Technology, Law & Ethics
A minor of 30 EC, open to students from any field
Emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, neurotechnology and ICT promise to improve how we communicate, heal, reproduce and think. In the process, they may change the human condition itself.
They also put pressure on principles the law takes for granted, such as responsibility, dignity, autonomy, freedom and privacy. This minor asks what those principles mean for the regulation of new technology, and whether they still hold in the light of recent science.
Over five courses and three periods, you move from robots and data to the brain and the embryo. Lecturers come from technology and privacy law, philosophy, neuroethics and bioethics, and the minor attracts students from all academic backgrounds.
- 30 EC, five courses
- Taught in English
- Periods 1 to 3
- For students from any field
Apply for the minor Minors at VU Amsterdam
Where do you stand?
Five questions the minor takes up. Pick an answer to each and see which course works through it. Nobody grades your answer here, and in the minor you learn to defend it.
- A delivery drone causes an accident. No human gave it the order. Who should answer for the damage? (Robot Law and Artificial Intelligence)
- A brain scan suggests that a defendant could not control his impulses. Should it reduce his sentence? (Philosophy and Neuroethics)
- Your supermarket works out from your shopping that you are pregnant, before you have told anyone. Is that acceptable? (Data Analytics and Privacy)
- Should parents be allowed to edit the genes of an embryo to remove a serious disease? (Law and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies)
- A ride-hailing app breaks the city’s taxi rules. What should the city do? (Governance and Regulation of Emerging Technologies)
Five courses, three periods
Every course is worth 6 EC. Choose a course to read what it covers and which principles it puts to the test.
- Governance and Regulation of Emerging Technologies, period 1, 6 EC. The tools that govern new technology, from legislation and self-regulation to technical standards and intellectual property, tested on cases such as Uber and bitcoin.
- Robot Law and Artificial Intelligence, period 1, 6 EC. What changes when intelligent software, robots, drones and nanobots act on their own, and how to take a reasoned position on robotisation.
- Philosophy and Neuroethics, period 2, 6 EC. Neurotechnology in healthcare and in criminal law, from the mind-brain problem to the question of criminal responsibility.
- Data Analytics and Privacy, period 2, 6 EC. Business analytics and data science seen through fundamental rights, and above all through the right to privacy.
- Law and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies, period 3, 6 EC. Prenatal testing, genome editing of embryos, reproductive tourism and commercial surrogacy, and the legal and ethical dilemmas each one raises.
How you learn
The courses are taught in an interactive way. Next to academic literature, you work with the material where these questions show up first. Choose a source to see what it brings.
- Academic literature. The arguments, theories and evidence that the courses build on, read closely and discussed in class.
- News items. Where many of these questions first reach the public, often before the law has an answer.
- Documentaries. The people a technology affects, in their own words.
- Political debates. How lawmakers argue over a new technology, and which arguments end up in the rules.
- Advisory reports. What expert bodies advise governments to do, and how far their advice is followed.
Principles under pressure
Each course comes back to five principles and asks whether they still hold. Choose one to see the question it raises, and the courses that put it to the test.
- Responsibility. Who answers for a decision that no human took?
- Dignity. What may we do to a brain or to an embryo, and what may we never do?
- Autonomy. Do you still choose freely when a machine or a test chooses for you?
- Freedom. How far may rules restrain a technology before they restrain people?
- Privacy. What may others learn about you from the traces you leave?
Questions about taking the minor
- Your academic advisor, For VU students, at your own faculty, Find your advisor
- Incoming Exchange Team, For students from other universities, incoming@vu.nl