Historical Development and Impact of Technology in Our Contemporary World

Oregon Convention Center 

The Nuremberg Code states ten directives for human experimentation, including directive six - "the degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment." The Nuremberg Code was followed by the Belmont Report, and the Menlo Report. Published in 2012, the Menlo Report directly considered the impact of technology. The Belmont and Menlo Reports were US governmental initiatives. The Toronto Declaration is a more recent statement of the impact of technology, specifically Artificial Intelligence, on human rights and was conceptualized under the leadership of Amnesty International. Collectively these works provide guidance for the ethical treatment of human beings during the conduct of scientific investigations. This presentation will review these important works in the context of our contemporary world where data science and artificial intelligence practice and research must be viewed as human endeavors. Using the reports to provide an ethical lens by which to view and understand both the development and impact of technology will provide a unique perspective of our current worldview.