Papers by Saeedeh Babaii
IOS Press eBooks, Jan 9, 2023
Social robots and chatbots are becoming increasingly significant for clinical applications in men... more Social robots and chatbots are becoming increasingly significant for clinical applications in mental health services. As a means of mental health enhancement, robots can be used as counselors to help users make better decisions to improve their wellbeing. In this context, ethical aspects of both robots’ and chatbots’ application as mental healthcare improvement assistants are crucially important. In this paper, we discuss some ethical challenges associated with counselor bots and chatbots by considering the most important ethical principles of counseling and psychotherapy, such as autonomy, confidentiality, intimacy, responsibility, and reciprocity. We try to explore how these ethical values are at risk when using bots in mental healthcare practices and draw attention to the need of adjusting and re-setting boundaries and ethical rules in designing human/bot interaction.
Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine
The quality of care crisis (QCC) is one of the most crucial crises the modern medicine is confron... more The quality of care crisis (QCC) is one of the most crucial crises the modern medicine is confronting, as the existential and psychological needs of patients have not been addressed and satisfied. Several attempts have been made to find solutions for QCC, e.g., the Marcum's recommendation to make physicians virtuous. Most of the existing formulations for the QCC have regarded technology as one of the causes of this crisis and not part of its solution. Although the authors agree with the role of technology in creatingthe crisis of care to some extent, in this article we try to present thecrisis of care so that medical technology is an important part of itssolution. For this purpose, we analyzed QCC from the philosophicalperspectives of Husserl and Borgmann and put forward a novelproposal to take account of technology in QCC. In the first step, itis discussed that the role of technology in causing the crisis of careis due to the gap between the techno-scientific world and the life...
Journal of Philosophical Investigations, 2022
In the context of the care crisis in modern medicine, the existential needs of patients are not s... more In the context of the care crisis in modern medicine, the existential needs of patients are not sufficiently satisfied. One idea to address the crisis is that physicians should be educated to be virtuous. This suggestion is inadequate because it does not take into account the role of (non-)human factors, including technologies. The paper focuses on online caring forums, arguing that they are technological factors that can play the role of “focal things”, in which the members gather together to do a care-related focal practice. We study empirically the online forums of Ninisite, a popular Persian website on pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting, and suggest that these forums shape focal practices that are helpful in alleviating the care crisis.
IOS Press Ebooks, 2023
Social robots and chatbots are becoming increasingly significant for clinical applications in men... more Social robots and chatbots are becoming increasingly significant for clinical applications in mental health services. As a means of mental health enhancement, robots can be used as counselors to help users make better decisions to improve their wellbeing. In this context, ethical aspects of both robots’ and chatbots’ application as mental healthcare improvement assistants are crucially important. In this paper, we discuss some ethical challenges associated with counselor bots and chatbots by considering the most important ethical principles of counseling and psychotherapy, such as autonomy, confidentiality, intimacy, responsibility, and reciprocity. We try to explore how these ethical values are at risk when using bots in mental healthcare practices and draw attention to the need of adjusting and re-setting boundaries and ethical rules in designing human/bot interaction.
Philosophy of Science (Falsafe-ye-Elm), 2022
Many attempts have been made in the history and philosophy of science to suppose machines as huma... more Many attempts have been made in the history and philosophy of science to suppose machines as human beings. Sometimes they are attributed mind, sometimes emotions, and sometimes intelligence. All this is to make the border between humans and machines as narrow as possible, so that one day they may unite. But this effort can be made in another direction. It is possible to bring humans closer to machines as much as possible with a systematic view, which is what the cybernetic perspective has done. This approach has played a significant role in the emergence of artificial intelligence studies and along with the two approaches of computationalism and representationalism has been able to introduce artificial intelligence as the most important and functional field of science to the world.
Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 2022
The quality of care crisis (QCC) is one of the most crucial crises the modern medicine is confron... more The quality of care crisis (QCC) is one of the most crucial crises the modern medicine is confronting, as the existential and psychological needs of patients have not been addressed and satisfied. Several attempts have been made to find solutions for QCC, e.g., the Marcum's recommendation to make physicians virtuous. Most of the existing formulations for the QCC have regarded technology as one of the causes of this crisis and not part of its solution. Although the authors agree with the role of technology in creating the crisis of care to some extent, in this article we try to present the crisis of care so that medical technology is an important part of its solution. For this purpose, we analyzed QCC from the philosophical perspectives of Husserl and Borgmann and put forward a novel proposal to take account of technology in QCC. In the first step, it is discussed that the role of technology in causing the crisis of care is due to the gap between the techno-scientific world and the life-world of the patients. This formulation shows that the crisis-causing role of technology is not inherent. In the second step, it is tried to find a way to integrate technology into the solution to the crisis. In the proposed reframing, designing and applying technologies based on focal things and practices make it possible to develop technologies that are caring and are able to mitigate QCC.
Iranian Journal of Medical Education, 2021
Introduction: One of the two major crises modern medicine is confronting with is the quality-of-c... more Introduction: One of the two major crises modern medicine is confronting with is the quality-of-care crisis (QCC); The QCC is the result of the ignorance of the existential and psychological needs of patients by doctors, nurses, and caregivers. In this paper, we aim to review this crisis and the importance of taking it into consideration by caregivers. We also develop a framework, called The Phronetic Model for Care, for an ideal care practice that can be used as a basis for training caregivers and this could be a major step to overcome QCC.
Methods: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Results: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Conclusion: Regarding that one of the most important steps to alleviate QCC is rethinking the concept of QCC
and its various components, the proposed framework for practicing care can be used as a basis for teaching
the skills required by caregivers and their proper training in order to emancipate from QCC.
Journal of Science & Technology Policy (JSTP), 2020
Throughout history, women have been one of the marginalized groups, and this phenomenon can be se... more Throughout history, women have been one of the marginalized groups, and this phenomenon can be seen in the field of science and professions related to digital technologies. The tendency to study gender, science and technology has emerged in response to the need for the presence of women as half of society in the field of science and technology. Digital technologies will be one of the influential factors in shaping societies in the future, so the active participation of women in the production process of these technologies can keep them from ignoring feminine values. In the present study, the role of women in the development of these technologies has been scrutinized. This paper is a strategic study and the method used for it is library research method. By taking notes from various sources, relying on the approach of difference feminist philosophers and choosing a value-sensitive design model in the production of digital technologies we have tried to point out the problems caused by the absence of women in this process and then, suggest ways for gender balance in this process. This study shows that if policy makers, designers and users of digital * Corresponding author: saeedeh.babaii@gmail.com technologies follow these policies and solutions, women can find an influential position in the development of digital technologies, and as a result, the technologies that are produced will be less biased against women and fairer.
Falsafe-ye-Elm, 2020
Human beings have turned to technology to solve many of their problems. Although technology has b... more Human beings have turned to technology to solve many of their problems. Although technology has been effective in solving many of these problems, it has also caused some crises. Hence, some philosophers have been reflecting on technology and have examined the cause of technology crises and the ways out of these crises. One of these philosophers is the American philosopher, Albert Borgmann. Borgmann proposes his idea of focal things and practices to solve technological crises. In this paper, I examine this idea and its criticisms. Then, I evaluate Borgmann's responses to these criticisms, and finally, by categorizing these criticisms and responses, I identify the gaps in Borgmann's theory.
http://ararc.ir/fa/file/1845/download?token=YOdYeaJ-, 2020
Falsafe-ye-Elm, 2017
Can one distinguish between natural objects and artifacts? Or should one look at the universe wit... more Can one distinguish between natural objects and artifacts? Or should one look at the universe without considering natural-artifact dichotomy? The answers of these questions, determine the position of philosophy of technology in confronting with the technical artifacts, and bring about challenging issues. In this paper, we try to answer these questions from different perspectives. First, we will express the contemporary philosophers’ views about the distinction between artifacts and natural object, which the boundary between these two worlds seems to be unclear to some extent in their views and one can’t, without controversy, categorize things into these two categories.
Journal of Cyberspace Studies, 2017
This paper initially examines theories proposed by Feenberg about technical systems and alternati... more This paper initially examines theories proposed by Feenberg about technical systems and alternative modernity, analyzes his thoughts, and concludes that a framework of values needs to be provided in shaping technical systems. In a society like Iran, where policy makers are looking for the realization of Islamic values, this framework of values is derived from Islam. To explain the relationship between religion and technology, the concept of concretization has been used up, according to which, all aspects of civilization, including technical systems must be concretized based on Islamic values. Virtual space as a part of the technical systems must be concretized with a holistic approach, based on Islamic values, and for this purpose, there is no choice but a collective social life based on religious values. The concluding section of the paper also tries to deal with another significant issue which predicts the future of concretization at the level of civilizations which will be offered using the metaphor of the ‘sand desert’.
