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Unwrapping The Gift

The document provides an overview of key topics covered in Chapter 1, including: 1) The rapid pace of technological change over the past 50+ years and new developments like blogs, video sharing, social networking, and collaboration tools. 2) Important issues and themes surrounding technology like unemployment, privacy, and adapting to new innovations. 3) An introduction to ethics as the study of right and wrong action, with a variety of ethical views discussed like utilitarianism, natural rights, and social contracts.

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76 views26 pages

Unwrapping The Gift

The document provides an overview of key topics covered in Chapter 1, including: 1) The rapid pace of technological change over the past 50+ years and new developments like blogs, video sharing, social networking, and collaboration tools. 2) Important issues and themes surrounding technology like unemployment, privacy, and adapting to new innovations. 3) An introduction to ethics as the study of right and wrong action, with a variety of ethical views discussed like utilitarianism, natural rights, and social contracts.

Uploaded by

mba20238
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 1:

Unwrapping the Gift

Based on slides prepared by Cyndi Chie,


Sarah Frye and Sharon Gray.
Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Fifth edition updated by Timothy Henry
What We Will Cover
 Rapid Pace of Change
 New Developments and Dramatic Impacts
 Issues and Themes
 Ethics
Rapid Pace of Change
 1940s: The first computer is built
 1956: First hard-disk drive weighed a ton and
stored five megabytes
 1991: Space shuttle had a one-megahertz
computer
 2006: Pocket devices hold a terabyte (one trillion
bytes) of data
 2006: Automobiles can have 100-megahertz
computers
Rapid Pace of Change: Discussion
Question
 What devices are now computerized that
were not originally? Think back 10, 20, 50
years ago.
New Developments
Blogs (Word made up from ‘web log’):
 Began as outlets for amateurs who want to
express ideas or creativity
 Used as alternatives to mainstream news.
 Popular blogs have 100,000 to 500,000
readers per day and can peak at several
million views per day
New Developments (cont.)
Video Sharing:
 Rise of amateur videos on the web
 Boom of websites like Youtube and Myspace
 Many videos on the web can infringe copyrights
owned by entertainment companies
New Developments (cont.)
Cell Phones:
 Can now be used for travel, last minute planning,
taking pictures and downloading music
 Talking on cell phones while driving is a problem
 Cell phones can interfere with solitude, quiet and
concentration
 Cameras in cell phones and privacy issues
New Developments (cont.)
Social Networking:
 First online social networking site was
www.classmates.com in 1995
 Myspace, founded in 2003 had roughly 100
million member profiles by 2006
 Facebook was started at Harvard as an online
version of student directories
New Developments (cont.)
Collaboration:
 Wikipedia, the online, collaborative
encyclopedia
 Collaboration between scientists in different
states or countries
 Watch-dogs on the Web
New Developments (cont.)
E-commerce and Free Stuff:
 Free stuff on the web: email, books, newspapers,
games, etc.
New Developments (cont.)
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Motion:
 Robotic devices often special-purpose devices, and
may require AI to function
 Motion sensing devices are used to give robots the
ability to walk, trigger airbags in a crash.
New Developments (cont.)
Tools for Disabled People:
 Restoration of abilities, productivity and
independence
 Screen readers and scanners
 Speech recognition
 Prosthetics and motion sensors
New Developments (cont.)
What’s Next?
 Medical records on chips attached to medical
bracelets
 Biological and computer sciences will
combine new ways to insert micro-processors
or controlled devices on human bodies
New Developments (cont.)
Discussion Question
 What changes and new developments do you
expect in the next 50 years?
 How will life be different than it is today?
Issues and Themes
Issues:
 Unemployment
 Alienation and customer service
 Crime
 Loss of privacy
 Errors
Themes of Technology Challenges
 Old problems in a new context: crime, pornography,
violent fiction
 Adapting to new technology: thinking in a new way
 Varied sources of solutions to problems: natural
part of change and life
 Global reach of Net: ease of communication with
distant countries

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Themes of Technology Challenges
 Trade-offs and controversy: Increasing security
means reducing convenience.
 Perfection is a direction, not an option.
 There is a difference between personal choices,
business policies, and law.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What is Ethics:
 Study of what it means to “do the right thing”.
 Assumes people are rational and make free
choices.
 Rules to follow in our interactions and our
actions that affect others.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 Deontological theories
 Utilitarianism
 Natural rights

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 Negative rights (liberties)
 The right to act without interference

 Positive rights (claim-rights)


 An obligation of some people to provide certain
things for others

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 Golden rules
 Treat others as you would want them to treat you.

 Contributing to society
 Doing one’s work honestly, responsibly, ethically,
creatively, and well is virtuous.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 Social contracts and a theory of political justice
 People willingly submit to a common law in order to
live in a civil society.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 No simple answers
 Human behavior and real human situations are
complex. There are often trade-offs to consider.
 Ethical theories help to identify important principles
or guidelines.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A variety of ethical views:
 Do organizations have ethics?
 Ultimately, it is individuals who are making decisions
and taking actions. We can hold both the individuals
and the organization responsible for their acts.

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Some important distinctions:
 Right, wrong, and okay
 Distinguishing wrong and harm
 Separating goals from constraints
 Personal preference and ethics
 Law and ethics

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Discussion Question
Can you think of examples of liberties (negative
rights) and claim-rights (positive rights) that are
at opposition to each other?

Copyright © 2018, 2013, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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