RESEARCH
My current research is primarily in the ethics and politics of technology. Some of my work constitutes a methodological intervention: I argue that much theorizing in this area is misguidedly individualist in its approach, and I identify a fallacious mode of inference in surprisingly common use in certain areas that are significant for justice. Other projects engage with old technical/programming puzzles and show how they are products of deeper philosophical issues—recognition of which can make them sometimes more tractable and sometimes less. Either way, understanding the philosophical underpinnings suggests a more promising approach to addressing these issues both for practitioners and for policymakers.
My thesis research concerned the connection between knowledge and action. I argued that we should think about that connection by considering the nature of intentional action: doing so reveals that the constitutive aim of intentional action is control, and that the control in question is just practical knowledge, in Anscombe's sense. There is, then, a knowledge norm for intentional action—and one with interesting epistemological, metaethical, and social/political upshots, which I explored.
My theoretical commitments entail that I am supposed to know what I am doing. This is rather worrying.
My thesis research concerned the connection between knowledge and action. I argued that we should think about that connection by considering the nature of intentional action: doing so reveals that the constitutive aim of intentional action is control, and that the control in question is just practical knowledge, in Anscombe's sense. There is, then, a knowledge norm for intentional action—and one with interesting epistemological, metaethical, and social/political upshots, which I explored.
My theoretical commitments entail that I am supposed to know what I am doing. This is rather worrying.
SELECTED PAPERS & TALKS
How could anyone trust AI?
IEEE Albany Nanotechnology Symposium, November 2019
Why the moral machine is a monster
Winner: Best Paper by a Junior Scholar
University of Miami Law School: We Robot Conference, April 2019
The future of AI: ethical dimensions
AI World, December 2018
When artificial agents are just following orders
Harvard Kennedy School, October 2018
On Bruce Schneier's Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and survival in a hyperconnected world
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, September 2018
Forget moral machines. Build a justice engine.
MIT Media Lab, September 2018
Like, God, get a grip
University of Wisconsin, Madison: Wisconsin Metaethics Workshop (MadMeta), September 2017
Broken laws
University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh Legal Theory Festival, Workshop on Law & Metaphysics, June 2017
Casual slaughters and purposes mistook
University of Colorado, Boulder: Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress (RoME), August 2016
University of Birmingham (UK): The New Methods of Ethics Conference, September 2016
Comments on Hallie Liberto's "Exploitation and the role of consent"
University of British Columbia: Vancouver Summer Philosophy Conference (VSPC), August 2016
Illicit oomph (a worry for expressivists)
Uppsala University: Workshop on the Language and Metaphysics of Normativity, May 2016
Authority, morality, legality: the Goldilocks problem for moral positivism
University of Edinburgh: Legal Theory Seminar Series, March 2016
Between a rock and a hard case
MIT: MITing of the Minds conference, January 2015
Comments on A.R. Greene's "Political legitimacy and the value of consent"
Princeton University: Mentoring and Networking Workshop for Graduate Student Women in Philosophy, August 2014
If you'd like to know more about my work, please contact me!
IEEE Albany Nanotechnology Symposium, November 2019
Why the moral machine is a monster
Winner: Best Paper by a Junior Scholar
University of Miami Law School: We Robot Conference, April 2019
The future of AI: ethical dimensions
AI World, December 2018
When artificial agents are just following orders
Harvard Kennedy School, October 2018
On Bruce Schneier's Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and survival in a hyperconnected world
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, September 2018
Forget moral machines. Build a justice engine.
MIT Media Lab, September 2018
Like, God, get a grip
University of Wisconsin, Madison: Wisconsin Metaethics Workshop (MadMeta), September 2017
Broken laws
University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh Legal Theory Festival, Workshop on Law & Metaphysics, June 2017
Casual slaughters and purposes mistook
University of Colorado, Boulder: Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress (RoME), August 2016
University of Birmingham (UK): The New Methods of Ethics Conference, September 2016
Comments on Hallie Liberto's "Exploitation and the role of consent"
University of British Columbia: Vancouver Summer Philosophy Conference (VSPC), August 2016
Illicit oomph (a worry for expressivists)
Uppsala University: Workshop on the Language and Metaphysics of Normativity, May 2016
Authority, morality, legality: the Goldilocks problem for moral positivism
University of Edinburgh: Legal Theory Seminar Series, March 2016
Between a rock and a hard case
MIT: MITing of the Minds conference, January 2015
Comments on A.R. Greene's "Political legitimacy and the value of consent"
Princeton University: Mentoring and Networking Workshop for Graduate Student Women in Philosophy, August 2014
If you'd like to know more about my work, please contact me!