Ethics

Pilot program embeds ethics into U of T undergraduate technology courses

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:18:27 +0000

Pilot program embeds ethics into U of T undergraduate technology courses

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 07/05/2021 - 13:18

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Diane Horton and Sheila McIlraith are co-leading a pilot program to embed ethics into a cross section of undergraduate computer science courses at the university (photos by Ken Jones and Johnny Guatto)

Jovana Jankovic

Topic

Our Community

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Ethics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Philosophy

A new pilot program at the ��Ƶ will embed ethics modules into existing undergraduate computer science courses in a bid to ensure future technologies designed and deployed in ways that consider their broader societal impact.

From learning about the complex trade-off between data privacy and public benefit to making design decisions that impact marginalized communities, the pilot program – led by the department of computer science, in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) – will teach computer science students skills to identify potential ethical risks in the technologies they are learning to build.

The initiative aims to equip U of T graduates, who may go on to become global tech leaders, to make informed decisions about technology and its wide-ranging effects on justice, health care, education, economies, human rights and beyond.

“We want to teach students how to think, not what to think,” says Sheila McIlraith, a professor of computer science and a research lead at SRI who is co-leading the initiative, which includes scholars who specialize in ethics from U of T’s department of philosophy.

“We’re not proselytizing about ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ But we want students to identify ethical questions because, when they enter the workforce, they will be on the front lines. They’ll be the ones writing the code, developing the systems, using the data. It’s imperative that ethical considerations are part of fundamental design principles.”

McIlraith points to the rapidly changing role technology plays in society as evidence of the urgent need for such a program.

“It used to be that technologists would build systems for a particular purpose or industry,” she says. “But now technology is no longer just for individual tasks like completing tax returns or keeping track of company inventory. Technology impacts the way all of us live, work and interact with each other. A lot of the money and investment that fuels our economy is related to technology. And emerging tech companies are often led by young people who have just come out of computer science degrees.”

When SRI was founded in 2019, McIlraith was appointed as one of its inaugural research leads. She quickly approached SRI Director Gillian K. Hadfield about the need for an embedded ethics initiative in computer science, citing a similar pioneering program already underway at Harvard University. Hadfield immediately saw the alignment with SRI’s mission to explore the dynamics between technology and the human agenda – and to solve problems at the intersection of technology and public good.

McIlraith and Horton are joined on the team by Benjamin Wald, most recently a post-doctoral researcher at SRI and an alumnus of U of T’s department of philosophy; Maryam Majedi, a post-doctoral researcher in the department of computer science; and Emma McClure, a PhD candidate in the department of philosophy.

“Embedding ethical considerations into existing courses helps students see their relevance at the very moment they’re learning the computer science,” says Diane Horton, a professor, teaching stream, in the department who is co-leading the pilot program with McIlraith. “The ethics modules are associated very closely with the technical content, so when students are eventually in the workplace, we hope the two will remain very connected in their minds.”

Horton, who has been teaching in the department for 25 years, has seen first-hand how eager students are to talk about ethics. She also noted that they bring different perspectives to the conversation.

“One student had a very intense appreciation for the vulnerability of the homeless population,” says Horton, “and she brought that from her personal experience. Another student talked about the hospital where he works, and how private medical data is so carefully protected.”

“There has been so much curiosity from the students,” adds Majedi of the initiative so far. “They ask a lot of questions and offer interesting and creative ideas. Some get so excited, and they stay long after class to talk with us.”

Majedi says her own research into data privacy has highlighted a gap in curricula where ethical training for students is badly needed.

“It's critical to teach ethics in computer science,” she says, “because these students will be responsible for many important tasks in the future.”

Both Wald and McClure say they are excited to see the enthusiasm among computer science students when it comes to addressing ethical questions.

“I think the students really want to have these critical thinking tools, because it’s clear they’ve been considering these issues already,” says McClure.

