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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2019

Science and Technology Studies

SPU Works

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Your Data Primer, Michael Paulus Oct 2019

Your Data Primer, Michael Paulus

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In their recent book Tools and Weapons, Brad Smith and Carol Ann Browne describe the 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal as a Three Mile Island moment for data stewardship. After years of sharing personal data without much thought about how it might be used or abused, the public is now becoming more aware of the need for clearer responsibilities and rights related to the collection, processing, and dissemination of personal information. “Data has always been important to society,” Smith and Browne point out, but “it has never played the role it does today … every aspect of human life is fueled …


Data And Identity: Notes Toward A Theology Of The Digitally Enhanced Self, Michael Paulus Oct 2019

Data And Identity: Notes Toward A Theology Of The Digitally Enhanced Self, Michael Paulus

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In the HBO-BBC miniseries "Years and Years," a teenager named Bethany (!) comes out as transhuman and tells her parents she wants to “live forever as information ... [to] be data!” As information about us increasingly takes the form of digital data, we are all of us becoming data. Indeed, so much of our attention and agency is engaged with digital information in digital environments that the philosopher Luciano Floridi describes us as “inforgs” living “onlife” in an “infosphere.” Through nearly constant and ubiquitous patterns of digital interactions with human and artificial agents, we are creating digitally extended and enhanced …


Artificial Intelligence And The Apocalyptic Imagination: The Ends Of Divine, Natural, And Artificial Agency, Michael Paulus Jul 2019

Artificial Intelligence And The Apocalyptic Imagination: The Ends Of Divine, Natural, And Artificial Agency, Michael Paulus

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New information and communication technologies (ICTs) are reshaping our lives and the environments in which we live to such an extent that philosopher Luciano Floridi claims we are living through an information revolution. ICTs are changing our self-understanding, how we relate to each other, and how we understand our role in the world. At the center of this revolution is the advent of auto­mated information processing and intelligent systems.These technologies of artificial intelligence (AI) raise questions about data collection, algorithmic agency, and the future of every dimension of life. They also inspire a range of hopes and fears. Some AI …


The Age Of The Library, Michael Paulus May 2019

The Age Of The Library, Michael Paulus

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In 2018, the Seattle Pacific University Library launched a minor in Information Studies. This multidisciplinary program explores the dynamic relationships between information, technology, and people and how our lives are changing in our emerging information and technological environment. Why would a library create such a program, and what does it reveal about the present and future role of the library?


A Framework For Digital Wisdom In Higher Education, Michael Paulus Jan 2019

A Framework For Digital Wisdom In Higher Education, Michael Paulus

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Institutions of higher education have a crucial role and responsibility at this moment of technological change to form people who will flourish in our so-called digital age. The speed with which digital information and communication technologies have permeated our lives has left little time for critical reflection on how we may intentionally integrate them into our lives. Regardless of when we were born or the depth of our technological expertise, we are all of us digitally naïve. Individually and collectively, we are still learning how to use new and emerging digital technologies well and wisely. This essay presents a framework …


From The City To The Cloud: Charles Williams’S Image Of The City As An Affirmation Of Artificial Intelligence, Michael Paulus Jan 2019

From The City To The Cloud: Charles Williams’S Image Of The City As An Affirmation Of Artificial Intelligence, Michael Paulus

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A number of Christian intellectuals who lived through the “catastrophic” twentieth century had a deep distrust of “technological innovation.” C. S. Lewis lamented the impact of technology on education, Dorothy L. Sayers lamented the impact of technology on community, and J. R. R. Tolkien lamented the impact of technology on the environment. Jacques Ellul saw technology as a human rejection of God’s work. For Ellul, this was the meaning of the city: from its primordial origins through its apocalyptic end, the city was a “counter-creation”—a technological negation of God’s Edenic creation.Charles Williams stands out from among his contemporaries in his …