Recent News

Lecture on "When Social Media Companies, Research Ethics, and Human Rights Collide"
Feb 19, 2019
Dr. Mary L. Gray will offer a new human-data research paradigm for technology’s next wave of social worlds in her talk "When Social Media Companies, Research Ethics, and Human Rights Collide."
Ethics & Emerging Sciences Group
Feb 14, 2019
Ethics & Emerging Sciences Group
Patrick Lin, philosophy professor and Director of Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, and Zachary Rentz, philosophy lecturer, traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland to attend Emerging Artistic Conflicts, Laws, and Ethics Workshop on June 18-19, 2018. The discussion involved the implications of political and economic competition in the Arctic Region as new land and resources become accessible due to climate change. For more information visit the E+ESG website.
Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl
Feb 14, 2019
Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl
Ethics Bowl is a team-based intercollegiate debate competition covering a range of current events and controversies in applied ethics. Cal Poly sends one or two student teams each year to compete in the a Regional Ethics Bowl competition, where students debate and discuss cases with college teams from California, Utah and Arizona.
Success in Ethics Bowl competition requires students to apply their philosophical training to provide oral arguments on the spot about moral issues on topics ranging from fake news to privacy, gun control, autonomous cars and weapons, international relations and new medical technologies. The team qualified for and was invited to compete in both the 2017 and 2018 Ethics Bowl National Championships. Our students traveled to Dallas, TX in 2017 and Chicago, IL in 2018 and competed against the top teams in the nation.
Professor Patrick Lin and Ryan Jenkins' Fellowship
Jan 25, 2019
Professors Patrick Lin and Ryan Jenkins became fellows at the Karel Čapek Center for Values in Science and Technology, based in Prague where they are also co-organizing a workshop on the ethics of autonomous vehicles, to be held in late June 2019.

Research Workshop on "The Possibility of Permissible Wrong Doing"
Nov 16, 2018
Sherri Lynn Conklin (UCSB Grad Student)
Friday, November 16th from 12:10-2 PM in 22-210 (English bldg)
"Real Knowledge from Made-up Things: Kierkegaard on Thought Experiments"
Nov 11, 2018
Eleanor Helms presented a paper titled "Real Knowledge from Made-up Things: Kierkegaard on Thought Experiments” at a meeting of the Fordham Philosophical Society, held at the annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association in San Diego on November 11, 2018.
The paper was published in Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook (2018).
Click here to read her paper.

Cal Poly Advocacy Project
Nov 9, 2018
Representatives from the Debate Team and Ethics Bowl teams will discuss laws and policies restricting hate speech advance the cause of racial intolerance.
Friday, November 9th, 2018, @ 6pm
Dark Nectar Coffee Roasters
5915 Entrada Ave., Atascadero, CA
Support the nationally ranked Cal Poly Debate Team and Philosophy Department's Ethics Bowl team.
Professor Patrick Lin on AI, Society and Technology Ethics
Nov 8, 2018
Professor Patrick Lin participated in two recent expert meetings in the SF Bay Area: one on AI and society, organized by The Royal Society UK and held at Stanford on Nov. 8; and the other on technology ethics at the World Economic Forum's Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the Presidio on Nov. 9.
Professor Jenkins on Responsible Artificial Intelligence
Nov 7, 2018
Professor Ryan Jenkins spoke on the ethics of responsible AI development at the University of Waterloo in Canada, covering topics like algorithmic bias, transparency, and intellectual property. The talk can be found here.
Professor Patrick Lin on the Nature of Discrimination
Nov 1, 2018
Professor Patrick Lin gave an invited talk on the nature of discrimination at an AI & society workshop at Stanford, organized by The Royal Society UK. The next day, he participated in a technology ethics workshop at the World Economic Forum's Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, at the Presidio.