Data, Ethics and Society

If you tried to live for one day without generating any data, how would you spend it? The use of data has proliferated and is pervasive. This timely, topical course examines key ethical questions of the Information Age. These issues pervade numerous, diverse aspects of the economy and society, from human rights to international trade. Students will learn about these topics, beginning first with acquaintance with the dominant ethical frameworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. They will then employ these frameworks to understand, analyze, and develop solutions for leading problems in the Information Age and their technological, social, economic, policy, and legal implications. Subjects include artificial intelligence (AI), big data, privacy, bias, accountability, mis/disinformation, human rights, hate speech, liberty, autonomy, international and global concerns, and emerging issues. You will come away with useful tools to understand and craft answers to some of the most pressing problems of our time.Prerequisites: None. You are already profoundly affected by the issues raised in this course and have knowledge and experience with them. This course will bring thatbackground up to the surface, illuminate it and bring rigor to thinking about it, add to it significantly, and provide accessible toolkits for analyzingthese problems and developing solutions.