The Earthquake Industry

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Reitherman

A recent study of the ethical implications of working in the earthquake field featured three dozen ethical scenarios, most of which posed the issue of failing to disclose earthquake risks or inadequately promoting seismic risk reduction. In that study, a common ethical issue was never mentioned, namely that “the earthquake community” is also “the earthquake industry.” Most of us who work in the earthquake field have public interest and self-interest motives, and a full discussion of ethical issues requires that we talk about both.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Murphy ◽  
Erica Di Ruggiero ◽  
Ross Upshur ◽  
Donald J. Willison ◽  
Neha Malhotra ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as the “fourth industrial revolution” with transformative and global implications, including in healthcare, public health, and global health. AI approaches hold promise for improving health systems worldwide, as well as individual and population health outcomes. While AI may have potential for advancing health equity within and between countries, we must consider the ethical implications of its deployment in order to mitigate its potential harms, particularly for the most vulnerable. This scoping review addresses the following question: What ethical issues have been identified in relation to AI in the field of health, including from a global health perspective? Methods Eight electronic databases were searched for peer reviewed and grey literature published before April 2018 using the concepts of health, ethics, and AI, and their related terms. Records were independently screened by two reviewers and were included if they reported on AI in relation to health and ethics and were written in the English language. Data was charted on a piloted data charting form, and a descriptive and thematic analysis was performed. Results Upon reviewing 12,722 articles, 103 met the predetermined inclusion criteria. The literature was primarily focused on the ethics of AI in health care, particularly on carer robots, diagnostics, and precision medicine, but was largely silent on ethics of AI in public and population health. The literature highlighted a number of common ethical concerns related to privacy, trust, accountability and responsibility, and bias. Largely missing from the literature was the ethics of AI in global health, particularly in the context of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Conclusions The ethical issues surrounding AI in the field of health are both vast and complex. While AI holds the potential to improve health and health systems, our analysis suggests that its introduction should be approached with cautious optimism. The dearth of literature on the ethics of AI within LMICs, as well as in public health, also points to a critical need for further research into the ethical implications of AI within both global and public health, to ensure that its development and implementation is ethical for everyone, everywhere.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Michael Weinhardt

While big data (BD) has been around for a while now, the social sciences have been comparatively cautious in its adoption for research purposes. This article briefly discusses the scope and variety of BD, and its research potential and ethical implications for the social sciences and sociology, which derive from these characteristics. For example, BD allows for the analysis of actual (online) behavior and the analysis of networks on a grand scale. The sheer volume and variety of data allow for the detection of rare patterns and behaviors that would otherwise go unnoticed. However, there are also a range of ethical issues of BD that need consideration. These entail, amongst others, the imperative for documentation and dissemination of methods, data, and results, the problems of anonymization and re-identification, and the questions surrounding the ability of stakeholders in big data research and institutionalized bodies to handle ethical issues. There are also grave risks involved in the (mis)use of BD, as it holds great value for companies, criminals, and state actors alike. The article concludes that BD holds great potential for the social sciences, but that there are still a range of practical and ethical issues that need addressing.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 ◽  
pp. 247-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Jarvis ◽  
J.E.L. Day ◽  
B. Reed

Animal science research is important in relation to our understanding of animals, their function and performance, and their relationships with their social and physical environments. Animal science research covers a wide range of disciplines and so can lead to the use of a variety of experimental techniques on animals for many different purposes. This has the potential to lead to a multitude of diverse ethical issues. Members of the British Society of Animal Science and authors of papers submitted to the Society for publication come from countries around the world and therefore are subject to differences in legislative requirements and recommendations regarding animal experimentation. These legal requirements, along with the ethical implications of the research must be fully considered before any experimental work is undertaken.


2018 ◽  
Vol 149 ◽  
pp. 02040
Author(s):  
Yamina Ait-Meziane ◽  
Rania Souici ◽  
Farah Lazzali

In the field of seismic risk prevention in Algeria, the earthquake of El Asnam, 10/10/1980 is the triggering event and that of Zemmouri 21/05/2003 the accelerating element of the policy already in place. These two major events have been rich in information, as they are among the most studied internationally. The approaches and the development of methods for seismic risk reduction are based largely on feedback. The fundamental goal of seismic risk reduction is to avoid loss of life, which is mainly due to the partial or total collapse of structures. Exploiting lessons learned from past earthquakes is reflected in code requirements for new projects and approaches to vulnerability estimation for existing structures. In this paper, we give a description of the characteristics of the two events. The analysis of pathologies observed and the impact on the Algerian seismic code is discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 504-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Eisenstein ◽  
David Naumann ◽  
Daniel Burns ◽  
Sarah Stapley ◽  
Heather Draper

Advances in medical capability should be accompanied by discussion of their ethical implications. In the military medical context there is a growing interest in developing prophylactic interventions that will mitigate the effects of trauma and improve survival. The ethics of this novel capability are currently unexplored. This paper describes the concept of trauma prophylaxis (Left Of Bang Interventions in Trauma) and outlines some of the ethical issues that need to be considered, including within concept development, research and implementation. Trauma prophylaxis can be divided into interventions that do not (type 1) and those that do (type 2) have medical enhancement as an unintended side effect of their prophylactic action. We conclude that type 1 interventions have much in common with established military medical prophylaxis, and the potentially enhancing qualities of type 2 interventions raise different issues. We welcome further debate on both interventions.


Philosophies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Guglielmo Tamburrini

This article examines ethical implications of the growing AI carbon footprint, focusing on the fair distribution of prospective responsibilities among groups of involved actors. First, major groups of involved actors are identified, including AI scientists, AI industry, and AI infrastructure providers, from datacenters to electrical energy suppliers. Second, responsibilities of AI scientists concerning climate warming mitigation actions are disentangled from responsibilities of other involved actors. Third, to implement these responsibilities nudging interventions are suggested, leveraging on AI competitive games which would prize research combining better system accuracy with greater computational and energy efficiency. Finally, in addition to the AI carbon footprint, it is argued that another ethical issue with a genuinely global dimension is now emerging in the AI ethics agenda. This issue concerns the threats that AI-powered cyberweapons pose to the digital command, control, and communication infrastructure of nuclear weapons systems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivor Shapiro ◽  
Brian MacLeod Rogers

“The right to be forgotten” (RTBF) is a relatively new concept in human-rights law, but it deals in root ethical issues familiar to news people and their sources. Editors must routinely weigh the news’ long-term role as a “historical record” against its potential negative impacts on individuals. In the digital-journalism era, publication is at the same time both more enduring and less static, creating new parameters and possibilities for ethical decision-making. Because news content may be seen by more people in more places for much longer, the potential to do lasting good or harm is greater, but, because digital publication is more retractable and redactible than legacy platforms, the possibility of correction, clarification and removal creates both new harm-reduction opportunities and new challenges to the historical record. Also known as a “right to erasure” or “right to oblivion,” the RTBF, now accepted in the European Union, recognizes that, even in the age of Google, people should retain some degree of control over information about themselves and their pasts. (Factsheet on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ ruling (C131-12), n.d.; Manna, 2014; Rosen, 2012). This paper will explore both legal and ethical implications of the issue.


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