Ethics and Society Newsfeed – February 9, 2018

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The Circumscribed Ethics Investigation into Devin Nunes
“The House Intelligence Committee chair claimed he’d been completely cleared, but the panel probing his conduct never gained access to the intelligence he was accused of divulging.”

 

Trump’s Choice For Ethics Chief Wins Praise As ‘Somebody Who Plays It By The Book’ “Emory A. Rounds III is an associate counsel at OGE, a career civil servant who previously served in the ethics office of the Commerce Department and in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, or the JAG Corps. The White House announced Wednesday that Trump intends to nominate Rounds as OGE director for a five-year term that requires Senate confirmation.”

Does Texas business group’s use of “dark money” for its political action committee follow state ethics rules?
“The powerful Texas Association of Business has been using “dark money” — which obscures the identity of political donors — for its political action committee. The group says the money’s used only for administrative expenses.”

Ethicists explain exactly why James Comey isn’t qualified for his new gig teaching ethics
“Former FBI director James Comey, who faced the moral quandary of how to appropriately investigate US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign and wound up upsetting all sides of the political spectrum, is due to become a professor in, of all subjects, ethical leadership. We wondered if professional ethicists agreed, and so asked four professors in the leadership and ethics to evaluate Comey’s behavior.”

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Image via We Are Neo

Bioethics/Medical Ethics/Animal Ethics
Spotlight on procreation rights as France begins sweeping bioethics debate
“France on Wednesday kicked off a marathon round of talks designed to inform the country’s legislation on bioethics, with the government hoping to avoid a repeat of the poisonous debate that hijacked the legalisation of same-sex marriage.”

Physicians, ethicists urge Congress not to pass ‘right-to-try’ legislation
“Dozens of doctors, medical ethicists, and lawyers are warning Congress that legislation to allow Americans with life-threatening conditions access to unapproved, experimental 
drugs risks harming patients’ health.”

Now you can genetically test your child for disease risks. Should you?
“Genomics is cheaper and more available than ever, but its usefulness for parents has yet to be proven.”

Monkeys? Humans? The ethics of testing diesel fumes
“German car manufacturer Volkswagen is under fire following revelations that it part-funded tests in which humans and monkeys inhaled diesel fumes for hours.”

Research Ethics
Jump in animal research in Canada generates debate on science ethics
“Critics charge that Canada is lagging other countries in seeking alternatives to using animals in research, and suggest that universities, in particular, can be slow to change their ways.”

Scientists hate the NIH’s new rules for experimenting on humans 
“This week, after almost a decade of work, some new rules go into effect for researchers funded by NIH.”

Diesel monkey tests: can harmful corporate research ever be justified?
“The recent allegations that researchers funded by the German car industry tested the effects of diesel fumes on humans and monkeys has raised serious questions about research ethics in the corporate world.”

Technology Ethics
Ethical Tech Will Require a Grassroots Revolution
“…calling on the companies themselves to redesign their products with ethics, not purely profits, in mind, and calling on Congress to write basic consumer protections into law.”

Should Data Scientists Adhere to a Hippocratic Oath?
“…while calls for regulation have been met with increased lobbying to block or shape any rules, some people around the industry are entertaining forms of self regulation. One idea swirling around: Should the programmers and data scientists massaging our data sign a kind of digital Hippocratic oath?”

The ethical dilemmas of self-driving cars
“The arrival of the self-driving car presents a challenging new dilemma: Whom should the vehicle save – and whom should it harm – when an accident is unavoidable? “

The ethics of AI: Robots will rise, but will they rule us all? “The rise of artificial intelligence is posing interesting challenges for society, raising questions about ethics in a modern world where robots have intelligent decision-making power.”

Want to design user behavior? Pass the ‘regret test’ first
“What are the ethical responsibilities of companies that are able to manipulate human behavior on a massive scale? It’s a question one hopes technologists and designers ask themselves when building world-changing products — but one that hasn’t been asked often enough.”

As technology develops, so must journalists’ code of ethics 
“AI is sure to bring many benefits but concerns over its ability to make decisions mean human journalists’ input remains vital”

Environmental/Climate Change Ethics
Evaluating the Environmental Impacts of Trump’s Presidency
“Looking back at the rollbacks the president has made to environmental protections and regulations throughout his first year in office.”

Trump EPA nominee advances after hosting fundraisers for 2 Senate committee members
“The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the nomination of former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to serve as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a 11-10 party-line vote. “

Should People Stop Eating Seafood?
“Fish eating is, for me, an ethics issue, but it is difficult to disentangle that part with the sustainability component,” Marino said. “Conservation is an ethical issue for me as well.”

Business Ethics
Comment: ‘We can’t leave Silicon Valley to solve AI’s ethical issues’
“Guendalina Dondé of the Institute of Business Ethics explains how companies can empower their employees and other stakeholders to use artificial intelligence efficiently, effectively and ethically”

Ethical leadership can have negative consequences, Baylor University researchers say “A new Baylor study published in the Journal of Business Ethics reveals that ethical leadership compounded by job-hindrance stress and supervisor-induced stress can lead to employee deviance and turnover. The research reflects the thoughts of 609 employees who were surveyed across two studies.”

Why Indian business schools will soon teach about karma, Mahabharata
“Business schools in India are set for a revamp of their curriculum, which will see the introduction of a new course on Indian ethics and concepts.”

Business schools now teaching #MeToo, N.F.L. protests and Trump
“As topics like sexual harassment dominate the national conversation and chief executives weigh in on the ethical and social issues of the day, business schools around the country are hastily reshaping their curriculums with case studies ripped straight from the headlines.”

Ethics and Pop Culture
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and the ethics of prisoner organ donations
“The idea of using a death-row inmate’s organ to save a child’s life made for entertaining and thought-provoking television, but it barely scratched the surface of the ongoing global debate over the ethical and legal implications of organ donations from inmates.”

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Confronts The Ethics And Science Of Survival, And Human Frailty Star Trek: Discovery episode 14 “The War Without, the War Within” confronts character ethics.

Philosophy and Ethics
In Theory: Feminist thinkers challenge ‘traditional ethics’
“A driving force for this revolution [women’s movements] might be a subject taught in women’s studies and modern-day philosophy courses known as “feminist ethics,” a branch of thought that argues “traditional ethics” neglects the perspective of women.”

Written By Fordham University Center for Ethics Education

Ethics and Society Newsfeed – February 9, 2018 was originally published @ Ethics and Society and has been syndicated with permission.

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