Books by Saeedeh Babaii
National Center for Cyberspace, 2021
National Center for Cyberspace, 2021
Selected Articles in the Policymaking of Emerging Technologies, 2018
Teaching Documents by Saeedeh Babaii
This is the syllabus I teach for the course "Medical Humanities and Artificial Intelligence" at
... more This is the syllabus I teach for the course "Medical Humanities and Artificial Intelligence" at
1. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2. Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran.
3. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4. Kordestan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
5. Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
6. Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
7. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Drafts by Saeedeh Babaii
Today, the advent of social networking in the cyberspace has brought us to a new class of Interne... more Today, the advent of social networking in the cyberspace has brought us to a new class of Internet businesses. The Instagram network has managed to surpass 100 million users from all over the world due to its unique features such as image capture and ease of use. This level of influence has made Instagram an important context for new ways of earning money. The Internet, by its very nature, provides the possibility of interacting for people who have previously or less traditionally had less physical presence in social and work environments, the most numerous of which are women. The issue of women's employment has always been a challenging issue, perhaps the most important reason is the plurality of family and social roles. In many cases, these roles are a form of conflict and stress that imposes a lot of physical and psychological pressure on women. But massive IT developments have provided self-employment and home-based employment with high growth potential. Women can balance their family responsibilities and employment without the need for physical presence at the workplace. Such a category has an undeniable effect on the economy of the country and the lives of Iranian women. Hence, the future of the status of women's Instagram business as an emerging phenomenon with unknown dimensions of threats and opportunities is a research issue of concern to this research. Therefore, we seek to illustrate the probable prospects and analyze the possible factors in order to orientate this potential to be a desirable pattern for Islamic Iran.
Conference Presentations by Saeedeh Babaii
The Society for Philosophy and Technology Conference (SPT), 2021
The fact that deep neural networks have shown outstanding functionality in a variety of fields ha... more The fact that deep neural networks have shown outstanding functionality in a variety of fields has resulted in their expanding use for decision making in social areas. However, the data required to train
a deep neural network is extracted from the real world and, in most cases, inevitably infected with implicit bias. Also, AI systems are developed by decontextualized data, while the meaning of data is correlated to their context. When this context is vague for the AI system, it may carry racial, gender, class, etc. biases and might make mistakes in detecting correlations between things which could lead
to biased decisions. In this presentation, we propose an innovative solution based on the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to mitigate bias in the outputs of our model. We use two models both of which can be deep neural networks called generator and discriminator.
Unlike models such as decision trees, rule-based systems, etc., deep neural networks are not transparent. Whereas some declare that this non-transparency is the problem of DL, in the most interesting cases, impressive scores obtained by DL cannot be retrieved by altering them into transparent models. We argue that detecting bias in outputs of a neural network eventuates to loss of trust, while transparency is just a means to reach the goal of trust. As some experiments show, an
increase in transparency may raise a decrease in trust. We suggest a new method to debias the model and attain trust with no need for transparency. In addition to transparency, one needs an explanation about what is going on in the model related to the protected attributes. Our suggested method gives a generic way to protect the interested attributes and hence, provides the user with an explanation.
10th Annual Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Conference , 2020
The relation between technology and medicine goes back to Hippocratic medicine. But since the 19 ... more The relation between technology and medicine goes back to Hippocratic medicine. But since the 19 th century, technology has played a significant part in modern medicine. The emergence of new and complicated technologies has resulted in changing the location of medical practice from patients' homes to hospitals. Technologies are integrated into the diagnosis, treatment, enhancing, palliation and prevention processes. As a consequence of technological gaze, the concept of disease has changed. Technologically mediated tests and images have become the main source of physician's judgment and decision making. In spite of the influences of technology on medical practice, it is not acknowledged adequately by healthcare professionals and philosophers of medicine and technology. One important neglected role of technology is in the Quality of Care Crisis (QCC). Modern western medicine is accused of ignoring the existential and psychological needs of patients. Medical technologies became an obstacle for the relationships between patient/physician, patient/family, and physician/family. Technological gaze has lead us to reduce illness to malfunctioning of biologic and chemical processes in the body and has dehumanized medical practice. Therefore, the patient's subjective experience is not a necessary part of the physician's medical practice. We are going to review QCC from the perspective of philosophy of medicine and discuss the solutions presented to solve it which ignore technology. We will problematize the role of technology in QCC and scrutinize the changes technology has made in medicine which have resulted in QCC. These changes are not mere side effects of inappropriate application of technology and accordingly, additive and supplementary solutions cannot resolve the crisis. Technology has reduced human interactions on three levels and has played a central part in overthrowing the caring practice. Based on Albert Borgmann's theoretical framework, we are going to reframe QCC from the perspective of philosophy of technology and suggest technology-based approaches to overcome this crisis.
