Group 62 Space the un-minable frontier? Humanity has gone through a series of industrial revolutions; this has affected lives for better and worse. Mining, whilst essential, strips resources and destroys vast ecosystems across the planet. Earth has a finite amount of resource, eventually we will have to look further afield to satisfy our technological needs. … Continue reading Deep Space Mine
Group 24 Discussing the ethical implications of Mars colonisation Introduction: the pre-launch countdown Colonisation of Mars has been an ambition of humanity for generations, however, its ethical implications are extensive: on the one hand, humans are living on an Earth with ever-decreasing resources, on the other, the planet has no life, no oxygen, no air … Continue reading Shut up and get on the rocket!
Group 25 Emissions Trading System (ETS), an adaptation of the Kyoto Treaty in 2005, is commonly known as ‘Carbon Trading’. It is the trade of emissions under the cap-and-trade scheme devised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). It aims at holding industries accountable for their contributions towards climate change without affecting their business operations. How? … Continue reading Carbon Trading: Progress or Pretence?
Group 83 In this article we will be discussing the ethics behind pharmaceutical companies and the pricing of their products. The NHS and Vertex pharmaceuticals are currently in a stalemate in their negotiations, regarding the pricing of a cystic fibrosis treatment, Orkambi. This drug has the ability to slow the decline of lung functionality and … Continue reading Is it ethical for pharmaceutical companies to charge what they want for their products?
Group 65 Autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars has shown various advantage comparing with traditional vehicles, especially in automated trucks industries. Tremendous investment and research have been done by automobile manufactures and AI companies. This article is considering an ethical thought experiment, which developed from the “trolley problem”. Imagine you are driving/sitting in an autonomous vehicle … Continue reading The trolley problem in self-driving vehicles
Group 28 In November 2018, Chinese scientist Jiankui He claimed that he has firstly created a pair of genetically edited embryos using a tool called CRISPR Cas9 to eliminate a gene called CCR5. This trial enrolled 7 couples of embryos, both of whom were HIV-positive fathers and HIV-negative mothers. Finally, one group of successful pregnancy … Continue reading Should Gene-edited Baby be Banned?
Group 17 Keystone XL. You may have heard this name thrown around, but what’s the big deal, and why is it still causing such fierce opposition? The XL project, proposed back in 2008 by TransCanada, would modify the existing Keystone pipeline that runs crude oil from both Canada and the US to refineries on the … Continue reading Keystone XL: Do the Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few?
Group 5 The news that Sergio Canavero, an Italian surgeon, and his colleague, Xiaoping Ren of China, plan to perform a ‘head transplant’ with an intention of ‘execution’, surfaced in 2017. Albeit, the pair now state that the procedure is imminent. The procedure (above) involves taking the head of an individual, unable to use their … Continue reading Modern day Frankenstein prepares for world’s first head transplant
Group 74 Annually, 400 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide. As the world is trying to reduce its dependency on plastic, it does not seem to be reachable in the near future. What is the reason for this? What will replace plastic, would that be viable? Is it possible that plastic-phobia is exaggerated? A … Continue reading Life in Plastic. Is it fantastic?
Group 14 Big data is a digital phenomenon that has developed rapidly in recent years. According to the research in 2017, 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the past two years alone. Government agencies, companies, and even individuals can capture, store, analyze, distribute and use massive amounts of data … Continue reading Big Data: A Double-edged Sword
Group 37 In February 2013 a Wisconsin man, Eric Loomis, became the first criminal to receive a sentence strongly influenced by artificial intelligence (AI). Loomis was determined high-risk by COMPAS, the risk-assessing algorithm, and subsequently sentenced to 6 years in prison. The sentence was followed by an appeal, arguing that the risk score violated human … Continue reading SHOCKING: Find Out What the Government Doesn’t Want You to Know About AI!
Group 64 The HS2 is facing with the problems now: their planed railway needs to remove some families (around 270,000 families will be influenced by this project). For the public now, they must meet problem with lower compensation than open market price of their houses which. For the HS2 company they must consider the time, … Continue reading Should HS2 company evacuate residents with satisfying compensation?
Group 15 With the rapid development of science and technology, humankind has begun to take the step of exploration into space. Recently, Space Elevator, a cutting-edge planet-to-space transportation system has been introduced. The concept of it is that a very long cable is fixed on the earth and then extended to space. This will allow … Continue reading A Brand New Way to Explore Space: Should the space elevator be built?
Group 48 The US Army recently had to assuage fears over their so called ‘killer robots’ after plans to upgrade their current Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS) in ground combat vehicles’ weaponry emerged. The Defence Department aim to use ATLAS alongside tank crews to “acquire, identify, and engage targets at least three times … Continue reading YOU WON’T BELIEVE HOW FAST THE US CAN KILL YOU WITH AI! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!
Group 61 Along with the modernization, the advancement and evolvement in the construction field have shed light on how rapid the world scenario is nowadays. Construction of an artificial island over the ocean is one of the most significant development, combining both human intelligence and technology. Generally, artificial island is made by using the land … Continue reading Artificial Islands – Beneficial or Detrimental?
Group 26 Nowadays, automatic system has already been employed in a wide field. With a high-level of control permission, automatic system in vehicles can act as a “driver” to take over the control of vehicle. But such high-level of control permission for automatic system can cause many ethical problems such as how to judge the … Continue reading Should automatic system have high-level control permission among vehicle?
Group 41 In 2010, FIFA awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. The decision was controversial and has since been marred by allegations of corruption and the use of slave labour and unpaid migrant work in the construction of facilities for the tournament. It has been suggested that one of the … Continue reading Is it ethical for engineers to work on projects for the Qatar World Cup?
Group 56 Countries and media responded immediately when PRISM was exposed. The most concern is mass surveillance circumvents our right to personal data control. No one wants to be Truman. However, the United State keeps on collecting citizen information and uses it. As President Obama told the crowd, “I think it’s important to recognize that … Continue reading Should engineers provide private information of their clients to the government?