Issues in Science and Technology

In a moving essay about memory, morality, and poetics, Joseph J. Fins, MD, MACP, FRCP examines what researching a biography of the celebrated mid-century physician-humanist Lewis Thomas reveals about technological capability and human frailty.

In this month’s #FutureTenseFiction story, Kevin Galvin brings us into a classic detective story with a technological twist: the witnesses were all wearing augmented reality glasses. “A Time Between” explores nostalgia, grief, and how easy it is for tech to shift our shared realities.

Since “workers are often best positioned to identify potential risks, practical limitations, and unintended consequences of a technology in real workplace settings,” Amanda Ballantyne, Jodi Forlizzi, and Crystal W. argue, “workers’ voices are a crucial resource for making innovative technologies trusted and effective, so their full benefits can be realized for society.”

As artificial intelligence evolves and strains the bounds of copyright and other areas of the law, Michael Goodyear proposes a creative legal approach that can strike the proper balance between regulating and encouraging this new technology.

On the latest episode of #TheOngoingTransformation podcast, Guru Madhavan talks with Lisa Margonelli about the underappreciated engineering that goes into making New York City—and much of the modern world—livable.

A call for making community concerns the focus of #AI development is important and timely, writes Mona Sloane, Ph.D., but “when we say community, we must specify who we mean, who is convening that community, and in what way.”

Artificial intelligence promises to alter the workplace: hiring and firing workers, creating schedule assignments, and automating manufacturing tasks. Amanda Ballantyne, Jodi Forlizzi, and Crystal W. argue that including the perspective of labor unions and workers in #AI research and development is crucial to building effective, equitable technology and public trust.

From the Future Tense Fiction archives: “Little Assistance” by Stephen Harrison has it all: space law, disputes between federal agencies and subcontractors, and personal AI systems that embed deeply into decisionmaking. Read it now:

Whether to advance nuclear, hydrogen, fossil fuels, or other energy innovations, David M. Hart argues that demand-pull policies can be integral to a higher-performing, cleaner, more affordable, and more secure US energy system.

“Many factors, including poverty, access to care, and geographic isolation, contribute to health disparities in [American Indian and Alaska Native] communities,” writes Meghan Curry O’Connell, MD, MPH, “but the lack of data thwarts any work to achieve health equity.”