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Daily Archives: April 16, 2017

Incorporating Ethics into Artificial Intelligence

“This article reviews the reasons scholars hold that driverless cars and many other AI equipped machines must be able to make ethical decisions, and the difficulties this approach faces. It then shows that cars have no moral agency, and that the term ‘autonomous’, commonly applied to these machines, is misleading, and leads to invalid conclusions about the ways these machines can be kept ethical. The article’s most important claim is that a significant part of the challenge posed by AI-equipped machines can be addressed by the kind of ethical choices made by human beings for millennia. Ergo, there is little need to teach machines ethics even if this could be done in the first place. Finally, the article points out that it is a grievous error to draw on extreme outlier scenarios—such as the Trolley narratives—as a basis for conceptualizing the ethical issues at hand. Published in the Journal of Ethicsclick here for the full text (fee).”

WaPo Special Report – EPA, Labor Dept. are targeted by industry leaders after Trump solicits policy advice

“The president invited American manufacturers to recommend ways to cut regulations and make it easier to get their projects approved. Industry leaders responded with suggestions to remove more than 150 regulations and painted the clearest picture yet of the dramatic steps Trump officials are likely to take in overhauling federal policies.” Continue Reading

Secure computing for journalists

Matthew Green: “…Classical (desktop and laptop) operating systems were designed primarily to support application developers. This means they offer a lot of power to your applications. An application like Microsoft Word can typically read and write all the files available to your account. If Word becomes compromised, this is usually enough to pwn you in practice. And in many cases,… Continue Reading

Census Bureau Statistics on Pets

Or as we call them, companion animals – “The U.S. Census Bureau presents a collection of data that highlights the various aspects of America’s love for their pets. The National Pet Day graphic and Stats for Stories include data on topics such as: veterinarians and their assistants, veterinary clinics, pet food manufacturing and pet supply retailers. Statistics… Continue Reading

Updates to the My Congressional District Tool

“The U.S. Census Bureau recently updated the My Congressional District web application for the 115th Congress. Other updates include: Statistics from the 2015 American Community Survey and maps for the congressional districts within the states that were redistricted in September 2016 (Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia). Embeddable functionality. Re-enabled ability to download a .csv… Continue Reading

Paper – The Root Causes of the Influx of Refugees from Syria and Iraq to Europe

Kirmanj, Sherko and Oladimeji, Talibu and Abdul Ghani, Ahmad Bashawir bin Hajj, The New Great Trek: The Root Causes of the Influx of Refugees from Syria and Iraq to Europe (December 20, 2016). ABC Journal of Advanced Research, Volume 5, No 2 (2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2948513 “In 2010, a wave of political uprisings blew… Continue Reading

Answering What Constitutes a Search of a Cellphone after Riley Through a ‘Use-Based’ Approach

Jacobsen, Kristen M., Let’s Get Physical, Physical: Answering What Constitutes a Search of a Cellphone after Riley Through a ‘Use-Based’ Approach (January 24, 2017). Criminal Law Bulletin Volume 53, Issue 4, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2952497 “Investigating and prosecuting in the twenty-first century requires that the government have clear and workable rules to determine what… Continue Reading

Law, Belief, and Aspiration

Rowell, Arden, Law, Belief, and Aspiration (January 20, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2903049 “This project examines the relationships between what the law is, what people believe the law to be, and what people aspire for the law to be. It takes seriously the possibility that people do not know perfectly what the law is, and… Continue Reading

Top Frustrations With Tax System: Sense That Corporations, Wealthy Don’t Pay Fair Share

“A majority of Americans now view the federal tax system as unfair, including similar shares of Republicans and Democrats. But partisans differ in their concerns about the tax system, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans to express frustration that some corporations and wealthy people don’t pay their “fair share.” Among the public overall, 62%… Continue Reading