“Sometimes, a computer science student might recognize a potential ethical issue,” says Wald, “but might not know how it’s been discussed by other people, or where to find the right resources to address it. They might think, ‘How do I put the concern I have into words?’ Hopefully we can give them the tools to do that.”

The embedded ethics initiative will produce a longitudinal study to inform its future directions. The goal is for every computer science student to encounter ethics modules at several points in their U of T computer science program – and bring those insights to their future careers.

“Big tech companies like Apple often employ people in specialized ethics roles, but our program aims to equip people who are actually building the technologies at a company like that,” says McClure. “That way, the ethical behaviour comes from within the design of technologies. It comes from the bottom instead of being imposed from the outside by an ‘ethics specialist.’”

McIlraith and Horton both credit Harvard’s Barbara Grosz and Jeff Behrends for supporting the U of T team at the early stages of the pilot program’s conception and development. Grosz is a founder of Harvard’s Embedded EthiCS program, while Behrends is a faculty team leader.

The U of T team aims to engage other faculty, instructors and researchers as it grows – in particular, computer science faculty who have already been teaching undergraduate courses in the core curriculum for years.

“Longer-term, we aspire to have ethical considerations as a cornerstone of many of our tech-oriented disciplines within the university,” says McIlraith. “One of our goals is to create a winning strategy so that this pilot can transform into something broader.”

The Ethics of Architecture: Mark Kingwell launches U of T-Oxford book series

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 19:09:40 +0000

The Ethics of Architecture: Mark Kingwell launches U of T-Oxford book series

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 04/28/2021 - 15:09

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(Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty Images)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Law

Global

Philosophy

Architecture is a part of daily life that often gets overlooked.

From a simple doorknob to spectacular feats of engineering, such as the 430-metre Zhangjiajie skywalk bridge in China’s Hunan Province, the built environment reflects and responds to societies’ values.

It also raises questions about aesthetics, technology – and ethics.

In The Ethics of Architecture, Mark Kingwell, a professor of philosophy in the ��Ƶ’s Faculty of Arts & Science, looks at architecture’s ethical implications and whether building designers should serve the community as well as clients. That includes exploring “the professional obligations of architects,” considerations in the field about the common good and the notion of architecture as a collective undertaking.

The book, the first in a series published by University of Oxford Press in partnership with U of T’s Centre for Ethics, comes as the world grapples with a global health crisis. And, as Kingwell writes in the preface, world-historical shifts and disasters, especially those related to public health, have often shaped physical structures in cities and beyond.

“There is a long history of architectural innovation driven by human frailty,” Kingwell writes, citing sewage systems, indoor plumbing, heating and vertical density, among other examples.

Like others who have wondered whether the pandemic recovery will usher in positive changes, Kingwell also asks what “utopian opportunities” for architecture lie ahead to create more equitable societies.

Called “Ethics in Context,” the book series pledges to explore “the ethical dimensions of interesting, provocative, and timely questions” in a way that is both scholarly and accessible.

It is the brainchild of Markus Dubber, a professor of law and criminology in the Faculty of Law and the director of U of T’s Centre for Ethics.

He says the series – like the centre itself – aims to position itself itself at the intersection of academic research and public discourse.

“The inclusive, interdisciplinary vision of ethical inquiry that characterizes the Centre for Ethics lent itself to the establishment of this series,” Dubber says.

The second instalment in the series will look at the ethics of racial humour, and is written by Luvell Anderson, an associate professor of philosophy at Syracuse University who specializes in the philosophy of language, race and aesthetics.

As for Kingwell, he uses The Ethics of Architecture to address serious scholars of ethics as well as general readers with an interest in the built environment and how cities work – or don’t.

His observations are timely given that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, with the number expected to grow to 68 per cent by 2050.

Since Kingwell’s book was first in the series, he says it can be seen as a “sort of keynote” that is intended for specialist readers and a lay audience alike.

“It feels more like an advanced seminar with smart people from various disciplines, plus some auditors,” Kingwell says.

