and patenting, and we will explore how
corporations and entertainment producers utilize each of these tools to maximize profits and what the
consequences are for the individual. As copyright expands, a ballooning portion of our mutual culture
becomes privately owned. We will see how this stifles creativity and innovation.
When should machines kill? We will investigate automatous moral agents and the decisions they must
make when disaster strikes. Does a self-driving car prefer to save the driver or passenger? Should it
make a decision to maximize the number of survivors in total, or might it prefer to save the lives of
those in the vehicle’s interior? How does this differ from a human decision? Is the Trolley situation
actually relevant?
Relation to the Computer Science Program
When doctors behave unethically, people hesitate before visiting them, and the entire profession
suffers. Our medical sector remains rooted in each doctor’s commitment to do no harm. So too does this
apply to computer science, for unethical programs erode the public’s trust in our products. When we
lack faith in a technology, we avoid using it. This class familiarizes the student with the basis of ethical
thinking in computer science and ties it the ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
Practice.
Additionally, the nature of the classroom discussion environment helps develop each student’s
communication abilities within a diverse workgroup. This course addresses a number of topics for which,
unquestionability, the classroom will lack unilateral consensus. We each possess divergent opinions on
privacy or what constitutes public and private space, for example. Consequently, students will learn to
communicate with a diverse audience.
This class includes one formal group presentation and several, smaller discussions; students will gain
additional experience working in a collaborative environment.
Students will learn to critically analyze the social impact of technology beyond what corporate
marketing material promotes.
Tentative Schedule
Date
8/30
9/1
9/6
9/8
9/13
9/15
9/20
9/22
9/27
9/29
10/4
10/6
10/11
10/13
10/18
10/20
10/25
10/27
11/1
11/3
11/8
11/10
11/15
11/17
11/22
11/24
11/29
12/1
12/6
12/8
12/13
Assignment
-Vinge
Searle
Wallach 1-3
Wallach 4-6
Wallach 7-9
Wallach 10-12
-Zittrain 1-2
Zittrain 3-4
Zittrain 5-6
Zittrain 7-8
-Lessig 1-4
Lessig 5-8
Lessig 9-12
Lessig 13-15
-Tucker 1-3
Tucker 4-7
Tucker 8-11
-Solove 1-2
Solove 3-4
Solove 5-6
-Solove 7-8
-----
Details
Introduction
The Coming Technology Singularity
Consciousness in AI
Machine morality
Battlefield robots and top down morality
Merging top down and bottom up
Planning and dangers.
Topic Exam
Generative and non-generative boxes and networks
Cyber security and the generative pattern
Perfect enforcement and lessons of Wikipedia
Stability and strategies for the future
Topic Exam
The commons
Creativity and innovation
Control through copyright and patent
Alternatives
Topic Exam
Your iPhone knows
Your iPhone knows you feel sick
Your iPhone knows your loves and crimes
Topic Exam
Norm-enforcement
Gossip and shaming
Law, anonymity, accountability
Thanksgiving
Privacy and reputation
Topic Exam
Presentations
Presentations
Presentations
Final Exam
You will receive a 0 on the final exam if you miss it for any reason. If the date and time of the final
conflict with your plans, then either prepare for this penalty or drop the course. Our cumulative final will
take place:
Thursday December 15, 1530-1730
Policies
Website
The class blackboard page serves as the primary source of information for the class (e.g., test dates,
deadlines, assignments, office hour changes). I suggest checking for new announcements prior to
arriving for class.
Email
I welcome your questions and comments, for they remain essential to the class. Please include CS 440 in
the subject line. Be advised, email possesses inherent lag, so my response may take several days.
Grading Policy
The work for this course includes five topic examinations (%50), a small group presentation (20%), a
cumulative final examination (%20), and regular class participation (10%).
>= 93
A
73-76 C
90-92 A-
70-72 C-
87-89 B+
67-69 D+
83-86 B
63-66 D
80-82 B-
60-62 D-
77-79 C+
< 60
FUN!!!
Makeup Exams
I will not provide makeup exams due to foreseeable legal, family, military, or medical obligations (e.g.,
weddings, treatments, or a known, conflicting deployment). If an unmovable, expected event conflicts
with an exam, plan on deducting those points from your final grade. I may provide a makeup exam for
an unforeseeable event.
Attendance
Due to the dynamic and interactive nature of the lecture hour, this course requires regular participation
and student involvement. As such, your instructor’s sole, subjective evaluation of your performance
toward accomplishing these objectives factors into your final grade.
Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your
responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt
of your accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please
note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that I cannot provide accommodations based upon
disability until I have received an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your
cooperation is appreciated.