The computer revolution and the problem of global ethics

The author agrees with James Moor that computer technology, because it is ‘logically malleable’, is bringing about a genuine social revolution. Moor compares the computer revolution to the ‘industrial revolution’ of the late 18th and the 19th centuries; but it is argued here that a better comparison is with the ‘printing press revolution’ that occurred two centuries before that. Just as the major ethical theories of Bentham and Kant were developed in response to the printing press revolution, so a new ethical theory is likely to emerge from computer ethics in response to the computer revolution. The newly emerging field of information ethics, therefore, is much more important than even its founders and advocates believe.     

Virtual reality and the psyche. Some psychoanalytic approaches to media addiction

This paper explores the ramifications of excessive use of media on personality development, the development of symbolic and thinking functions and on psychic reality. In doing so, the questions of whether there are specific media objects possessing an intrinsic symbolic quality, and which attachments in the inner world of a child/adolescent can be mobilized or destroyed are discussed. By selecting specific material, computer gamers use their game to activate the field of a personal psychic reality. Hereby, they attempt some kind of self‐healing. However, after leaving the game, conflicts and traumata re‐enacted but unresolved in the game disappear from their temporary representation without generating any resonance in the gamer's psychic experience. Consequently, although states of mind and affects are activated in the computer game, their processing and integration fail; the game results in a compulsive repetition. The construction and consolidation of retrievable maturation and structural development, the representation of the unrepresentable, succeed in the context of the triangulating analytic relationship, initially through a jointly performed symbolic and narrative re‐experience or the recreation of the game. Theoretical considerations are illustrated by means of clinical vignettes.     

The development of computer ethics: Contributions from business ethics and medical ethics

In this essay, we demonstrate that the field of computer ethics shares many core similarities with two other areas of applied ethics, Academicians writing and teaching in the area of computer ethics, along with practitioners, must address ethical issues that are qualitatively similar in nature to those raised in medicine and business. In addition, as academic disciplines, these three fields also share some similar concerns. For example, all face the difficult challenge of maintaining a credible dialogue with diverse constituents such as academicians of various disciplines, professionals, policymakers, and the general public, Given these similarities, the fields of bioethics and business ethics can serve as useful models for the development of computer ethics. A version of this paper was presented at ETHICOMP98, the Fourth International Conference on Ethical Issues of Information Technology, March 25–27, 1998, Erasmus University, the Netherlands. Kenman Wong, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Business Ethics; Gerhard Steinke, Ph.D., is Professor of Management and Information Systems. Both authors are at Seattle Pacific University's School of Business and Economics.     

What do parents talk about to infants?

The content of parents' talk is studied here as expressing their conception of their developing infant, from the initial symbiotic fusion to an individual situtated in space, time and society. The topics parents introduce in their speech to their infant reflect the perception and expectations they have of their baby. The social and parental status of fathers and mothers, and the anticipated role and status of the child- and adult-to-be, and in particular the age and gender of the infant, mediate the choice of topics. Parents' spontaneous speech to 3-month- and 9-month-old infants was studied during a diapering episode, before leaving the day-care centre. Five minutes of such a speech was recorded, and each utterance was assigned to a semantic category (e. g. greetings, comments on diapering, on mood). Sex-typing is already noticeable as early as 3 months of age: comments on the present situation and state are more frequent for girls, and comments about absent persons or events more frequent with boys. Both parents contribute to this effect, fathers more than mothers. With age parents become less concerned with immediate problems and more aware of the infant's own performances. First names are used more for boys than for gilrs. As a whole, boys are considered as individuals earlier than girls.     

Computer games,self-esteem and gratification of needs in adolescents

Playing computer games has become an increasingly popular leisure time activity amongst adolescents, but concerns have been expressed over possible associated consequences. One research area has investigated reasons for playing, and two prior explanations relate it to the functional concepts of ‘electronic friendship’ and ‘self-esteem’. A questionnaire study was conducted among 120 adolescents to obtain information on a number of measures including gratification of needs and self-esteem. Results showed that playing computer games is equally popular with males and females, but males spend more time on it. Positive correlations between playing and items on the needs scales were obtained. In particular males who were heavy players scored highly on the ‘preference to friends’ need, but interestingly they were also likely to see their friends more often outside school, thus providing no support for the theory that computer games are taking the place of normal social interaction. For females there was evidence of a negative relationship between self-esteem and need gratification through playing computer games. However more adolescents spend much more time watching television than playing computer games. These results are discussed in the context of previous research.     

Computers,information and ethics: A review of issues and literature

Editorial note:The following bibliographic survey of computer ethics is intended as a general introduction useful to guide both preliminary research and course development. It is the first of a series that Carl Mitcham will be doing on a number of specific discussions of ethics in science and technology. Future installments are projected on nuclear ethics, engineering ethics, ethics in scientific research, and biomedical ethics. With this [book] I issue “a call to arms.” The world needs much more discussion and writing on the social and ethical issues surrounding computing. I hope readers .... will take up the challenge.     

Cognition, behavior, and the experimental analysis of behavior

A case history illustrates how one research program in the experimental analysis of behavior evolved somewhat differently from the modal research program represented in this journal. A chief issue that seems to be responsible for this difference is the role attributed to theory in behavioral research: Skinner's views on the nature and function of theory and on the nature of observation combine to produce a certain kind of picture of behavior. The classic conception of reinforcement contingencies is tied to this particular picture. But this picture may be incompatible with, and certainly is different from, other possible pictures. Reinforcement contingencies that place greater emphasis on the local temporal patterning of behavior seem tied to some of these alternative pictures of what behavior is. These other pictures encourage a wide range of theoretical approaches, including cognitive ones, various kinds of mathematical analyses, and computer-simulation methods to characterize entire behavior streams. In the future, perhaps the experimental analysis of behavior will accept a somewhat different range of views on the nature and function of theory, a correspondingly different set of experimental methods, and alternative ways of talking about behavior.     

The effects of errorless learning and backward chaining on the acquisition of Internet skills in adults with developmental disabilities

An important area in the learning and development of individuals with disabilities is the acquisition of independent, age-appropriate leisure skills. Three adults with autism and mental retardation were taught to access specific Internet sites using backward chaining and most-to-least intrusive prompting. The number of independent steps completed in the task analysis increased following training.