“You can’t take anything for granted, so no exclusionary jargon or inside terminology is allowed,” he says. “But the material has to be meaty enough to reward serious interest.”

Media ethics in the fake news era: Conference at U of T builds on Marshall McLuhan’s legacy

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:23:50 +0000

Media ethics in the fake news era: Conference at U of T builds on Marshall McLuhan’s legacy

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 06/24/2019 - 12:23

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The University of St. Michael’s College in the ��Ƶ and U of T are co-hosting the Media Ecology Association's annual convention this week (photo by Makeda Marc-Ali)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Information

University of St. Michael's College

In a world of fake news, hyper-connectivity and rapidly advancing means of communication, the humanistic and critical perspective of famed media theorist – and ��Ƶ professor –Marshall McLuhan can feel almost prophetic. So it’s fitting that, this week, hundreds of scholars will converge on U of T’s downtown Toronto campus to address many of the most important and challenging questions about media and society today.

From June 27-30, the University of St. Michael’s College in the ��Ƶ and U of T will co-host the Media Ecology Association (MEA) for its 20th annual convention. This year’s theme is “Media Ethics: Human Ecology in a Connected World,” and the itinerary includes 80 sessions and events that feature 300 speakers from 30 countries.

The international conference is timely, with elections on the horizon in both Canada and the United States.

“Given St. Mike’s long tradition of teaching and research infused with a focus on ethics and values, it’s fitting that we, along with U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science, Faculty of Information, and the Centre for Ethics, have joined together with the MEA to inspire the next generation of media scholars,” said St. Michael’s President David Sylvester.

Paolo Granata, an assistant professor of book and media studies, is the chair of this year’s conference. He organized the event with an eye on a technological society developing so quickly that lawmakers and ethicists are struggling to keep pace. Granata explores these ideas in his research and teaching, including the McLuhan Seminar in Creativity and Technology, an SMC One program that features a learning experience in Silicon Valley for first-year students. A number of Granata’s students will also be on hand to participate in and support the proceedings while making connections with scholars in the field.

The proceedings will kick off on Wednesday with a pre-conference panel discussion on how the internet is affecting civil society featuring Mark Kingwell, a professor in U of T’s department of philosophy. Presented by the Toronto Reference Library and the McLuhan Salon Series, “The Social Cost of the Information Age” networking event is free and open to the public.

The formal opening of the convention is on June 27 and will include remarks from the Honourable Karina Gould, Canada's minister of democratic institutions.

“The Media Ethics conference provides an important space for Canadians to discuss how they use platforms, the information they are seeing on these platforms and the level of trust they have for these platforms,” says Gould.

“Democracy is rooted in the trust of the people in the process and in the legitimacy of the outcome.”

As spring convocation wraps up, six U of T graduates offer advice to future students

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 15:35:31 +0000

As spring convocation wraps up, six U of T graduates offer advice to future students

geoff.vendeville Fri, 06/21/2019 - 11:35

Faculty of Arts & Science Staff

Topic

Our Community

Convocation 2019

Cell and Systems Biology

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

English

Ethics

Faculty of Arts & Science

History

Humanities

Innis College

Jackman Humanities Institute

Mathematics

New College

St. Michael's College

The parades of smiling graduates going to and from Convocation Hall are almost over. The crowds of family and friends snapping selfies on front campus will soon be a memory – that is, until the next cohort of students celebrate their big academic milestone in the fall.

But before the ��Ƶ’s most recent graduates set off for exciting careers or further study, we asked six from the Faculty of Arts & Science to pass along advice to current and future students.

Each brings a different perspective from a different college, and majored in subjects as diverse as cell biology and criminology.

Talise Beveridge
Woodsworth College
English, history and criminology

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Talise Beveridge says many students get caught up in a routine in which they cycle between home, class and the library.

