Below are online resources that accompany the book Ethics for people who work in tech; as suggestions for further reading, viewing, or listening. The resources are listed in the order of the book’s chapters:
[Home] [Resources] [Exemplars]
Go to ethicsforpeoplewhoworkintech.com; or go to exemplars, 16 short portraits.
1. A humanistic approach
The European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence; and their Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI, 2019
The IEEE’s Ethically aligned design: A vision for prioritizing human well-being with autonomous and intelligent systems, 2019
Donella Meadows; and The Limits to Growth on Wikipedia
John Dewey; and philosophical pragmatism on Wikipedia
2. What do we mean with ethics?
Natural science, Social science, Humanities, and Technology on Wikipedia
Philosophical realism and constructivism on Wikipedia
Science and Technology Studies on Wikipedia
Bruno Latour on Wikipedia; and his essay Three little dinosaurs or a sociologist’s nightmare
Bruno Latour’s books Laboratory Life and Aramis, or the love of technology on Wikipedia
Bent Flyvbjerg on Wikipedia
Marc Steen: Co-design as a process of joint inquiry and imagination, Design Issues, 29, 2 (2013), 16–28
3. Is technology a neutral tool?
History of the electric vehicle on Wikipedia
Langdon Winner, Peter-Paul Verbeek , and Don Ihde on Wikipedia
We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us, 2013
A schoolman’s guide to Marshall McLuhan, 1967
Tristan Harris and Jeff Hammerbacher on Wikipedia
Marc Steen: Upon opening the black box and finding it full: Exploring the ethics in design practices. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 40, 3 (2015), 389-420
danah boyd, Meredith Broussard, Safiya Noble, Ruha Benjamin; Meredith Whittaker, Kate Crawford, on Wikipedia
Abeba Birhane: The unseen Black faces of AI algorithms, Nature, 2022
The Guardian: Why Silicon Valley’s most astute critics are all women, 2021
Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein: Data feminism, 2020
Critical Data Studies on Wikipedia
Critical Data Studies Resources, by Angèle Christin
Hannah Fry: What data can’t do, The New Yorker, 2021
4. Value, wellbeing and economics
Lewis Mumford, Günther Anders, Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, Hannah Arendt, and Hans Jonas on Wikipedia
Hubert Dreyfus, Donna Harraway, Neil Postman, and Langdon Winner on Wikipedia
Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, and the Capability Approach, on Wikipedia
Ingrid Robeyns: Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice: The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017 (open access)
The Capability Approach on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ilse Oosterlaken: Design for Development: A Capability Approach, Design Issues (2009) 25 (4): 91–102.
Homepages of Kate Raworth and Mariana Mazzucato; see also below: Exemplars
The Horizon Europe research and innovation funding programme, and its Missions
5. The problem with the ‘Trolley Problem’
Philippa Foot: The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect, 1967
The Trolley Problem on Wikipedia
James Wilson: The trolley problem problem, Aeon, 2020
Irina Raicu: Modern variations on the ‘Trolley Problem’ meme, 2016
The Moral Machine online platform/survey; and the Moral Machine on Wikipedia
Edmond Awad and others: The moral machine experiment, 2018 (extended version; open access)
6. Privacy is about more than ‘privacy’
SyRI legislation in breach of European Convention on Human Rights, 2020
Carissa Véliz: Privacy is power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data, 2021; my review of the book
