ETHICAL CHALLENGES

Katerina Zdravkova
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia
e-mail: katerina.zdravkova@finki.ukim.mk
 Overview
 Ethical dilemmas of new technologies
 Misuse of research findings
 Unethical human experimentation
 Misconduct in science

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 Ethical dilemmas of new technologies
 Bill Joy „Why the future doesn't need us“
 GNR = genetic research, nanotechnology and
robotics
 Bill Joy said GNR „gives the power - whether
militarily, accidentally, or in a deliberate terrorist
act - to create a White Plague “
 GNR can cause a degradation and destruction of
human civilization

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 Advancements of genetic engineering
in the 21st century
 Positive example: synthetic insulin
 Negative example: Severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS) virus , which causes acute
respiratory distress and sometimes death
 Two-edged sword 1: genetically modified food
 Two-edged sword 2: DNA computers

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 Genetically modified organisms
 Genetically modified organisms in agriculture:
 Superior to traditional plants
 Plants with animal DNA
 Eternal environment contaminators
 Genetically modified children
 The world's first test-tube baby was born in 1978
 The first successful transfer of genetic material into
human fetus was done in 1997
 Harvard and Dow Chemical patent a genetically
engineered mouse used to study cancer in 1988

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 Genetically modified babies / 1
 In July 2012, 30 healthy children with three
biological parents were born (two mothers and one
father)
 In September 2016, genetically modified baby born
with DNA from 2 women
 In late 2016, scientists at the University of Bath
developed a technique that allowed healthy baby
mice to be born without the need of a female mouse

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 Genetically modified babies / 2
 Chinese scientist He Jiankui claims that one of GM
twin girls Lulu and Nana is protected from HIV
 He edited their DNA when they were just a single-
cell by making a genetic surgery
 He used CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing
 CRISP = Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
Palindromic Repeats
 Cas9 are CRISPR-associated (Cas) genes that are
essential in adaptive immunity in select bacteria and
archaea, enabling the organisms to respond to and
eliminate invading genetic material

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 The reaction about twin girls
 Chinese government questioned the legality of He’s
actions
 “It’s only a matter of time until religious leaders weigh
in intensely, condemning the arrogance and hubris of
scientists playing God”
 Chinese government decided to stop the project
 The CRISPR tool is inexpensive and powerful that
experimentation is going to be frequent and far-
reaching
 If parents can help their kids in a profound way,
they will insist on genetic modification of embryos
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 The reaction about GM babies
 Dr Adashi, “There's something troubling about an
inexhaustible supply of gametes that can be
fertilised into an inexhaustible supply of embryos”
 But, if the technique is developed for humans,
producing sperm or eggs without the need for
reproductive organs could help patients who have
fertility problems

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 Human-monkey embryos
 August 2019: Spanish scientists created human-
monkey chimera in China
 Stem cells, which are capable of creating any type of
tissue were injected into an animal embryos
 Main goal: growing organs for transplantation

 What is your opinion, should in vitro fertilisation

(IVF) stimulate genetically modified embryos?

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 Advancements of nanotechnology in
the 21st century
 Bill Joy estimated that: „Nanotechnology has clear
military and terrorist uses, and you need not be
suicidal to release a massively destructive
nanotechnological device - such devices can be built
to be selectively destructive.“
 Positive example: smart nanoparticles programmed
to selectively deliver the medicaments in the
pancreas cells
 Bloomfield: „Nanotechnology has a ‘control’ over
the structure of matter“

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 Advancements of robotics in the 21st
century
 Ray Kurzweil „The Age of Spiritual Machines: When
Computers Exceed Human Intelligence“
By 2030, intelligent robots capable of self-
reproduction will appear, which is one step towards
the creation of robotic species.
 Positive examples: Robocup, Geminoid-DK, IBM-
Watson, Sony’s dancing robots, robots intended to
socialize children with autism
 BBC, October 2011: „Robots are about to invade our
lives.“

