Algorithms and Autonomy

✍ Scribed by Alan Rubel; Clinton Castro; Adam Pham

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 218
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Algorithms influence every facet of modern life: criminal justice, education, housing, entertainment, elections, social media, news feeds, work... the list goes on. Delegating important decisions to machines, however, gives rise to deep moral concerns about responsibility, transparency, freedom, fairness, and democracy. Algorithms and Autonomy connects these concerns to the core human value of autonomy in the contexts of algorithmic teacher evaluation, risk assessment in criminal sentencing, predictive policing, background checks, news feeds, ride-sharing platforms, social media, and election interference. Using these case studies, the authors provide a better understanding of machine fairness and algorithmic transparency. They explain why interventions in algorithmic systems are necessary to ensure that algorithms are not used to control citizens' participation in politics and undercut democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Part I Some Cases, Some Ground Clearing
1 Introduction
1.1 Three Cases
1.2 What Is an Algorithm?
1.3 Algorithms, Ethics, and Autonomy
1.4 Overview of the Book
1.5 A Heuristic
2 Autonomy, Agency, and Responsibility
2.1 Autonomy Basics
2.2 Some Distinctions
2.3 The Key Split
2.4 Reconciling Psychological and Personal Autonomy
2.5 An Ecumenical View
2.6 Objections
2.7 Conclusion: Related Concepts and Moral Salience of Autonomy
Part II Respecting Persons, What We Owe Them
3 What Can Agents Reasonably Endorse?
3.1 IMPACT: Not an Acronym
3.2 Autonomy, Kantian Respect, and Reasonable Endorsement
3.3 Teachers, VAMs, and Reasonable Endorsement
3.4 Applying the Reasonable Endorsement Test
3.5 Why Not Fairness?
3.6 Conclusion
4 What We Informationally Owe Each Other
4.1 The Misfortunes of Catherine Taylor and Carmen Arroyo
4.2 Two Arguments for Informational Rights
4.3 Relation to the GDPR
4.4 Polestar Cases
4.5 Conclusion
Part III Ensuring the Conditions of Agency
5 Freedom, Agency, and Information Technology
5.1 Freedom as Undominated Self-government
5.2 Three Challenges to Freedom: Affective, Deliberative, and Social
5.3 Ecological Non-domination, Policy, and Polestar Cases
5.4 Why Not Manipulation?
5.5 Conclusion
6 Epistemic Paternalism and Social Media
6.1 Demoting Fake News
6.2 Dismantling Echo Chambers
6.3 Conclusion
Part IV The Responsibilities of Agents
7 Agency Laundering and Information Technologies
7.1 Agency and Responsibility
7.2 Agency Laundering
7.3 Facebook and Anti-Semitic Advertising
7.4 Uber and Driver Management
7.5 VAMs and Teacher Evaluation
7.6 COMPAS and Criminal Sentencing
7.7 Related Concepts and Concerns
7.8 Conclusion
8 Democratic Obligations and Technological Threats to Legitimacy
8.1 Two New Technologies
8.2 Political Legitimacy: Three Conceptions and a Hybrid View
8.3 Legitimating Processes
8.4 Technological Threats to Legitimacy
8.5 Once More Past the Pole
8.6 Conclusion
9 Conclusions and Caveats
9.1 Further Work
9.2 Caveats: Baseline Issues
9.3 Bigger Pictures
References
Index