Brainstorm | Opinion, Analysis, Reports, Features

"The HSE attack is one of an increasing number that successfully target organisations that cannot afford any service interruption or downtime, such as hospitals, financial or legal institutions"

To pay or not to pay: how victims deal with ransomware demands

The choices are not straightforward for those organisations who face blackmail demands from cybercriminals

Recent developments in countries where more people are vaccinated add further credit to the opinion that tough ethical challenges await Irish society.

The ethical issues concerning vaccine refusal

One of the most challenging ethical issues concerns returning to normality in a manner that protects public health without jeopardising the personal freedoms of anti-vaxxers ...

Vaccines • 20 Apr

"Deception is sometimes not only useful but even necessary, highlighting the great benefit that derives from its employment"

Is lying always morally wrong?

While the negative nature of a lie is self-evident, early Christian teaching permitted occasional deception

Ethics • 12 Mar

"A statement of fact about what is the case for some situation is categorically different from a statement about how we ought to respond to it."

The struggle between facts and values around Covid-19

People feel differently in their moral response to the same issue regardless of scientific facts

Coronavirus • 15 Jan

Dublin's Berlin D2 where a brunch event attracted much criticism after a video showed attendees not complying with Covid-19 public health guidance

Ethics and the virus: 'nothing spoils mighty craic like ethics'

The pandemic isn't going away and that means we have to reassess the nature of our ethical commitments

Ethics • 30 Sep 20

"Ethical, mindful and responsible researchers need to give careful consideration to the timing and the manner by which research is conducted"

What are the ethics around research during a global pandemic?

Feeding the insatiable need and demand for "covidata" is presenting researchers with new challenges

Research • 12 May 20

"The lives of those living today and those living 50 or even 500 years ago share the same struggles, dilemmas and anthropological unique inner structure"

What are Industry 4.0's ethical challenges?

Many commentators are currently raising questions about whether the new technological scenario implies new ethical challenges

Ethics • 09 Dec 19

"Ethical concerns are essential for designing a bridge that will not collapse"

The ethics of engineering

The values embedded in a product's design are just as important as engineering artefacts and technological developments

Engineering • 02 Dec 19

"Boris Johnson is primarily motivated by his own narcissistic desire for power, success, and historical legacy, at whatever cost to anyone else"

The moral case against a no-deal Brexit

A no-deal Brexit is fundamentally morally wrong since it cannot be justified to everyone on grounds that no one could reasonably reject

Brexit • 02 Sep 19

The surveillance apparatus described in movies like Minority Report is not dissimilar to the surveillance apparatus that controls our very own cities.

How to ensure robots behave nicely in the city

Ultimately, it is not the robots that we have to be concerned about, but rather the human beings that have the power to shape the ...

Robots • 28 Jul 19

The ethics of smart cities

Using big data and AI to manage cities creates many ethical issues, but efforts to address these concerns can be just as contentious

technology • 27 Apr 19

"If the use of genetic enhancement becomes widespread, those without will be relatively impoverished"

The risks and rewards of altering human genes

While genetic engineering may not produce unintended harm for the individual, we still have to consider social dangers

Genetics • 02 Aug 18

"What is the university's role in ensuring research carried out in its name does not pose a privacy risk to individuals?"

An Irish Cambridge Analytica? Not if we get our ethics in order

Irish universities are heavily involved in social media data analysis, so what's to prevent a rogue researcher aiding a private enterprise or political movement?

Cambridge Analytica • 04 Apr 18