Ethics in a Computing Culture

Chapter 6
How Computing Is Changing Who We Are
 Objectives
• What is the ‘self’? What is ‘self concept’?
• How does computer technology influence the self
concept?
• What impact will social media and cybernetics have on
our future?

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 Case: Kratos and Poseidon’s Princess
• Jamal felt disturbed by the Poseidon’s Princess scene.
– Does that mean he is more moral than someone who was not
disturbed by the scene?
– Is Jamal more moral than someone who enjoyed the scene?

• In Chapter 1, we discussed Aristotle’s idea that we

become virtuous by mimicking and repeating virtuous
acts.
– Why might Aristotle argue that Jamal should not let his sons play
this game?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 3

 The Internet and the Self
• According to the Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology:

• Self: a relatively stable set of perceptions of who we are

in relation to ourselves, to others, and to social systems

• Self-concept: the ideas and feelings that we have about

ourselves

Ethics in a Computing Culture 4

 The Internet and the Self (continued)
• How does digital image manipulation impact self-
conception?

• Before digital image manipulation, it was common to

airbrush photographs to remove wrinkles or spots.
– Do you think more people are concerned about digital image
manipulation than they are about airbrushing?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 5

 The Internet and the Self (continued)
• Fashion photographers are not the only ones using
digital image manipulation.
– Newsweek used it on the cover of its March 7, 2005 issue to
make Martha Stewart look thin.
– Paris Match, a celebrity tabloid, removed the love handles of
French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the August 9, 2007 issue.

Ethics in a Computing Culture 6

 The Internet and the Self (continued)
• How do online personas impact self conception?
– Bill on Facebook.com and Fark.com: A professional in his 40s
who should be approached in a professional way
– TrakBurner115 on CarSpace.com: A potential car buyer who
appreciates a car’s performance specifications
– NecroticOne1 on MySpace.com: A music fan who likes heavy
metal, as well as clothing and jewelry that promote his favorite
bands; he is inclined to buy things that make him feel unique

• Multiple online personas allows a person to maintain two

(or more) mutually incompatible value systems

Ethics in a Computing Culture 7

 The Internet and the Self (continued)
• Cyberbully: uses the Internet to harass a particular
target, often using fake identities or public Web sites to
enable harassment; often chooses targets known in real
life

• Troll: posts in a public forum or chat room, with the goal

of either subverting the conversation or otherwise
provoking an emotional response

• Griefer: online version of a spoilsport; enjoys making

other players not enjoy online games

Ethics in a Computing Culture 8

The Internet and the Self (continued)

Ethics in a Computing Culture 9

 The Internet and the Self (continued)
• Psychologists treat compulsive behaviors differently from
addictive behaviors.
– Could checking Facebook or Twitter updates be considered an
addiction? A compulsion?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 10

 How the Internet Changes
How We Know
• Epistemology: study of the nature of knowledge and
how we know what we know

Ethics in a Computing Culture 11

 How the Internet Changes
How We Know
• Homophily: the tendency for people to have close
friendships primarily with people similar to themselves
– When searching for information about political issues on the
Internet, would you prefer that the pages be sorted by quality
only, or would you like your beliefs taken into account, so that
high-quality pages that agree with you are shown closer to the
top than high-quality pages that disagree with you?
– Would you prefer to see online advertisements that are randomly
selected, or would you prefer to see advertisements for things
that your friends like?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 12

 How the Internet Changes
How We Know (continued)
• In evaluating the quality of information you use in your
academic work, how important is it to you that the author
is an expert in the topic?
– For example, would you be more likely to trust a Wikipedia
article on U.S. history if the author is a history professor, instead
of an average person? Why or why not?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 13

 How the Internet Changes
How We Know (continued)
• Primary source: as close as possible to the topic being
studied
– Benjamin Franklin’s letters

• Secondary source: discusses information presented

elsewhere
– authoritative history of the Revolutionary War

• Tertiary source: survey or summary of other work that

does not include full evidence sources, or technical
details
– Wikipedia article on the Revolutionary War

Ethics in a Computing Culture 14

 How the Internet Changes
How We Know (continued)

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 How the Internet Changes
How We Know (continued)
• If you notice a significant error in Wikipedia, do you have
a moral duty to correct it?

• If a scholar or expert notices a significant error in

Wikipedia in his area of expertise, does he have a
professional duty to correct it?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 16

 Diverse Perspectives:
Race in Video Games
• Digital minstrelsy: refers to types of role play that meet
the following criteria:
– A person who is a member of an advantaged group in real life
plays the role of a person from a disadvantaged group
– The role play purposefully demeans members of the
disadvantaged group
– The experience is primarily played out on a computer or gaming
console

• Does the main character in GTA San Andreas meet

these criteria?

Ethics in a Computing Culture 17

 Interdisciplinary Topic:
Understanding Media
• Tetrad: four questions designed by McLuhan to help
analyze a new medium and foresee its effects:
– What does artifact enhance, intensify, make possible, accelerate?
– If some aspect of a situation is enlarged or enhanced,
simultaneously the old or unenhanced situation is displaced
thereby. What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new ‘organ’?
– What recurrence/retrieval of earlier actions and services is brought
into play simultaneously by the new form? What older, previously
obsolesced ground is brought back and inheres in the new form?
– When pushed to the limits of its potential (another complementary
action) the new form will tend to reverse what had been its original
characteristics. What is the reversal potential of the new form?

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 Interdisciplinary Topic:
Understanding Media (continued)
• Analysis using the tetrad is context-dependent
• Consider applying the tetrad to e-mail:
– How might people in their 50s and 60s view e-mail?
– How might people in their late teens or early 20s view e-mail?

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 Our Cybernetic Future
• Would McLuhan agree with the claim that “machines
give us new powers, but the organism remains in
control”?

• It could be claimed that most humans, today, are

cyborgs. For example, many people use smartphones to
take notes and keep a schedule. It could be argued that
this is extending and taking the place of human memory,
so the person that acts this way is a cybernetic
organism.

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 Our Cybernetic Future (continued)
• Consider this proposal of designing bionic legs for sport:

Any bionic legs used in a competition should be set to

perform at the median level of performance exhibited by
able-bodied athletes in the previous year’s competition.

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