Question 1

Value Sensitive Design disempowers users and designers as well as those otherwise impacted by the technology.

Accepted Answer

Value Sensitive Design (VSD) is an approach to technology design that aims to account for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. It seeks to empower users, designers, and stakeholders by integrating their values and ethical considerations into the development of technology, thereby ensuring that the technology supports and enhances human values rather than undermining them.

Question 2

Schumpeter's analysis has shown that the gap between those involved in technological innovation and those involved in the workforce has begun to shrink.

Accepted Answer

Schumpeter's analysis primarily focuses on the concept of "creative destruction," where technological innovation often leads to the displacement of workers and industries, potentially widening the gap between innovators and the broader workforce rather than shrinking it.

Question 3

Excessive screen time has no negative mental health outcomes.

Accepted Answer

Excessive screen time has been linked to various negative mental health outcomes, including increased risk of depression, anxiety, and reduced sleep quality.

Question 4

George P. Grant claims that faith in progress through technology is an ingrained and permanent component of North American life.

Accepted Answer

George P. Grant, a Canadian philosopher, argued that the belief in progress through technology is a deeply embedded and enduring aspect of North American culture, suggesting that this faith has significantly shaped societal values and directions.

Question 5

Moral backwardness means that humans see themselves as superior to technologies, able to dominate and control all technological aspects.

Accepted Answer

Moral backwardness refers to a lack of ethical progress or development, not specifically to human views on technology. It implies a failure to adopt more enlightened or ethical attitudes, rather than a belief in human superiority over technology.

Question 6

According to Baudrillard, gizmos are essential tools that facilitate everyday tasks.

Accepted Answer

Baudrillard is known for his critiques of consumer society and the hyperreal, rather than advocating for the essentiality of gadgets or gizmos in facilitating everyday tasks.

Question 7

Indigenous treaty territory is often traversed by polluting pipelines.

Accepted Answer

Many indigenous treaty territories have been affected by the construction and operation of pipelines, which can lead to environmental pollution and threaten the health and sustainability of these lands and their inhabitants.

Question 8

High-level recovery systems have prevented activist groups from ensuring that more devices are reused and refurbished.

Accepted Answer

High-level recovery systems, often driven by environmental concerns and regulations, actually facilitate the reuse and refurbishment of devices by efficiently managing the collection, sorting, and processing of electronic waste. This aligns with the goals of activist groups advocating for increased device reuse and refurbishment to reduce environmental impact.

Question 9

When presented with environmental concerns related to Keystone XL pipeline, people were often swayed towards the positive effects of the project rather than the negative.

Accepted Answer

The question states that people were often swayed towards the positive effects of the project rather than the negative, which means they were more likely to believe the positive effects.

Question 10

Under Fordism, home and leisure must be subservient to the needs of industry.

Accepted Answer

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Question 11

Describe the socio-technical approach and discuss its strengths in terms of the kinds of insights it allows us to make with regards to technology.

Accepted Answer

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Question 12

What is the association between screen time and mental health outcomes?

Accepted Answer

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Question 13

Describe the notion of moral backwardness as proposed by Baudrillard?

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

Discuss the idea of energy poverty and how it might affect life in one particular element of modern Canadian society.

Accepted Answer

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Question 15

Define the term deterritorialization in terms of our networked society.

Accepted Answer

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Question 16

The idea of technology as always being "progress" has been historically a positive value and strongly associated with technological and industrial development as well as economic success. Yet in recent years this perspective on technology has been called into question. Discuss key critiques of the "technology as progress" perspective and illustrate your points with examples from your own experience or observation.

Accepted Answer

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Question 17

MIT researchers created a moral dilemma to investigate how research can inform the potential moral decisions that machines may have to make when on the road. Explain why it is helpful to place humans in the place of a driverless car? What do we learn about the ethics of algorithms by partaking in the moral machine? Do you think it is a good idea to design moral dilemmas like the "MIT's moral machine" to help program machines? What are the limitations?

Accepted Answer

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Quiz 12: Ethical Dimensions of Technology