But as a U of T student, Beveridge’s life consisted of much more than that. She spent a summer abroad at Oxford University, the same place where she will be pursuing a master’s in English and American studies.

She had on-campus jobs at the Athletic Centre and as an exam scribe and reader for students with accessibility needs. She did community work with her sorority and volunteered through the student experience mentorship program.

One of her most memorable experiences was being an undergraduate fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute. The research position allowed her to delve into historical FBI archives and study a 1960s counter-intelligence program in which federal authorities secretly – and sometimes illegally – surveilled domestic political groups like the Black Panthers, Communist Party and anti-Vietnam War movement.

Speaking from experience, she tells current and future students to find interests outside school. “A lot of students get into a bubble of going from the library to class, to their house, and they get wrapped up in their schoolwork,” she says.

“I think I’ve become more invested in my schoolwork because I’ve removed myself from it often.”

“If you feel like your student experience is lacking, I would encourage you to volunteer or get a job on campus. You’ll meet people you wouldn’t otherwise come into contact with. Remember that you’re not only a student, you’re also a community member. That’s a very grounding thing to think about. It helps you realize you’re not just here for school.”

– Jovana Jankovic

Kaitlyn Ferreira
University College
Cell and systems biology and human biology

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Kaitlyn Ferreira’s majors in cell and systems biology and human biology gave her insights into human health at varying scales, from the microscopic to broader views of health and disease.

But the most valuable skill, she says, was learning to adapt when things don’t go as planned.

As a University College orientation leader and peer mentor, she’s thought a lot about what she would tell the students coming behind her. “Enjoy the failures as much as the successes,” she says. “This sounds really out there at first, but trust me, it works.

“In any moment of failure you’re going to be really upset and just want to curl into a ball. And that’s OK, you can do that – but after that, you’re going to roll your sleeves up, crack your knuckles and get back to work.

“When you look back in a week or a month or a year, you’ll see that that moment of failure made you a stronger person, a better student and opened you up to other possibilities that you wouldn't have had if you succeeded in the first place.”

– Sean Bettam

Gina Kwon
Trinity College
Ethics, society and law

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Trinity College’s One Program of small seminars sparked Gina Kwon’s interest in social justice and led her to major in ethics, society and law.

Her passion for the subject motivated her to apply for an international scholarship to assist a researcher at Australian National University. The researcher is exploring Indigenous communities’ disputes with mining companies trying to operate on their land without consent.

“I realized how little I knew about Indigenous-settler relations today,” Kwon said. She added that the research placement broadened her perspective and gave her new cross-cultural insights.

To the next generation of students, she says: “Be honest about the things you don’t know. It’s OK to not know. We’ll always be learning.”

Kwon is heading to Cambridge University this fall to pursue a Master of Philosophy in environmental policy.

– Alexa Zulak

Ethan Kim
Innis College
Neuroscience and molecular biology

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Music plays an important role in Ethan Kim’s life, so it’s no surprise it was a defining feature of his time at U of T. He was a regular at Innis Jamz, a bi-monthly jam session for musicians at U of T’s small and tight-knit college, and was co-director of the Innis College Choir, where he met most of his friends. He also worked on a musical adaptation of Moby Dick with students from other colleges.

On top of that, he started a podcast called Lecture Me Not in which he interviews professors to highlight their personalities and break down the barrier between student and teacher. “Listeners learn about the professor’s life journey and how they got to where they are,” Kim says.

His research focus over the last four years was drug addiction. “We’re hoping to find a switch that turns off drug addiction,” he says, adding a discovery that could help resolve the opioid crisis.

If he could time-travel back to first year, he would tell himself – and, by implication, other first-year students – to worry less.

“Don’t be scared of the future. If you keep working, you’ll eventually get there,” he says. “Don’t worry about other people’s expectations. As long as you meet your own expectations, you’ll be OK. And sleep more. Definitely sleep more.”

