I M A G E B Y 1 3 _ P H U N K O D / S H U T T E R S T O C K

COMPUTER SCIENCE FACULTY have a responsibility to teach
students to recognize both the larger ethical issues and
particular responsibilities that are part and parcel of
their work as technologists. This is, however, a kind of
teaching for which most of us have not been trained,
and that faculty and students approach with some
trepidation. In this article, we explore the use of science
fiction as a tool to enable those teaching artificial
intelligence to engage students and practitioners about
the scope and implications of current and future work in
computer science. We have spent several years
developing a creative approach to teaching computer
ethics, through a course we call “Science
Fiction and Computer Ethics.” 7–9, 18, 28
The course has been taught five times at
the University of Kentucky and two times
at the University of Illinois at Chicago
and has been successful with students,
as evidenced by increasing and full en-
rollments; high teaching-evaluation
numbers; positive anonymous com-
ments from students; nominations and
awards for good teaching; and invita-
tions to speak about the course on con-
ference panels and in talks.

Computer science, as a field, already recognizes that some ethics education is essential; the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (http:// www.abet.org/), one of the largest U.S.-based accreditors of engineering and technology programs, requires instruction on professional ethics. Indeed, some in computer science have gone so far as to require students in undergraduate courses to perform ethics consultations for local industry. 24 However, educating students to engage ethical challenges is often left to the cross-disciplinary portions of university curricula, especially in the U.S. 12 We, as well as others, argue that spending time focused on how these issues apply to both our own research and our students’ future work is important and necessary within computer science. 30, 36

In fields with a strong practical component and established body of

How to Teach
Computer
Ethics through
Science
Fiction
DOI: 10.1145/3154485

Science fiction in particular offers students a way to cultivate their capacity for moral imagination.

BY EMANUELLE BURTON, JUDY GOLDSMITH,
AND NICHOLAS MATTEI

key insights

 

˽ It is important to teach students to understand the difference between normative ethics—or what is the right answer or normal mode of thought—and descriptive ethics—or using the language of ethical theory to understand and describe a situation.

˽ Using fiction to teach ethics allows students to safely discuss and reason about difficult and emotionally charged issues without making the discussion personal.

˽ A good technology ethics course teaches students how to think, not what to think, about their role in the development and deployment of technology, as no one can foresee the problems that will be faced in a future career.

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