Science and Ethics –
The ethical nature of science has always been an issue of much controversy. Sociologists and scholars alike have debated whether science is truly a boon or a bane to humans. Generally, it has been accepted that science and technology would definitely benefit mankind if it keeps to a certain framework of ethics that most people can agree with. Therefore, this would mean that it is not science that brings us societal problems but rather the way we use and create new technology.
For example, medicine is created to save lives but when used as addictive drugs, it is a curse. Nuclear products, similarly, is destructive as weapons, but as a form of energy for industries, it is one of the best. However, not every subject on scientific ethics is black and white and in our website, we attempt to examine these gray areas of ambiguous morality, such as genetic engineering, human and animal experimentation and even android rights.
In fact, the focus of most science fiction novels and films is the dissection of these morally ambiguous issues and we hope that you browse through our collection on popular culture to gain deeper insight on these topics.
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- Data surveillance
- Human or machines?
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Human and animal experimentation
Athlete Oscar Pistorius, known as the fastest man with artificial limbs, is also nicknamed the Blade Runner.
British Ministry of Defense have named their military satellites “Skynet”, which is in control of 4 unmanned Killer Vehicles (MQ-9 Reaper). Talk about daring the robots to destroy us all.
Long before robots were introduced to humans, Mary Shelly has already postulated the presence of the uncanny valley with Frankenstein’s monster.
Programmers are taking into account that AI is far superior compared to human intelligence in the aspect of chess, and work on handicaps such as giving the AI less time to think, or removing a piece from the computer.
Deep Thought became the first Artificial Intelligence program that managed to beat a grandmaster of chess in a tournament when it defeated Bent Larson in 1989