CSJ Center 2020 Symposium - 21st Century Technology: Creative Possibilities and Ethical Conundrums
Click here to the complete 2020 Symposium Program, which includes speaker biographies.
DAY 1 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2020
3:30pm – 5:00pm Kick-off Reception – Yarn Bombing Los Angeles (YBLA) Installation (Dunning Courtyard, Burns Fine Art Center)
Special remarks by MaryAnne Huepper, CSJ, Associate Director of the CSJ Center for Reconciliation and Justice
4:20pm - 7:20pm Film Screening of Eye in the Sky with Panel Discussion on Drone Warfare (Life Science Building Auditorium)
Capt. Gregory Bradbury, USMC Pilot
Lt. Col. Kari Hill, USAF ROTC Commander, LMU
Lt. Col. T. Mark McCurley, USAF, Author of Hunter Killer: Inside the Lethal World of Drone Warfare
LT Brian Michael Reedy, SJ, US Navy, Philosophy Department, LMU
DAY 2 | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2020
10:00am – 11:00am Emerging Sound Technology and Its Creative Possibilities---and Responsibilities (Hilton Center 100)
Throughout human history, time variance in musical composition has brought subtlety and substance to the musical experience. As technology has evolved, the ability to manipulate spaces and simulated spaces, and timed events associated with them that change musical timbre, has accelerated. This talk described and demonstrated how technology has changed the possibilities for creating and experiencing music, including demonstration of a new system of composition President Snyder invented, which calls to question the artist’s responsibilities in accommodating the human mind and experience.
Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., President, Loyola Marymount University
4:30pm - 6:00pm Impacts of Social Media on the 2020 Election (Ahmanson Auditorium, University Hall)
From politicians spreading false or misleading information - to presidential candidates raising campaign funds - to the Commander-in-Chief using it for official communication with legislators, social media continues to change how Americans engage with politics. This panel discussed the growing importance of social media and its impact, good and bad, on politics.
7:00pm - 9:30pm Justice and Spirituality on Screen: Technology and the Human Imagination (Playa Vista Campus)
The CSJ Center's Justice and Spirituality on Screen series engages questions of faith and culture through the lens of modern cinema. It is cosponsored by the LMU School of Film & Television and the Center for Religion & Spirituality. The 2019-2020 series theme echoes that of the CSJ Center's symposium, the program included a scholar and artist panel discussion on technology as it has been imagined in film, art, literature and other media. Excerpts from various film and television series were screened.
Michael McNaught, Assistant Director, Center for Religion & Spirituality, LMU
DAY 3 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
9:40am - 11:00am The Benefits and Tensions Related to Using Technology to Promote Health and Well-being (Hilton Center 100)
This session offered three different topics related to technology and health. Dr. Oppenheim addressed “Healthcare Systems Engineering to the Rescue of Healthcare,” Dr. Freitas shared “A Computer Scientist’s Perspective of the Ethical Challenges of Developing Health Related Tech” and Ms. Marmolejo discussed “Application Development for Use in Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations.”
Jordan Freitas, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, LMU
Marina Marmolejo, Alumna of the LMU Dept of HHSC,'17, Founder and Executive Director of DreamKit
Bo W. Oppenheim, Professor of Systems Engineering and Director of the Healthcare Systems Engineering MS Program, LMU
Heather P. Tarleton, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Health and Human Services, LMU
11:30am - 1:00pm The Ethics Behind Drone Warfare (McIntosh Center, University Hall)
Brian Michael Reedy, SJ, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, LMU
2:30pm - 3:30pm Technology, Water and Community Sustainability (Hilton Center 100)
A session focused on the use of data in water and/or power use, contributing positively to resource efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Judith Ibarra-Bianchetta, VP and Director of Client Services, Tetra Tech
Lawrence (Larry) Kalbers, Associate Dean of Faculty and Academic Initiatives and R. Chad Dreier Chair of Accounting Ethics, LMU
Jeffrey Thies, Director, Institute for Business Ethics and Sustainability, LMU
3pm – 4:30pm From the Printing Press to Smart Phones: Encounters with Information Technologies Over Time (Archives and Special Collections, 3rd Floor, William H. Hannon Library)
This Archives and Special Collections hands-on workshop will give visitors the opportunity to interact with rare materials that teach us about the history of information technologies, showing how much and how little they have changed since Gutenberg first printed a Bible with movable type. Items on display will include early printed specimens, tracts by Martin Luther from the Reformation pamphlet wars, Athanasius Kircher’s opulent Jesuit showcase of the East, a myriopticon illustrating the American Civil War, and early 20th century stereographs (3-D). Spend ten minutes or an hour, however long you want to explore these fascinating materials.
