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5:163K views · 3y ago · 5:16
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we consider the potential effects of the unrestricted development and proliferation of biomedical enhancement technologies. By enabling us to transcend our physical limitations, are these technologies also eroding the very conditions that ground the value and dignity of human life?
6:35117K views · 3y ago · 6:35
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we’ll survey the debate over euthanasia. Our exploration will be guided by four core questions that shape persistent disagreement over when, if ever, healthcare providers should be allowed to assist a patient in dying.
5:161K views · 3y ago · 5:16
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we consider various biomedical tools and techniques for improving our bodies or capacities, asking why certain improvements are welcomed as medical “treatments” while others, usually generating more ethical controversy, are classified as “enhancements.” What grounds this distinction, and does it give us good reason to worry about the growing development and use of technologies for the purposes of biomedical enhancement?
6:513K views · 3y ago · 6:51
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we consider a central disagreement in the euthanasia debate: if a terminally-ill patient asks for help in dying, does it make a real ethical difference whether this request is carried out “actively” or “passively”?
6:402K views · 3y ago · 6:40
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we’ll consider how scientific progress in medicine depends on subject participation in research studies and ask whether subjects should be monetarily compensated for these essential and risky contributions.
7:134K views · 3y ago · 7:13
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we ask whether doctors and other health care professionals should be allowed to refuse to provide a standard service when providing it would conflict with their moral convictions. View our Bioethics learning module and other videos in this series here
5:494K views · 3y ago · 5:49
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we’ll investigate why the ultimate decision about a patient’s care should be up to the patient themselves, despite the medical expertise of their healthcare provider. View our Bioethics learning module and other videos in this series here
7:4312K views · 3y ago · 7:43
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we’ll reflect on the ethical atrocities committed by Nazi doctors, drawing lessons about several core ethical principles that ought to guide healthcare clinicians when working with their patients.
6:434K views · 3y ago · 6:43
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) asks us to reflect on the increasing role of advanced technologies in producing the goods and services we consume as a society. How might it increasingly affect us, particularly as workers? And should we welcome that?
7:025K views · 3y ago · 7:02
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) examines law enforcement’s increased use of artificial intelligence for predictive policing. How should we balance the efficiency and safety benefits of this technology with concerns about its tendency to perpetuate historical biases and place unfair burdens on historically marginalized populations?
5:432K views · 3y ago · 5:43
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) asks whether the proliferation of surveillance technologies such as cameras are a cause for concern. How do we define privacy, and why do we value it? Does a world in which we are being watched all the time have a “chilling effect” on our ability to express ourselves, explore our identities, and grow as people?
5:541K views · 3y ago · 5:54
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) discusses some of the ethical considerations regarding the use of autonomous vehicles (AVs), otherwise known as self-driving cars. Who will benefit, and who will be harmed by AVs? Are there ways to enjoy the benefits of AVs fairly, without taking on the burdens they may cause or pushing them onto others who are less fortunate?
6:501K views · 3y ago · 6:50
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) considers how the increased use of military drones might affect not just how wars are fought, but also their frequency. Do drones represent just another advancement in our tools of war, or will they more fundamentally change our relationship to warfare?
6:532K views · 3y ago · 6:53
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) asks whether the use of lethal autonomous weapons is ethically justifiable. Would the various military advantages of these weapons make them an effective force for good, or would creating rule-following soldiers that entirely lack empathy and moral judgment be a bridge too far?
5:381K views · 3y ago · 5:38
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) examines the ethical problems raised by the use of anthropomorphic “framing” in the design of robots and other AI technologies. How might unconscious biases end up shaping these supposedly neutral designs, and what responsibilities do engineers have to ensure that their designs don’t perpetuate certain kinds of marginalization and injustice?
6:22
6:353K views · 3y ago · 6:35
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly) asks whether there is any role for censorship in creating an environment of healthy and productive speech online. How should companies that operate online platforms balance the value of encouraging and protecting free speech with concerns about the spread of falsehoods and unreliable information?
5:458K views · 3y ago · 5:45
In this Wireless Philosophy video, Ryan Jenkins (professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly focuses on the illustrative example of online search engines to consider whether the technologies we use in our everyday lives really are the “value-neutral” tools we often take them to be. Should ethical concerns and other values be given a role in determining which results a search engine “chooses” to show us?
5:3210K views · 3y ago · 5:32
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we ask whether our familiar “folk psychological” ways of explaining and predicting human behavior could and should eventually be replaced by the more scientifically-grounded accounts being developed by neuroscientists.
5:495K views · 3y ago · 5:49
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we explore the phenomenon known as “folk psychology” – a framework or “theory” that virtually all humans use to explain and predict each other’s behaviors and mental states with a seemingly high degree of reliability. What is the nature of folk psychology, and where does it come from? Are we born with it? Do we learn it and pass it on through our cultural practices?
5:443K views · 3y ago · 5:44
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we examine what goes on in our brains when we experience fear. What does it mean when scientists say that the amygdala is “the hub of fear,” and is that accurate? Is there a distinction between the changes our bodies undergo when exposed to threatening stimuli and the processes behind the “phenomenal character” of fear?
7:286K views · 3y ago · 7:28
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we examine the idea that certain basic emotions are shared and experienced similarly by all human beings, regardless of differences in factors like language and culture. Are there mechanisms or modules in our brains that are devoted to specific emotional responses, such as fear, anger, or joy? If not, how can we be sure that people from very different cultures truly understand each other’s experiences?
5:4418K views · 3y ago · 5:44
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we explore the hard problem of consciousness. Will science ever be able to explain how and why there is something it is like to be a bat, dolphin, or human, but nothing it is like to be a piece of cheese.
4:172K views · 3y ago · 4:17
In this Wireless Philosophy video, we question what is possible for us to know about the mind and consciousness of an animal that has 9 brains: the octopus. View our Neuroscience and Philosophy learning module and other videos in this series here
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