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Coded Bias and the Ethics of Facial Recognition 

G Guidero

The documentary Coded Bias taught us about facial recognition policies that have been implemented in various countries. These policies are controversial, largely due to the broad margin of error American facial recognition AIs experience when recognizing faces belonging to people of color. The coders creating these AI algorithms are predominantly white and male, so the algorithms recognize white and male faces to a much more accurate percentage than they recognize faces of color. In essence, the coders have coded their lived experience – in a field that is predominantly white and male – into the algorithms. Their unconscious bias is … Continue reading Coded Bias and the Ethics of Facial Recognition 

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Coded Bias and the Ethics of Current Surveillance Practices Implemented in the United States

G Guidero

The information used to support this blog is cited at the end. Coded Bias is a Netflix Documentary about the use of facial recognition in everyday society. It goes into the ethics of using facial recognition on the world’s population, when the identity of coders creating the facial recognition algorithms are predominantly white and male. Coded Bias talks about how facial recognition surveillance is currently used in China (CCTV) and the UK, but that led to the question – what’s actually happening in the United States? It’s hard to categorize surveillance practices implemented in the United States country-wide, because of … Continue reading Coded Bias and the Ethics of Current Surveillance Practices Implemented in the United States

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Eating Disorders: History of Binge-Eating Disorder and Teens

G Guidero

NEDA Hotline In 1959, psychiatrist Albert Stunkard wrote a paper describing binge eating disorder. At the time, binge eating disorder was not named – but Stunkard described it as an eating pattern that involved consuming an excessive amount of food at irregular times. He described this eating pattern as one that usually happened at night. Eventually, “binge-eating” became the term used to describe excessive eating, no matter what time of day it occurred. Let’s talk history. Before the 1950s, binge-eating would have been hard for the average person to achieve – most people did not have the ability to purchase … Continue reading Eating Disorders: History of Binge-Eating Disorder and Teens

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Eating Disorders: History of OSFED and Teens

G Guidero

NEDA Hotline OSFED or Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder was first established in the 2013 release of the DSM-5. The DSM-5 stands for the 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual that is released by the American Psychological Association. But, OSFED isn’t actually new. People who met the criteria for OSFED before – i.e. people who met most but not quite all of the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa – used to be given a different diagnosis, EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified). The problem with this, though, is that EDNOS … Continue reading Eating Disorders: History of OSFED and Teens

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Ethical Schools of Thought: Consequentialism

G Guidero

For our last ethical school of thought that will be covered in this mini-series, let’s talk about consequentialism. Consequentialism is a subset to normative ethics, which deals in the process of how people decide between right and wrong. It was created by 3 main philosophers: David Hume (1711-1776), Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Someone who identifies as a consequentialist would ask themselves the following questions when deciding between right and wrong, as Psychology Today tells us: Consequentialists want to generate the most good for the most people- this is where consequentialism is related to beneficence, which is … Continue reading Ethical Schools of Thought: Consequentialism

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Ethical Schools of Thought: Virtue Ethics

G Guidero

An article by Psychology Today outlines for us the basic principles of Virtue Ethics. For reference, Virtue Ethics belongs as a subset to the larger group commonly referred to as normative ethics. Normative ethics deals in distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong. Other ethical schools of thought within normative ethics include deontology and consequentialism. If you subscribe to virtue ethics, here are some questions you’d probably ask yourself when making decisions: The main philosophers that came up with this theory are Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and Alasdair Maclntyre (1929). In a nutshell, virtue ethics will vary depending on … Continue reading Ethical Schools of Thought: Virtue Ethics

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Ethical Schools of Thought: Principlism

G Guidero

Welcome back, to the latest edition of the Ethical Schools of Thought Mini Series! Today, we’re taking a look at Principlism. According to Principlism, to decide what’s right and wrong, we evaluate based on 3 factors: Autonomy: Allowing people to make their own decisions and respect their choices Ask: Is the person acting of their own free will? Beneficence: Do no harm, and act to protect the happiness of others. Ask: Will this harm anyone? How can I minimize damage? Justice: Distribute benefits and burdens equally. Ask: Is this a fair distribution? Are people getting an equal share in the … Continue reading Ethical Schools of Thought: Principlism

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Ethical Schools of Thought: Deontology and Kantian Ethics

G Guidero

I’m back! I hope you all enjoyed my previous post on utilitarianism, and I wanted to make the next ethical school of thought in my mini-series Deontology, otherwise known as Kantian Ethics. Let’s follow the last post’s structure, shall we? Deontology was created by Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who lived 1724-1804. Deontology is a tiny bit more complicated than utilitarianism, but overall it’s still pretty simple – here’s the overview: Deontology “does not depend exclusively on the consequences of an action to determine its morality.” There are, like with any ethical school of thought, different degrees: Immanuel Kant stated … Continue reading Ethical Schools of Thought: Deontology and Kantian Ethics