My initial response to the writing prompt for week 4 was that Ethical Data Futures is irrelevant to my final project. Much as I enjoy the class, I won’t work with data in the traditional sense and I’m not going to be utilizing algorithms or AI technology which are built by, with, and for using data. A lot of my learning in the course is extremely relevant for life, but not necessarily for my dissertation.
However, after thinking about it for a little while longer, I’ve decided that EDF is providing me with prime dystopia fodder. Institutionalized prejudice justified by being “fair” and “unbiased” because it came from a machine sounds like it could easily join the ranks of disturbing science fiction a la Stepford Wives. I don’t have a concrete idea yet what to do with this thought, but I’m going to stick a pin in it for later anyway.
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