– Chris Sasaki

Shweta Mogalapalli
New College
Computer science and mathematics

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

Shweta Mogalapalli had a foot in the door with one of the world’s largest companies even before graduating.

She interned twice at Microsoft’s Seattle office and plans to join their Azure IoT team as a full-time engineer after convocation.

She made the most of her university experience as a computer science peer mentor, student ambassador and president of U of T Hacks, a 36-hour hackathon that’s entering its seventh year.
As a mentor, she gave students the advice she would have wanted to hear in first year.

“My advice for students is to not hesitate to reach out for help,” she says.

“Professors, TAs and even upper-year students are always willing to answer questions and help in any way they can. And take advantage of the vast number of events hosted by computer science and other clubs on campus to meet people and make meaningful connections. Networking is very important – not only for career development, but also personal growth.”

– Jovana Jankovic

Natasha Klasios
St. Michael’s College
Ecology and global health

(photo by Diana Tyszko)

It may seem daunting to juggle varsity sports with exams, assignments and labs.

But for Natasha Klasios, playing striker for U of T’s Varsity Blues soccer team while keeping up with school was never a chore. In fact, her efforts on the field contributed to her success in class, she says.

“My Varsity Blues experience taught me how to deal with adversity, and that talent and hard work are necessary for success,” she says.

She won several awards including the Silver T and U Sports Academic All-Canadian Award during her four seasons with the Blues, and represented Canada at the 2017 FISU Summer Universiade in Taipei.

She didn’t just travel for soccer. As an undergraduate researcher in Assistant Professor Chelsea Rochman’s lab, Klasios went to California to collect samples for her undergraduate thesis, which focused on whether mussels and clams in San Francisco Bay ingested microplastics.

To the undergraduates who have yet to don convocation robes, she says: “Get involved. There are so many opportunities available, take advantage of them. U of T is a big school, but I was able to make the most of my time by getting involved in academic research and with the Varsity Blues community.”

– Alexa Zulak

'Built for this moment': U of T researcher helps develop ethics of AI handbook

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 19:07:58 +0000

'Built for this moment': U of T researcher helps develop ethics of AI handbook

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 02/28/2019 - 14:07

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Markus Dubber, the head of U of T's Centre for Ethics, is co-editing an Oxford Handbook on the Ethics of AI and will be holding a two-day workshop this week on the handbook's progress (photo courtesy of U of T Faculty of Law)

Chris Sorensen

Topic

Global Lens

Artificial Intelligence

Centre for Ethics

English

Ethics

Faculty of Arts & Science

Research & Innovation

Trinity College

The ��Ƶ’s prowess in artificial intelligence research is widely recognized, attracting a who’s who of technology companies to Canada’s largest city. Less well known, however, is the work being done by people like Markus Dubber to ensure the potentially transformative technology will be developed responsibly.

The head of U of T’s Centre for Ethics has spent the past two years facilitating an interdisciplinary conversation on AI and ethics by bringing together computer scientists and philosophers, engineers and doctors from across the university and beyond.

Now, he’s also co-editing a “soup to nuts” Oxford Handbook on the Ethics of AI with Sunit Das, an associate professor in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, and Frank Pasquale of the University of Maryland.

“I think the issue of figuring out how to make and use AI ethically is one of the central normative challenges of our time,” says Dubber, who is also a professor at U of T’s Faculty of Law. “It’s also one of the most exciting opportunities for meaningful interdisciplinary and international exchange among academics and for engagement with broader publics.

“Public universities were built for this moment.”

Beginning tomorrow, the centre will host a two-day workshop on the progress of the handbook, which is due out later this year. It will feature talks from contributors representing a number of institutions – from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University to the University of Connecticut.

U of T News caught up with Dubber this week to find out more about the project and its importance for AI development.

What is the Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI?