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Papers by Saeedeh Babaii
Methods: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Results: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Conclusion: Regarding that one of the most important steps to alleviate QCC is rethinking the concept of QCC
and its various components, the proposed framework for practicing care can be used as a basis for teaching
the skills required by caregivers and their proper training in order to emancipate from QCC.
Books by Saeedeh Babaii
Teaching Documents by Saeedeh Babaii
1. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2. Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran.
3. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4. Kordestan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
5. Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
6. Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
7. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Drafts by Saeedeh Babaii
Conference Presentations by Saeedeh Babaii
a deep neural network is extracted from the real world and, in most cases, inevitably infected with implicit bias. Also, AI systems are developed by decontextualized data, while the meaning of data is correlated to their context. When this context is vague for the AI system, it may carry racial, gender, class, etc. biases and might make mistakes in detecting correlations between things which could lead
to biased decisions. In this presentation, we propose an innovative solution based on the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to mitigate bias in the outputs of our model. We use two models both of which can be deep neural networks called generator and discriminator.
Unlike models such as decision trees, rule-based systems, etc., deep neural networks are not transparent. Whereas some declare that this non-transparency is the problem of DL, in the most interesting cases, impressive scores obtained by DL cannot be retrieved by altering them into transparent models. We argue that detecting bias in outputs of a neural network eventuates to loss of trust, while transparency is just a means to reach the goal of trust. As some experiments show, an
increase in transparency may raise a decrease in trust. We suggest a new method to debias the model and attain trust with no need for transparency. In addition to transparency, one needs an explanation about what is going on in the model related to the protected attributes. Our suggested method gives a generic way to protect the interested attributes and hence, provides the user with an explanation.
Methods: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Results: This study has been written using the Critical Review method and the proposed steps by Carnwell & Daly to design a conceptual model. The concepts and resources related to the QCC have been searched for in databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Elsevier, and PhilPapers with the keywords medical practice, healthcare practice, critical reflection, empathy, phronesis, practical wisdom, reflective practice and the latest and most cited papers and books have been selected and read.
Conclusion: Regarding that one of the most important steps to alleviate QCC is rethinking the concept of QCC
and its various components, the proposed framework for practicing care can be used as a basis for teaching
the skills required by caregivers and their proper training in order to emancipate from QCC.
1. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2. Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran.
3. Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
4. Kordestan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
5. Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
6. Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
7. Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
a deep neural network is extracted from the real world and, in most cases, inevitably infected with implicit bias. Also, AI systems are developed by decontextualized data, while the meaning of data is correlated to their context. When this context is vague for the AI system, it may carry racial, gender, class, etc. biases and might make mistakes in detecting correlations between things which could lead
to biased decisions. In this presentation, we propose an innovative solution based on the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to mitigate bias in the outputs of our model. We use two models both of which can be deep neural networks called generator and discriminator.
Unlike models such as decision trees, rule-based systems, etc., deep neural networks are not transparent. Whereas some declare that this non-transparency is the problem of DL, in the most interesting cases, impressive scores obtained by DL cannot be retrieved by altering them into transparent models. We argue that detecting bias in outputs of a neural network eventuates to loss of trust, while transparency is just a means to reach the goal of trust. As some experiments show, an
increase in transparency may raise a decrease in trust. We suggest a new method to debias the model and attain trust with no need for transparency. In addition to transparency, one needs an explanation about what is going on in the model related to the protected attributes. Our suggested method gives a generic way to protect the interested attributes and hence, provides the user with an explanation.