Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, The Washington Post ; Jan. 6 shattered her family. Now they’re trying to forgive.
"After rioters stormed the Capitol, relatives and friends who disagreed with their actions faced a difficult choice: Should they turn their loved ones over to authorities? Could they continue to have relationships with people accused of trying to interfere with the peaceful transition of power?"
Ed Jones, Ventura County Star; Keeping true to the Declaration of Independence is a matter of ethics
"How do we keep faith with Jefferson, Franklin and the other founders? Due to the imperfections in human nature, there is no foolproof way, but a good plan would be to have all levels of our government — national, state and local — adopt ethical training similar to that of elective office holders here in California. Periodically, they must participate in ethics training which assumes there are universal ethical values consisting of fairness, loyalty, compassion trustworthiness, and responsibility that transcend other considerations and should be adhered to. This training consists of biannual computer sessions in which they must solve real-life problems based on the aforementioned ethical values.
I believe a real danger for elected officials and voters as well is the idea that certain societal values are so vital, so crucial, that they transcend normal ethical practices. This might be termed an “ends — means philosophy,” the idea that the ends justify the means. Mohandas Gandhi, former leader of India, observed that “the means are the ends in a democracy and good ends cannot come from questionable means.”
No matter how exemplary our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we are still relying on human beings to fulfill their promise. Ever since the Supreme Court took the power of judicial review — the power to tell us what the Constitution means and, in the process, affirm certain laws by declaring them constitutional or removing others by declaring them unconstitutional — the judgement of nine people has had a profound effect on our society. Was the Supreme Court correct in 1973 by saying the Ninth Amendment guarantees pregnant women the right to an abortion, or was it correct in 2022 by saying it didn’t?
In the final analysis we must conclude that it will be well-intentioned, ethical citizens and their elected and appointed representatives who will ensure the equitable future of what Abraham Lincoln referred to as our “ongoing experiment in self-government.”"
Lee Kyung-min, The Korea Times; Korea issues first AI ethics checklist
"The government has outlined the first national standard on how to use artificial intelligence (AI) ethically, in a move to bolster the emerging industry's sustainability and enhance its global presence, the industry ministry said Wednesday.
Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, issued a checklist of possible ethical issues and reviewed factors to be referenced and considered by service developers, providers and users.
The considerations specified for report and review include ethical issues arising in the process of collecting and processing data, the designing and development of AI, and the provision of such services to customers.
The guidelines contain considerations such as transparency, fairness, harmlessness, responsibility, privacy protection, convenience, autonomy, reliability, sustainability and solidarity-enhancing qualities."
Charly Wilder, The New York Times; When a Visit to the Museum Becomes an Ethical Dilemma
Western museums are major tourist attractions, drawing travelers from around the world. But what responsibility do we bear as spectators for patronizing institutions that display what critics say are stolen works?
"For museumgoers, the ethical dimensions of viewing plundered art have become impossible to ignore. Western museums are major tourist attractions, drawing travelers from around the world. But what responsibility do we bear as spectators for patronizing institutions that display what critics say are stolen works? Should we be asking how these museums got their treasures? Does our conception of a modern-day ethnological museum need a dramatic rethink?"
Marie Patino, Bloomberg ; MapLab: The Case for a Cartographer’s Code of Ethics
"In 2017, Kent spearheaded the drafting of the first and only known professional code of cartography ethics for the British Cartographic Society (BCS) while he was the president of the organization. The code upholds five principles: Honesty, integrity, competence, respect and responsibility. It also warns of potential sanctions that can be taken against members if they don’t follow these principles, including being banned from the BCS — though Kent says this hasn’t happened yet.
“There’s an increased sense of responsibility that goes with the idea of mapmaking.” Kent says. “I think cartographers have for too long not really grasped the idea that what they’re doing has immense power to change the way how people see the world.”
Now, momentum for ethical guidelines may be picking up...
Buckley, who created a user group at Esri to discuss best practices and ideas for mapmaking ethics, is planning ethics discussions at other map gatherings this year. “Having good examples, I think, is what we need to move towards next,” Buckley said. “After we come up with a code of ethics, the statements have to be supported by resources that people can look at to understand how to enact ethical practices.”"
Thomas Bacon, ScreenRant; No Way Home Foreshadows The Greatest Problem With The X-Men
"Spider-Man is the only Avenger to date who has been a teenager in this shared universe. That's given his solo films a unique feel in the MCU, but it's also posed serious ethical questions about whether or not the Avengers should allow Spider-Man to join in with their superhero fights. It didn't take long for War Machine to pick up on this in Captain America: Civil War, with Tony Stark brushing the question of Spider-Man's age aside. "I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him," Iron Man defended himself. "He's on the young side." The question of Spider-Man's age surfaced again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May was accused of child endangerment because she had allowed him to act as a hero. "Child endangerment's a nasty rap," Agent Cleary accused her. "A boy was entrusted to you, and as his legal guardian - essentially his mother - you not only allowed him to endanger himself, but you actually encouraged it. Who does that?" It's true this was just a throwaway scene, and the ethical considerations weren't subsequently explored in greater depth - but the question is a chilling one nonetheless, and it has serious implications for the future of the MCU, particularly how it relates to the X-Men."
DARIAN BENSON, NPR; Why your local library might be hiring a social worker
"For years, libraries have been a place people turn to for information to help them solve problems. But the challenges patrons are dealing with are increasingly beyond the scope of what most librarians are trained to handle — and that's where social workers can fill in the gaps."
WILL KNIGHT,Wired; This Program Can Give AI a Sense of Ethics—Sometimes
"Frost says the debate around Delphi reflects a broader question that the tech industry is wrestling with—how to build technology responsibly. Too often, he says, when it comes to content moderation, misinformation, and algorithmic bias, companies try to wash their hands of the problem by arguing that all technology can be used for good and bad.
When it comes to ethics, “there’s no ground truth, and sometimes tech companies abdicate responsibility because there’s no ground truth,” Frost says. “The better approach is to try.”"
Technologists cannot lose sight of how algorithms affect real people."