7. What is your responsibility?
Herman Tavani: Ethics and technology: Controversies, Questions, and Strategies for Ethical Computing, 2015
Mark Alfano: Moral psychology, 2016
8. Software for self-driving cars
The New Scientist: Should we all wear sensors to avoid being run over by driverless cars?, 2021
9. Consequences and outcomes
Consequentialism, Jeremy Bentham, and his Felicific Calculus, and John Stuart Mill on Wikipedia
Consequentialism on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ford Pinto on Wikipedia
Quality Adjusted Life Years, QALI, on Wikipedia
Peter Singer on Wikipedia, and his book The life you can save, 2009/2019
10. Cameras in public spaces
How Barcelona is leading a new era of digital democracy, on Medium
11. Duties and rights
Deontological ethics, Immanuel Kant, his categorical imperative on Wikipedia
Deontological Ethics on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Code of Hammurabi, the Edicts of Ashoka, the Magna Carta, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on Wikipedia
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on Wikipedia; both multilateral treaties
Interactive maps that show which countries ratified these (and other) treaties
The European Convention on Human Rights (of the Council of Europe, 46 countries) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (27 countries), on Wikipedia
The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (UN OHCHR): Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
The OECD’s Responsible business conduct and human rights
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on Business and human rights
The ACM’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the IEEE’s Ethical Guidelines & Policies
UN OHCHR Landmark ruling by Dutch court stops government attempts to spy on the poor, 2020
Business Insider: A major flaw in Google’s algorithm allegedly tagged two black people’s faces with the word ‘gorillas’, 2015
Wired: When It Comes to Gorillas, Google Photos Remains Blind, 2018
ProPublica: How We Analyzed the COMPAS Recidivism Algorithm, 2016
Mireille Hildebrandt: Law for computer scientists and other folk, 2020 (open access)
12. Smart devices in our homes
13. Relationships and care
Ethics of care, or relational ethics, on Wikipedia
Feminist ethics on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sabelo Mhlambi on what AI can learn from Ubuntu ethics, on Medium, 2020
Washington Post: ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ has gone from surprise hit to juggernaut bestseller, 2022
MIT Technology Review: What Buddhism can do for AI ethics, 2021
Wong on Confucianism, Robots and Moral Deskilling, Philosophical Disquisitions podcast, 2019
Sumak kawsay, or buen vivir or good living, on Wikipedia
Indigenous Protocol and Artificial Intelligence, 2020
Communitarianism on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Michael Sandel: Justice
Rutger Bregman and Frans de Waal on Wikipedia
Otto Scharmer: Leading from the emerging future, 2016–excerpt, with the three divides on pages 4-5
14. A social media app
15. Virtues and flourishing
Aristotle and Virtue ethics on Wikipedia
Virtue ethics on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
Evan Selinger: Facebook Home Propaganda Makes Selfishness Contagious, Wired, 2013
Shannon Vallor: Technology and the virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting, 2016; my review of the book
Marc Steen, Martin Sand, Ibo Van de Poel: Virtue Ethics for Responsible Innovation, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, 40, 2 (2021), 243-268
Marc Steen: Slow Innovation: The need for reflexivity in Responsible Innovation, Journal of Responsible Innovation, 8, 2 (2021), 254-260.
Marc Steen: Virtues in participatory design: Cooperation, curiosity, creativity, empowerment and reflexivity, Science and Engineering Ethics, 19, 3 (2013), 945-962
16. Methods to ‘do ethics’ in your project
Marc Steen, Martijn Neef, Tamar Schaap: A Method for Rapid Ethical Deliberation in Research and Innovation Projects, International Journal of Technoethics, 12, 2 (2021), 72-85
17. Human-Centred Design
ISO 9241-210:2019 Human-centred design for interactive systems
Marc Steen: Co-design as a process of joint inquiry and imagination, Design Issues, 29, 2 (2013), 16–28
Marc Steen: Tensions in human-centred design, CoDesign, 7, 1 (2011), 45-60
18. Value Sensitive Design
Values (Western philosophy) and Value Sensitive Design on Wikipedia
Societal and Ethical Impact Canvas
Annemarie Mink: Capability Driven Design
Naomi Jacobs: Capability Sensitive Design
19. Responsible Innovation
Plastic bags were created to save the planet, inventor’s son says, Independent, 2021
Transdisciplinary Innovation, special issue of Technology Innovation Management Review, 2018
Marc Steen, Tjerk Timan, Ibo van de Poel: Responsible Innovation, Anticipation and Responsiveness: Case studies of Algorithms in Decision Support in Justice and Security, and an Exploration of Potential, Unintended, Undesirable, Higher-order Effects, AI and Ethics, 1, 4 (2021), 501-515.
Marc Steen and Joram Nauta: Advantages and disadvantages of societal engagement: a case study in a research and technology organization, Journal of Responsible Innovation, 7, 3 (2020), 598-619
20. What does your next project look like?
Books by Mark Coeckelbergh, e.g., his book AI Ethics, 2020
Books by Virginia Dignum, e.g., her book Responsible Artificial Intelligence, 2019
John Havens book Heartificial Intelligence, 2016
The Alan Turing Institute’s AI, human rights, democracy and the rule of law: A primer prepared for the Council of Europe, 2021
Ethically Aligned AI: Resources
21. Exemplars
About the author/me
Homepage, marcsteen.nl; with a list of my publications (many open access) and my favorite podcasts and videos
TNO, The Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research, where I work as senior research scientist
Delft University of Technology Industrial Design Engineering, where I earned MSc, PDEng, and PhD degrees
University of Humanistic Studies; I participated in their part-time PhD program on humanization of organization