13: Exploring Attention and Virtue through Science Fiction with Emanuelle Burton

Seth sits down with Dr. Emmanuelle Burton to talk about ethics education for CS students and how reaching more science fiction might help us to pay better attention to our circumstances. Emanuelle obtained her PhD in Religion and Literature from the. University of Chicago Divinity School. She teaches ethics in the Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago. In collaboration with Judy Goldsmith, Nicholas Mattei, Cory Siler, and Sara Jo-Swiatek, she is developing a science fiction-based ethics curriculum for computer science students. Her solo research focuses on ethical formation in science fiction and fantasy for young readers.

How do we become the right sort of people to create worthwhile technologies? How do we prevent these technologies from distorting us and our relationships? What ethical skills will be useful for the next generation of technologists?