The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI tries to frame the academic and public conversation about the ethical dimensions of AI in its various shapes and sizes. It reflects our conviction that generating and maintaining an ethics of AI will require a broadly international and interdisciplinary, all-hands-on-deck, effort. It grew out of the Ethics of AI in Context initiative at the Centre for Ethics here at U of T, which has been about creating a forum for a truly open interdisciplinary exchange, based neither in computer science or engineering, on one side, or on the humanities or social sciences, on the other. It started with a workshop series and a graduate seminar.

How did you become involved?

I’m a big fan of handbooks – they’re a great way to capture and also to shape a field through the choice of topics and contributors, and even by the decision to assemble a handbook for a particular subject in the first place. Since I edited a bunch of handbooks for Oxford University Press on other subjects over the years, it struck me that putting together a handbook of ethics of AI might be a distinctive and perhaps even useful contribution the Centre for Ethics could make to the emerging academic and public conversation about the ethics of AI.

The handbook, which I’m co-editing with my fellow Ethics of AI Lab member Sunit Das and Frank Pasquale of the University of Maryland, will come out in late 2019, knock on wood, and will include 50 or so chapters written by a diverse interdisciplinary and international lineup of authors, covering ethics of AI from soup to nuts – from introductory overviews of the project of ethics of AI as a whole, key concepts and issues like bias, autonomy, transparency, as well as various perspectives and approaches to several applications like law, medicine, autonomous vehicles and so forth.

How big an issue is ethics in AI – at U of T and more broadly?

This may well be the Kool-Aid talking, but I think the issue of figuring out how to make and use AI ethically is one of the central normative challenges of our time. It’s also one of the most exciting opportunities for meaningful interdisciplinary and international exchange among academics and for engagement with broader publics. Public universities were built for this moment.

U of T, and the Centre for Ethics, are an obvious place to take the lead on this issue. U of T is closely associated with – and invested in – AI research and has a well-deserved reputation for strength across a wide range of disciplines. At the same time, the Centre for Ethics has a uniquely interdisciplinary, university-wide, and public-facing mission to explore the ethical dimensions of individual, social and political life. We think the university has a terrific opportunity to make a signal contribution to a vexing academic and public issue of local, domestic and global significance. We hope U of T will seize that opportunity.

What will be the focus of the upcoming workshop?

The workshop captures a snapshot of the evolution of the handbook. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of contributors to the handbook, drawn from each part of the volume, who’ll share their work-in-progress on their chapter. Disciplines represented include computer science, economics, engineering, English, industrial and labour relations, law, philosophy and urban studies and planning. Speakers’ affiliations include Cornell, MIT, Northeastern University, Rutgers University-Camden, University of Connecticut, and University of Virginia, as well as the University of Ottawa and the ��Ƶ – the department of English’s Avery Slater, who is another Ethics of AI Lab member – and the enterprise software-maker SAP. Topics include: “Ethics of AI in Context: Society,” “Private Sector AI: Ethics and Incentives,” “The Rights of Artificial Intelligences,” as well as perspectives on ethics of AI from economics, engineering, the humanities, and political economy, and the ethical dimensions of applications of AI in public law and policy, smart cities and the future of work.

How does the handbook fit in with what you’re trying to do at U of T’s Centre for Ethics?

The handbook plays a key role in our attempt to build an Ethics of AI Lab at the Centre for Ethics. They’re both about launching and sustaining a from-the-ground-up interdisciplinary and international dialogue about the ethical dimensions of AI as it spreads through all aspects of private, public, and political life, here, there, and everywhere. The handbook is meant as a canon-defining work that shapes the broad and diverse conversation about ethics of AI we all need to have, and to have now, within and beyond the university. U of T’s Ethics of AI Lab has started to make that conversation happen, and will continue to nourish and expand it in years to come.

