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Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics: “Automating Inequality” by Virginia Eubanks

Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics: “Automating Inequality” by Virginia Eubanks

The Rock Ethics Institute’s 2020 Richard B. Lippin Lecture in Ethics will feature Virginia Eubanks, author of the award-winning book Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. The virtual lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place Thursday, October 1 at 6:00 p.m.  

Eubanks is an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany – SUNY, whose work on social justice and technology has been featured in The New York TimesThe Atlantic, as well as on NPR, BBC, and other outlets. Her lecture will discuss themes from Automating Inequality—the impacts of data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models on poor and working-class people in America—and how they relate to the current pandemic. 

The co-sponsors for this year’s Lippin Lecture are the Center for Humanities and Information, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, McCourtney Institute for Democracy, and University Libraries. As part of its weekly Democracy Works podcast produced with WPSU Penn State, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy released an interview with Eubanks previewing themes in her upcoming lecture. 

There will be a discussion with Eubanks immediately following her lecture led by Sarah Rajtmajer and Pamela VanHaitsma, both Rock Ethics Institute faculty. You can submit potential questions for Eubanks by emailing them to Betsy VanNoy at bmv111@psu.edu by Monday, September 28.  

The lecture will take place as a Zoom webinar. Advance registration is required by clicking here. After registering, you will receive a link to watch the lecture, which you should click on shortly before 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 1.  

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