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 Humanoid robots

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 Three laws of robotics
Isaac Asimov:
„1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human
beings, except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as
such protection does not conflict with the First or
Second Law

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction,

allow humanity to come to harm.“

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 Negative aspects of robotics
 Few doubts: will the new robots be self-
conscientious, empathetic, benevolent and
generous?
 Elon Musk:
„You have no idea how close we are to killer robots“
 Louis Del Monte:
„Killer robots are already a reality and will
proliferate over the next five or ten years“

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 GNR’s key problems
 The symbiosis of genetic engineering,
nanotechnology and robotics = immortal intelligent
organisms with a power to self-reproduce
 Human will have no control over them
 Even the most caring and benevolent intelligent
organisms can harm the humanity we know today

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 The scary dimension of artificial
intelligence
 Elon Musk:
„AI could be more dangerous than nukes “
 Stephen Hawking:
„AI represents a threat to humanity “

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 AI great successes
 IBM Deep Blue
 IBM Watson
 Siri and Cortana
 Google Translate
 RoboCup
 Google Car ...

 Google DeepMind (first popular success, January

2016, Go)

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 Consequences of AI development
 Superintelligence of machines and / or
superintelligence of human cyborgs.
 Ray Kurzweil estimated that if Gordon Moore’s Law
persists, in 2029 home computers will have a
processing power that is equal to the processing
power of human brain.
 No later than 2045, technological singularity will be
reached.

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 Technological singularity
 Defined by John Von Neumann in 1958
 The Singularity is the hypothetical future creation
of superintelligent machines. Superintelligence is
defined as a technologically-created cognitive
capacity far beyond that possible for humans.
 Should the Singularity occur, technology will
advance beyond our ability to foresee or control its
outcomes and the world will be transformed
beyond recognition by the application of
superintelligence to humans and/or human
problems, including poverty, disease and mortality.

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 ICT and military industry
 First ICT inventions were created to support the
military industry in the U.S. and in the former U.S.S.R.
 Internet is a result of ARPAnet (Advanced Research
Projects Agency) project, today DARPA (U.S. Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency)
 GPS (Global Positioning System) was invented as part of
one of DARPA‘s projects
 DoD (U.S. Department of Defense) is probably the
biggest financial supporter of ICTs worldwide
 If behind one science and industry, the greatest investor
is the army, it undoubtedly doesn’t have only charitable
and altruistic intentions

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 Norbert Wiener
 1950, The Human Use of Human Beings
 Wiener wrote: „Thus the new industrial revolution
is a two-edged sword. It may be used for the benefit
of humanity, but only if humanity survives long
enough to enter a period in which such a benefit is
possible. It may also be used to destroy humanity,
and if it is not used intelligently it can go very far in
that direction. “

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 Louis Del Monte (1)
 How will the scenario of human obliteration look
like?
 AI machines will become the greatest human
inventions
 They will cure the deceases, produce an abundance
of products, reduce the hunger
 By implanting brain nanoimplants, people will
become genius

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 Louis Del Monte (2)
 Human beings will share their consciousness with
the machines
 Machines and the cyborgs with strong AI will use
ingenious excuses to convince as much as possible
“organic” people to use the implants
 By the end of 21st century, “organic” people will be a
minority and an endangered spices, but even then,
they will be a threat for cyborgs and AI machines

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 The ethical dilemma
 Is it worthwhile to carry on with the research being
aware that many scientific results lead to the
destruction of humanity?

