Hot Topics: Technology
COVID The Ethics Of Who Gets The COVID-19 Vaccine And When “We are devoting this entire hour to questions we’re getting about the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, including the big question of how different groups of Americans are being prioritized. Now we want to get some perspective on the kind of thinking that goes […]
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by Justin C. Smith
Molldrem and Smith’s thoughtful article “Reassessing the Ethics of Molecular HIV Surveillance in the Era of Cluster Detection and Response: Toward HIV Data Justice,” calls attention to vitally important considerations in the implementation of molecular HIV surveillance (MHS) in HIV cluster detection response (CDR) efforts.…
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by Edwin J. Bernard, Alexander McClelland, Barb Cardell, Cecilia Chung Marco Castro-Bojorquez, Martin French, Devin Hursey, Naina Khanna, Mx Brian Minalga, Andrew Spieldenner, and Sean Strub
As advocates and scholars, including people living with HIV, we have been engaged in a critical debate over molecular HIV surveillance (MHS), as well as its antecedent and future practices.…
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by Arnold R. Eiser, MD MACP
Our healthcare system is failing our most senior citizens by assuming they want and need to receive maximal technological intervention despite modest or minimal benefit to them and the increasing of substantial discomfort to them.…
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by Joyeeta G Dastidar, MD
In New York City, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with a quarter of the nation’s cases, hospitals prepared for ventilator shortages.
by Alex Dubov, Ph.D. and Steven Shoptaw, Ph.D.
Introduction
As the world grapples with COVID-19, experts are calling for better identification and isolation of new cases.…
This essay received an honourable mention in the undergraduate category. Written by University of Oxford student, Angelo Ryu. Introduction The scope of modern administration is vast. We expect the state to perform an ever-increasing number of tasks, including the provision of services and the regulation of economic activity. This requires the state to make […]
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by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.
One of the most powerful tools that epidemiologists have for containing an outbreak is contact tracing—finding out all of the people with whom an infected person has had contact during the period when they were potentially shedding the virus.…
Full ArticleThis essay was the winning entry in the undergraduate category of the 6th Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics. Written by University of Oxford student, Eric Sheng. In the computer game Red Dead Redemption 2 (henceforward, RDR2), players control a character in a virtual world. Among the characters represented by computer graphics but not […]
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by Simon Coghlan, Ph.D. and Kobi Leins, Ph.D.
Xenobots have been called “novel living machines” and “living robots”. A co-author of the paper that recently introduced xenobots, said:
… Full ArticleThey’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal.
Human Brain Surrogates Research: The Onrushing Ethical Dilemma
Identifying Ethical Considerations for Machine Learning Healthcare Applications
Planning for the Known Unknown: Machine Learning for Human Healthcare Systems
Revising, Correcting, and Transferring Genes
Ethically Problematic Medical Device Representation
Upstream Ethical Mapping of Germline Genome Editing
Artificial Intelligence in Service of Human Needs: Pragmatic First Steps Toward an Ethics for Semi-Autonomous Agents
Superethics Instead of Superintelligence: Know Thyself, and Apply Science Accordingly
Sorry I Didn’t Hear You.” The Ethics of Voice Computing and AI in High Risk Mental Health Populations
Deep Fakes and Memory Malleability: False Memories in the Service of Fake News
How can AI potentially provide insight into how we understand biological systems? What factors do we need to consider for such an integration? Natural-language processing algorithms now may help read new virus mutations, especially helpful with COVID-19 new variants.
Full ArticleWith news of the recent COVID19 vaccines in development, we look to some of the technologies that have enable us to crate innovative drugs and vaccines. Nanotechnology allows important necessary particles get where they need to go.
Full ArticleTesting is essential to our fight against #COVID-19. Have you thought about those that give tests to millions of Americans daily? Testing teams are grappling with burnout as these surges approach. How can we consider this population in ethics?
Full ArticleWhy is protein structure so important? A recent development with DeepMind AI has made history in determining a protein’s structure. What could this mean for future speed and discovery of drugs? What ethics has to be considered when using AI?
Full ArticleWhole-genome sequencing in synthetic biology is advancing, making the possibilities open in new medicines, treating genetic diseases, and sustainable energy. Scientists must keep in mind the ethics of this technology and how it can be misused.
Full ArticleRecent news offers compelling evidence that an effective vaccine for #COVID19 is on its way. Although this news provides optimism, many questions are considered. Who gets it first? Could it help quell the pandemic? Questions follow this exciting news.
Full ArticleDigital therapeutics is uncharted waters. In a recent development, “a new product, developed by Akili Interactive Labs, is the first game-based therapeutic to be approved by the FDA for any condition and the first digital therapeutic approved for ADHD.”
Full ArticleRansomware attacks surged last month, targeting big businesses and hospitals alike. Data extortion attacks can manifest in many different forms. This article describes an example of a particularly vicious attack that occurred in Finland.
Full Article“A lab experiment aimed at fixing defective DNA in human embryos shows what can go wrong and why leading scientists say it’s too unsafe. In more than half of the cases, the editing caused unintended changes, such as loss of an entire chromosome.” Evident from the analysis of the CRISPR babies made in the years prior, embryo editing has proved to be unstable and not ready for widespread use despite the potentials of editing in solving certain health conditions.
Full Article“AI promises to expertly diagnose disease in medical images and scans. However, a close look…suggests these powerful new tools may perpetuate health inequalities.” How can we train algorithms to work for all patients regardless of origin? Many tools are currently trained in richer countries such as the United States, but are expected to recognize patterns in patients all across the world. This difference leads to certain AI interventions only being effective in countries with greater resources.
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