Social Scientist May Ask Discussion And Reply To

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Social Scientist May Ask Discussion And Reply To

Sometimes it is helpful to get an outside perspective. In your
discussion post, describe your selected social science issue and include
two relevant questions that social science professionals (e.g.,
psychologists, sociologists, or anthropologists) might be interested in.

In response to your peers, add a relevant question or summary that
will support them in narrowing the investigative focus for their
topic/issue.

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.

Peer 1

Good evening everyone,

The social science issue that I am proposing for investigation is “social attitudes towards artificial intelligence”.

Artificial intelligence (commonly referred to as “AI”) is essentially
the body of work related to building “intelligence” into computers.
Traditionally speaking, computers execute strict commands that are
programmed by humans; they are essentially advanced calculators,
appearing to make complex decisions, when in fact, every single decision
a computer makes is based on its human programmer. In other words,
computers are great at following orders and doing math very quickly, but
they are not necessarily intelligent. How many times has your own
computer simply “froze” or “locked-up” on you? This is your computer
blindly executing commands without questioning if the commands are
accurate or may cause it to lock up.

Artificial intelligence is different. With AI, programmers are not
simply asking a computer to blindly execute commands. Instead, they are
asking a computer to learn to make decisions on its own, re-programming
itself based on new information that becomes available and from things
it has learned from the past.

You may be thinking…what does this have to do with Social Science?
That would be a great question. Experts already predict that as
artificial intelligence improves and evolves, it is very likely that AI
will replace many of today’s desirable and high-paying white-collar
jobs. For example, even today, an AI application can search hundreds of
thousands of legal documents and records in minutes; work that would
have taken lawyers and their teams hundreds of hours to complete. AI has
also been shown to be better at identifying tiny anomalies on
high-resolution CT scans than any human doctor. (Haenlein & Kaplan,
2019).

The reason I chose this social science issue is that I feel strongly
that artificial intelligence will have a dramatic impact on society over
the coming decades. Social scientists of the future will be called upon
to study these impacts and propose solutions to myriad social/societal
issues created by artificial intelligence.

Some example questions that a social scientist may ask today include:

  • [Psychologist] Will increased interaction with artificial intelligence lead to higher rates of depression?
  • [Anthropologist] Does a cultures adoption of advanced technologies affect its sense of identity?
  • [Sociologist] Does the use of artificial intelligence influence a
    communities trust in their local government? For example, if a city uses
    cameras and facial recognition to search for known criminals, will
    regular citizens feel that their own privacy is being violated?

I’d love to hear some feedback on my choice of a social science
issue. Do my social science questions make sense? Don’t hold back, I’d
prefer honest responses so I can improve my approach, if needed.

Looking forward to the discussion.

Thanks,
Clyde

Reference:

Haenlein, M., & Kaplan, A. (2019). A Brief History of Artificial
Intelligence: On the Past, Present, and Future of Artificial
Intelligence. California Management Review, 61(4), 5–14. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/0008125619864925