The Library’s contribution to the CSJ’s symposium is a team effort led by Aisha Connor-Gaten, instructional design Librarian, John Jackson, head of Outreach and Communications, Melanie Hubbard, digital scholarship librarian, and Cynthia Becht, head of Archives and Special Collections.
5:00pm - 6:30pm Fake News is Hijacking American Politics (Von der Ahe Family Suite, William H. Hannon Library)
A session focused on the challenges journalists will face in 2020 as fake news continues to chip away the trust voters have in credible sources of information.
Carol Costello, Veteran CNN Anchor and Journalism Professor at LMU
Brian Stelter, Chief Media Correspondent and Anchor of Reliable Sources
DAY 4 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020
9:40am - 11:00am Who Are You? Identity and the Internet (Von der Ahe Family Suite, William H. Hannon Library)
A reading of sample scenes from three contemporary plays dealing with the personal complications arising from the internet’s use in dating, gaming, and law enforcement.
The plays were The Pond is an Ocean by Ian Salazar, LMU alum ‘17; Just a Game by Katie Murphy, LMU alum ‘17; and SexSting by Doris Baizley, LMU adjunct faculty.
10:00am - 11:00am Imagining a Greater Justice: Should Computer Algorithms Assess the Risk of a Person's Future Offenses and Dictate that Individual's Prison Sentence or Suitability for Parole? (McIntosh Center, University Hall)
This session addressed the ethical issues behind computer algorithms making decisions on prison sentences and parole.
Samuel H. Pillsbury, Professor of Law, LMU Loyola Law School
Susan F. Turner, Professor of Criminology, Law & Society, UC Irvine
Scott Wood, Professor Emeritus, LMU Loyola Law School
11:20am - 12:50pm Silence: Stories of One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberties and Justice for None (Von der Ahe Family Suite, William H. Hannon Library)
Dramatized narratives based on interviews from Puerto Rico residents.
Cecille Forsyth Rios. Theatre Undergraduate Student, LMU
Daphnie Sicre, Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts, LMU
Actors: Jessica Dickerson and Dante Gonzalez-Abreu
1:00pm - 2:30pm Your Place in Tech Revolution: Becoming a Critical Digital Citizen Online (William H. Hannon Library, 117 & 118)
How do we critically think about the information we share and the technology on which we share it? This library workshop will ask attendees to consider this question and the role we unintentionally play in the spreading of misinformation online. Beginning with a critical look at online technologies—What is the internet? What is an algorithm? — the workshop culminated in an activity that taught attendees how to look at online information critically and share it ethically.
The Library’s contribution to the CSJ’s annual symposium is a team effort led by Aisha Connor-Gaten, instructional design Librarian, John Jackson, head of Outreach and Communications and Melanie Hubbard, digital scholarship librarian.
4:30pm - 6:00pm Ethics, Empathy and Immersive Storytelling (McIntosh Center, University Hall)
This session examined the role that empathy plays in ethics and the ways that video games, by virtue of their immersive qualities, can deepen, expand, and complicate empathy and ethical understanding.
Susan Scheibler, Associate Professor, Film and TV Studies, LMU
Timothy Welsh, Associate Professor, English, Loyola University New Orleans
6:00pm - 7:30pm Political News Narratives in a Populist America (Von der Ahe Family Suite, William H. Hannon Library)
This panel put journalists in conversation as they addressed the turn toward populism in America and discussed how populist movements on either side of America’s political spectrum are represented in news media coverage. Panelists further discussed the way technology has worked either for or against such movements and both complicated and assisted journalistic coverage of political movements.
Ashleigh Campi, Visiting Professor, Political Science, LMU
Tara Pixley, Assistant Professor, Journalism, LMU
Brooke Thomas, Host of The Young Turks Network