Evan Selinger Headshot

Evan Selinger

Professor, Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
emsgsh@rit.edu
585-475-2531
Office Location
EAS-3146
Office Mailing Address
06-A315

Evan Selinger

Professor, Philosophy

Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, Binghamton University; MA, University of Memphis; Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook

Bio

Evan Selinger is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His research covers a range of issues in the philosophies of technology, especially privacy and ethics (including AI ethics).  

A prolific author, Prof. Selinger is currently working on a new co-authored book, co-authored with Albert Fox-Cahn, titled Move Slow and Upgrade: The Power of Incremental Innovation (Cambridge University Press).

His previous book is Re-Engineering Humanity (co-authored with Brett Frischmann, featuring a Foreword by Nicholas Carr, and also published by Cambridge University Press). John Naughton selected Re-Engineering Humanity as one of The Observer’s “Best Books of 2018”  and one of “Thirty Books to Help Us Understand the World in 2020.” Zadie Smith told The Wall Street Journal that it was one of her favorite reads of 2019.

Prof. Selinger regularly writes for newspapers, magazines, and blogs to foster critical conversations beyond the necessary yet narrow academic circles. He’s currently a contributing writer at The Boston Globe. His essays and op-eds also appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The Guardian, Salon, CNN, One Zero, Bloomberg Opinion, The Daily News, The Daily Beast, MTV News, Motherboard, The Christian Science Monitor, BBC Future, New Scientist, Aeon, Project Syndicate, Forbes, and HuffPost. He’s also written several review essays for The LA Review of Books. 

To improve military policy, Prof. Evan Selinger is currently a member of the Institute for Defense Analysis‘s Ethical, Legal, and Social/Societal (ELSI) Working Group. We’re contributing to DARPA-funded projects that use artificial intelligence.

To enhance public policy, Prof. Selinger works with legal and advocacy organizations like the ACLU, Stop Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, The Justice Collaborative Institute, and Fight for the Future.

Prof. Selinger has also advised several companies, non-profits, and government organizations. 

For more information, including a CV, please go to my homepage.

emsgsh@rit.edu
585-475-2531
Personal Links
Personal Website
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LinkedIn

Currently Teaching

IDAI-700
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
3 Credits
This course will familiarize students with foundational concepts and emerging ideas in the ethics of artificial intelligence and their implications for public policy. It will be broken down into three sections: (1) the ethics of machine learning; (2) the moral status of AI; and (3) AI and the distant future. The first section will consider such topics as the ethical implications of unconscious bias in machine learning (e.g., in predictive text, facial recognition, speech dialogue systems); what constraints should govern the behavior of autonomous and semi-autonomous machines such as drones and smart cars; whether AI can undermine valuable social institutions and perhaps to democracy itself and what might be done to mitigate such risk; and how automation might transform the labor economy and whether this morally desirable. The second section turns to the question of our moral obligations toward (some) artificial intelligences. Here, we will ask what grounds moral status in general and how this might apply to artificial intelligences in particular, including how should we should balance moral obligations toward (some) AIs with competing obligations toward human beings and other creatures with morally protectable interests. The final section will look to the far distant future and consider how (if at all) we might identify and estimate future threats from AI and what might be done today to protect all those who matter morally.
PHIL-101
Introduction to Philosophy
3 Credits
Philosophy is about the rigorous discussion of big questions, and sometimes small precise questions, that do not have obvious answers. This class is an introduction to philosophical thinking where we learn how to think and talk critically about some of these challenging questions. Such as: Is there a single truth or is truth relative to different people and perspectives? Do we have free will and, if so, how? Do we ever really know anything? What gives life meaning? Is morality objective or subjective, discovered or created? We’ll use historical and contemporary sources to clarify questions like these, to understand the stakes, to discuss possible responses, and to arrive at a more coherent, more philosophically informed, set of answers.
PHIL-307
Philosophy of Technology
3 Credits
Technology is a ubiquitous and defining force in our world. This course investigates how our conceptions of technology have emerged within philosophy, as well as the role technology plays in shaping how we live and how we reflect upon questions of meaning and value in life. Technological modes of understanding, organizing and transforming the world shape our relationships with others, with ourselves and with nature at fundamental levels. We will explore how these modes have emerged and why they emerged so predominantly within a Western social and intellectual context.
PHIL-416
Seminar in Philosophy
3 Credits
This course is a discussion-oriented, small group exploration of a targeted philosophical topic. The topic varies depending on the current research interests of the instructor. The seminar is an opportunity to do cutting-edge philosophy alongside other students. It is open to both majors and non-majors and may be retaken for credit.

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