Skip to Main Content

Technology and Society: Ethics

This guide is designed to assist library patrons in easily locating resources for computing technology and its impact on society.

Books on Ethics

Resources on Ethics

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics - is a great resource on ethics from Santa Clara University. As they write on their website: "The mission of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is to engage individuals and organizations in making choices that â€‹respect and care for others." They cover numerous topics such as bioethics and technology ethics to help us be aware of the ethical challenges technology brings us. 

Star Trek vs Black Mirror: Ethics in a technological world

Star Trek Utopian Future

Released originally in 1966, Gene Roddenbury envisioned a technological future in which the technological advancements of our society would create a nearly utopian society in which peoples of different races, sexes, and beliefs, could more peacefully coincide and cohabitate so that we would work together to explore the vastness of the galaxy around us. Technological advancements include: personal handheld communicators, face to face video conversations, 3d food creation, immersive holographic experiences, among many other technological advances that purportedly made life simpler and more advanced. The various dispositions of the show through the years covered ethical issues. However, the show didn't delve too deeply into the ethical questions around the technologies itself, because it implied those questions were resolved, and the technological innovations were always good and positive. 

Writings on Star Trek

Situatlonal Ethics in Star Trek Voyager

"Woman All Woman" Star Trek, ethics, and the danger of female desire 

The Ethics of Star Trek

A Review of the Ethics of Star Trek --a review of the book linked above.

Meta-ethics in Star Trek

Bad Ethics in Star Trek

Black Mirror Dystopian Future

Premiering in 2011, this show, created by Charlie Booker, attempts to look at some of the unintended consequences our technological advancements come with, showing as realistically as possible some of the end results of our achievements in technology. What are some of the consequences that technology incites upon a society that the creators did not anticipate? How do technological developments impact societies, and which segments of societies get more negative impacts, and why? 

Writings on Black Mirror

"Black Mirror:" Our Best Ethical Teacher

What an AI expert thinks of Black Mirror Season 4

The Neuroethics Blog Series on Black Mirror: White Bear

The Neuroethics Blog Series on Black Mirror: The Entire History of You

Black Mirror Ethics and the Gray Area

Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion

Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion

The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, figured out that there were three main modes in which we attempt to pursuade others in an argument or discussion, such as, for instance, this very libguide. The three modes are: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. The following sites provide some more information about the Modes of Persuasion. I've added this portion in this libguide because at the core of the Modes of Persuasion is the first one, Ethos. The Ethos of a man or woman indicate their ability for persuasion and is at the core of who we are. 

Modes of Persuasion by Excelsior Online Writing Lab

The Persuasion Triad - Aristotle Still Teaches

Aristotle's Rhetoric

Great Fiction on Technology