[ToDo] CS 181: Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy

Dated Mar 1, 2020; last modified on Mon, 05 Sep 2022

The instructors of Home | Ethics of Technological Disruption have written a book: “System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot” ( available on SPL ). The authors' main ideas: the question is not about values, but better/worse social outcomes; understanding the optimization mindset of the technologist is more helpful than understanding the underlying tech; government regulation can and has led to good outcomes; a libertarian approach, e.g. just #deletefacebook, is dismissive of the value that people get from the tech.

Risk and Responsibility

  • Overview of the Class
  • Responsibility
  • Risk and Reward
  • Disasters
  • Risk Redux
  • Whistleblowing

AI Discrimination and Automated Decision-Making

  • What Good Are Statistics
  • Statistics and Fairness
  • AI Fairness
  • How to Lie with Statistics
  • AI and Accountability

Silicon Valley Inc.

  • Participation in the Tech Industry
  • Gender in the Silicon Valley Professional Workspace
  • Labor
  • Incentives and Emergent Behavior

Hacking and Information

  • Copyright and Free Software
  • Surveillance and Privacy
  • Infrastructure
  1. CS 181: Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy. Keith Winstein. Stanford University. stanfordcs181.github.io . Mar 1, 2020.
  2. System Error. Uri Bram. thebrowser.com . systemerrorbook.com . Sep 8, 2021. Accessed Sep 9, 2021.