For decades astronomers have discussed what the call “Fermi’s Paradox”. The famed physicist had once shown mathematically that even without faster than light travel any advanced civilization should be able to expand throughout the galaxy within the span of 4 million years. After doing that calculation and showing it to his colleagues, Fermi is said to have looked at the night sky and asked: “So, where is everybody?” Fermi’s paradox is that simple question, if there is other intelligent life out there why have we heard nothing from them? Why is there no evidence of their existence we can spot? This debate remained lively till our own time and has sparked the creation of the SETI and METI institutes.
Autonomous vehicles hold great promise for society. But there are also risks and ethical questions. This topic explores the societal implications and hurdles, the regulatory environment, the moral implications of the "trolley problem", the social dilemma created by these technologies, and the value (or range of values) of a human life.
A discussion of if/how social media creates an echo chamber effect, what effect that has on political discourse, and what role business should have in preventing or perpetuating that effect.
Stem cell research has been exploding in the 21st century as a new medium to understand and manipulate the human body for therapy and development. In the field of regenerative medicine, there are a number of ethical limitations that prevent the onset of future research. In the past, there was a high focus on the use of embryonic stem cells. However, we are at a period of large scientific growth privately, which has caused a new set of developments in human-animal chimera. These technologies are designed specifically to assist in the large organ shortage issue, but can have major implications and unintended consequences due to the experimental nature of the work.
With the rise in millennials using social media along with the Internet of Things (IOT) comes a massive amount of data, Big Data as it is called, to be exploited. An ethical dilemma comes into play regarding who should be able to use Big Data. Companies use it for monetization, politicians for campaigning, and terrorists for recruitment to name a few. Where do we, the users, fall into all of this?
Voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home have a growing presence in people's homes. These devices allow you to ask questions, create grocery lists, and listen to music without needing to physically touch anything, but they do not come without privacy concerns.