Heather Zeiger is a freelance science writer with advanced degrees in chemistry and bioethics. She writes on the intersection of science, culture, and technology.
Technology may change -- but how and why we use it shouldn't. Even when we consider the battlefield of the future, the ethics of a just war are still important guides for how we should use technology.
Date posted: 2018-09-01
Death seems so straightforward. The body is alive and then it isn't. In most cases it is clear when someone has died. However, ambiguous cases bring up the same questions that doctors and ethicists were asking in the 1960s when mechanical ventilation became possible: What does it mean for a person to be warm to the touch, breathing with assistance, yet brain-dead?
Date posted: 2018-07-17
Smartphones and apps are designed to suck up as much of our lives as possible.
Date posted: 2018-02-26
There's a key difference between addictions and obsessions and compulsions. Addictions bring the promise of immediate reward, of positive reinforcement. In contrast, obsessions and compulsions are intensely unpleasant to not pursue. They promise relief - also known as negative reinforcement - but not the appealing rewards of a consummated addiction.
Date posted: 2017-04-09
There is no shortage of studies claiming that we are addicted to our cell phones. But is it truly an addiction or is it something else?
Date posted: 2017-04-09
Some people like to say that technology is morally neutral. That is true to a point, but technology is made by moral agents who design it with a purpose in mind.
Date posted: 2017-01-08