From the Amazon's uncontacted people to physician-assisted deaths in Canada: U of T's Kerry Bowman probes thorny issues

ullahnor — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 21:00:48 +0000

From the Amazon's uncontacted people to physician-assisted deaths in Canada: U of T's Kerry Bowman probes thorny issues

ullahnor Fri, 09/15/2017 - 17:00

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Bioethicist and conservationist Kerry Bowman teaching a human biology class at U of T, exploring the ethics of emerging technology (photo by Noreen Ahmed-Ullah)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

Global Lens

Faculty of Medicine

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

Ethics

Environment

The ��Ƶ’s Kerry Bowman was on CBC's The Current this week talking about his research into uncontacted people – isolated Indigenous tribes in the Amazon – who came under the spotlight this past week after 10 members were reportedly killed by gold miners in Brazil.

Last year, though, you may have heard Bowman talking about ethical questions emerging from physician-assisted deaths. And before that, genetic engineering or maybe even the initial cause close to his heart – protecting the great apes.

For the bioethicist and conservationist, it’s all connected.

“I’ve had parallel careers for about 25 years, in which I’ve done medical ethics and environmental work,” says Bowman, who is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine and is affiliated with the School of the Environment and the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the Faculty of Arts & Science. “There’s now an interface between the two. By protecting the Amazon, you’re protecting human health because climate change has massive implications to human health. And, the issue of the uncontacted is both an environmental issue and a human rights issue.”

Read and listen to Bowman's interview at CBC's The Current

Read Bowman's essay on contacting the uncontacted

Bowman (pictured left) has been travelling to the Amazon since the late 1980s, making it an annual trip for the last five years.

In his most recent trip in August, he delved deep into the remotest parts of the western Amazon, steering clear of uncontacted people thanks to Google Earth images of the tribes' villages and meeting members of other Indigenous communities in the forest, who do not avoid contact, as well as miners, loggers and others living in the area. He's working on a paper for the United Nations Environment Program on the ethics of “contacting” or not contacting South America’s uncontacted people.

While members of a specific tribal group, the Mashco Piro, have surfaced recently, the uncontacted are aware that other people exist, Bowman says, adding that on his most recent trip his group’s machete was stolen, meaning the uncontacted were nearby. They also found footprints coming out of the forest. Their isolation, likely beginning 100 years ago when Indigenous people were enslaved to work in rubber plantations, may come out of a need to protect themselves from the outside world, he adds.

Bowman is also working on another paper for UNEP, this time about how Peru and Brazil's protection of Indigenous lands, at least on paper, is helping climate change resilience because it's keeping the area free from mining, the oil industry and extreme logging.

“I don’t romanticize their lives, but I would argue that the contact or continued isolation of the uncontacted is not just a social and anthropological question,” he says. “It’s an ethical and moral question.

“From a human rights point of view, this is crystal clear. They have a fundamental human right to choose to live the way they do. Collectively, societies have done tremendous damage to Indigenous people. We’re just beginning to get a sense of how serious – and Canada is just waking up to this – the damage has been to Indigenous people. Here, we have really the last chance to respect and leave uncontacted people alone, and we’re still possibly getting that wrong as well.”

It’s not the first time Bowman has tackled knotty moral issues.

He works full time as a clinical ethicist at Mount Sinai Hospital, seeing patients regularly and helping research teams tackle contentious questions related to in vitro fertilization and emerging technologies dealing with genome mapping and consent for genetic testing.

He’s carved out a career for himself straddling his two career paths, working at the hospital and teaching at U of T during much of the year, and then venturing into Africa and the Amazon during his vacation time.

Like much in life, it was kind of serendipitous how he fell into this.

He had recently completed a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology and was a young man backpacking in Indonesia, when he met researchers at a bar. They were looking for volunteers to observe and study orangutans. He took them up on their offer.

“I learned very quickly with orangutans that the line between what’s human and what’s not is extremely vague,” he says. “As you look into the eyes of an orangutan or any of the great apes, you realize very quickly that you’re dealing with a sentient-focused being.”

That led to research in Africa on the great apes and the bushmeat trade. Since then, he has helped to bring the Jane Goodall Institute’s Canada headquarters to U of T. He serves as an ethics consultant to Goodall (pictured below with Bowman).