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 Why worry?
 The phenomenon of pervasive and ubiquitous
computing
 Microchips are embedded almost everywhere
 Technology can soon become a powerful weapon of
malicious people

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 The answer
 Yes, without research and new inventions, there is
no progress
 But, the awareness of potential risks must be as
high as possible
 In extreme situations, researcher has a moral
obligation to become a whistleblower

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 Warnings about nuclear bomb
 In 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Pres.
Roosvelt warning him that recent work leads him
“to expect that the element uranium may be turned
into a new and important source of energy in the
immediate future”
 German physicists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls,
who were engaged at University of Birmingham
also warned about Germany's nuclear weapons
program, it’s feasibility and impact
 Their report from March 1940 is called Frisch -
Peierls memorandum
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 Misuse of research findings (H2020)
 The research most vulnerable to misuse is research
that:
 provides knowledge, materials and technologies
that could be channelled into crime or terrorism
 could result in chemical, biological, radiological or
nuclear weapons and the means for their delivery
 involves developing surveillance technologies that
could curtail human rights and civil liberties
 Involves minority or vulnerable groups or develops
social, behavioural or genetic profiling technologies
that could be misused to stigmatise, discriminate
against, harass or intimidate people
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http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/hi/guide_res
earch-misuse_en.pdf
 Manhattan project
 In the period between 1942 and 1946, more than
100000 people worked on this secret project
 The secret Los Alamos Laboratory (known as
Project Y) was led by Robert Oppenheimer
 Very few people knew that the final goal of the
project were nuclear bombs
 After first successful nuclear detonation in
Alamogordo, New Mexico, Oppenheimer recalled
the verses from the Bhagavad Gita: “"I am become
Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

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 Atoms for peace program
 On 8th December 1953, President Eisenhower
delivered his “Atoms for Peace” speech before the
United Nations General Assembly
 US launched an "Atoms for Peace" program that
supplied equipment and information to schools,
hospitals, and research institutions within the U.S.
and throughout the world
 As part of this program, the first nuclear reactors
were built in Iran, Israel and Pakistan

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 Eisenhower’s quotation
 “To the making of these fateful decisions, the United
States pledges before you - and therefore before the
world its determination to help solve the fearful
atomic dilemma - to devote its entire heart and
mind to find the way by which the miraculous
inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his
death, but consecrated to his life.”
 In spite of the nuclear deal from 2015, according to
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), Iran’s
nuclear program has continued to implement its
nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA
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 Unethical human experimentation
 1932 – 1972: Tuskegee Syphilis Study, sponsored by
the U.S. Department of Health
 1939 – 1945: Research conducted by German
scientists on concentration camps prisoners and
Japanese scientists on Chinese prisoners of war
 1944 – 1975: U.S. Radiation Research Programs
 1956 – 1980: Hepatitis experiments on mentally
disabled children, who were intentionally infected
 1950 – 1963: MKUltra – CIA mind control research
that manipulates people's mental states and alter
brain functions
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 WMA Declaration of Helsinki
 Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving
Human Subjects
 Adopted by the 18th WMA General Assembly,
Helsinki, Finland, June 1964
 Last amendment: 64th WMA General Assembly,
Fortaleza, Brazil, October 2013
 Preamble
 WMA has developed the Declaration of Helsinki as a
statement of ethical principles for medical research
involving human subjects, including research on
identifiable human material and data.
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 Topics of WMA Declaration of Helsinki
 General Principles
 Risks, Burdens and Benefits
 Vulnerable Groups and Individuals
 Scientific Requirements and Research Protocols
 Research Ethics Committees
 Privacy and Confidentiality
 Informed Consent
 Use of Placebo
 Post-Trial Provisions
https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-
principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/
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 Dangerous missions
 1985: Space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73
seconds after blasting off from Florida's Kennedy
Space Center, killing all seven astronauts on board
 NASA was warned that an O-ring failure might
occur, due to cold weather
 2003: The orbiter Columbia broke apart upon re-
entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven
astronauts on board
 The orbiter had suffered critical damage during its
launch, when foam from the fuel tank's insulation
fell off and hit the left wing
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 Conclusion
 New technologies were generally used for the
benefit of humanity
 Quality and length of life have significantly
improved
 But, there were many situations of misused
technology
 Our obligation is to be aware of all the challenges
and reduce their negative effects as much as
possible

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