Jason Millar
Health Information Technology Ethics, eHealth Policy, Roboethics, Bioethics, Science and Technology Studies, Research Ethics, Clinical Bioethics
Jason Millar is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy department at Queen’s University at Kingston. His interests lie at the intersection of ethics, technology and society. As a CIHR Science Policy Fellow at Health Canada, Jason is currently researching patient engagement using Health Information Technology.
Jason teaches a 3rd year undergraduate course in Roboethics at Carleton University, and just completed teaching a graduate Seminar in Science Ethics that he designed as part of an NSERC CREATE grant for the Queen’s University Chemistry Department.
Jason has also completed two clinical bioethics internships at the Kingston General Hospital in Kingston Ontario, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. He currently sits on the Algonquin College Research Ethics Board.
Jason has won several scholarships including a CIHR Science Policy Fellowship, Joseph Armand Bombardier SSHRC CGS, a Queen’s University Tri-Council Recipient Recognition Award, and a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s.
Jason earned a B.Sc.E – Engineering Physics from Queen’s University and worked as an engineer designing ICTs for several years prior to returning to academia to complete a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Ottawa. While at the University of Ottawa he worked for several years on On the Identity Trail, a multidisciplinary SSHRC funded project, researching some of the ethical and policy issues surrounding privacy in the digital age. While completing his M.A. Jason also worked as a Technology Policy Analyst at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. He has published a book chapter on privacy in the first ever Oxford University Press publication licensed under the Creative Commons license. That chapter can be freely downloaded here. He has also written on engineering ethics and the policy implications inherent in the design of technology.
Hi Jason,
I am writing an article on Robot Ethics and was wondering whether you could answer some questions? I have pasted them below and would appreciate your response. The article is for http://www.digitalethics.org.
If you could get back to me by Wednesday, Feb. 29, that would be great.
Thanks!
Isabel
There is no doubt that robots are promising technologies that demonstrate the potential to act (semi)autonomously in domains traditionally associated with uniquely human capacities. That is the tag line of the (short) history of robots. However, as their autonomy increases, so too does the demand on computer experts to make sure their machines are good. If there is a time to start thinking about robot ethics, it is now, before we find ourselves in an exam room being diagnosed by a robot, while his human counterpart sits idly by in awe of the robot’s abilities.
http://jasonmillar.ca/ethicstechnologyandsociety/…
This article would address the following questions:
1. What are robot ethics? What laws exist to prevent humans from abusing robots?
2. Where exists the ethical boundary between which tasks robots can perform and which they can’t?
3. Is South Korea the only country affected? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6425927.stm )
4. What happens when robots start making ethical decisions? http://news.discovery.com/tech/robot-makes-ethica…
5. What about the recent debates on using drones? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/poll20120215
http://jasonmillar.ca/ethicstechnologyandsociety/…
This article would address the following questions:
1. What are robot ethics? What laws exist to prevent humans from abusing robots?
2. Where exists the ethical boundary between which tasks robots can perform and which they can’t?
3. Is South Korea the only country affected? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6425927.stm )
4. What happens when robots start making ethical decisions? http://news.discovery.com/tech/robot-makes-ethica…
5. What about the recent debates on using drones? http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/poll20120215
Wow! These are big questions. I can’t answer all of them here, since you raise many of the central questions being debated in roboethics today. I would definitely recommend “Robot Ethics”, published by MIT Press. It’s a good primer on the ethical issues surrounding robotics. I use it to teach my Roboethics class.
Thanks for the comment.