In 2000, he started an NGO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in partnership with U of T’s Faculty of Medicine. The Canadian Ape Alliance runs a number of projects, including a school and an agricultural project.

As he reflects on his multi-dimensional career, Bowman says that he often gets asked why he doesn’t just focus on one interest.

“People have said to me where does your heart lie, is it in the environment? Is it in bioethcis? It’s in both places. One side sort of enhances the other – kind of a yin and yang. When I’m in Africa or the Amazon, I’m stepping away from living in a big city. The converse is true as well. The Amazon and Africa are tough. There’s been dangers there as well. But having both keeps me focused.”

An ethics checklist for academics during the Trump era: a U of T classics professor publishes a must-read list

ullahnor — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 20:36:45 +0000

An ethics checklist for academics during the Trump era: a U of T classics professor publishes a must-read list

ullahnor Mon, 12/12/2016 - 15:36

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Michigan as part of his victory tour across America (photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Elaine Smith

Author legacy

Elaine Smith

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Classics

Philosophy

As rhetoric flew during the U.S. presidential campaign, U of T Classics Professor Rachel Barney, a dual American and Canadian citizen, began wondering what it would be like working as an academic in the United States under Donald Trump.

So Barney, a professor of both philosophy and classics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, created a professional ethics checklist that she felt would allow her to operate with a clear conscience under a Trump presidency. It included, for example, a promise not to inform on others or engage in government surveillance, as well as a pledge not to “aid in the registering, rounding up or internment of students and colleagues on the basis of their religious beliefs.”

With Donald Trump weeks away from being sworn in as America's next president, the checklist has now been published in Times Higher Education. It is drawing media and academic attention.

Read the checklist

“This isn’t meant to be an anti-Trump manifesto,” said Barney, who was recently named the Canada Research Chair in Ancient Philosophy. “It’s not meant to be adopted by an institution. It’s meant to be personal.”

Barney attempted to make the checklist politically neutral so it could be used in any situation where “values might be challenged.”

The point, she said, was to prompt people to consider how they should act before any situation became dire enough to warrant action.

“I want to jolt people into thinking ahead,” Barney said. “When you’re taken by surprise, it’s easy for others to scare you into doing what they want. People freeze. For example, if you see bullying, you might be caught off guard because you haven’t thought ahead about what to do.”

She said that academics are accustomed “to operating in a pretty benign environment.” They are not always used to thinking about hard moral choices, she said, so she wants them to consider:

• What if the government became lawless and tried to coopt academics?
• What if the government led an attack on academic values and tried to crash the university system in some way?

Barney said it’s too early to tell whether academia is at risk south of the border. But she has not been happy with Trump's choice of Stephen Bannon as a senior advisor or his appointment of an education secretary who has a history of supporting charter schools.

“For me, the most frightening person is Bannon because he is a propagandist for people who are really very close to being Nazis,” she said. “He knows how to manipulate people, and I think he has big plans.”

Barney also fears that an anti-education sentiment will take the form of privatization in the sector.

“The state has a lot of levers to reward and punish academics. However, it’s hard to wreck a university system or convert it to an authoritarian tool without some collaboration from academics so it’s important we not do that,” she said.

Her attempt to make the checklist politically neutral has apparently worked. She said her most conservative friend was the first to say he would sign on.

For now, she is pleased with the widespread attention the checklist is gaining. She hopes that neither she nor any of her colleagues will need to put it into practice.

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Read the checklist

Talise Beveridge
Woodsworth College
English, history and criminology

Kaitlyn Ferreira
University College
Cell and systems biology and human biology

Gina Kwon
Trinity College
Ethics, society and law

Ethan Kim
Innis College
Neuroscience and molecular biology

Shweta Mogalapalli
New College
Computer science and mathematics

Natasha Klasios
St. Michael’s College
Ecology and global health