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On the Necessity of Introspection

-- By AllisonHouston - 26 Apr 2018

Oftentimes doubts concerning my law school enrollment lead me to speculate on if I made the correct decision in what I chose to pursue an advance degree in. I wonder regularly if I should have worked towards a Masters in either Political Science or Philosophy. Consistently I settle on Philosophy. Largely because I miss engaging with material that perplexed, fascinated, and intrigued me. I was constantly confused–as I am in law school–but it was a type of confusion that felt fruitful and meaningful. The confusion I feel in law school is more akin to a mundane alley of trepidation.

I have not found any solace in my first year black letter law classes. I constantly muse how intellectually simulated I would be engaging with philosophical matters. For the majority of my 1L experience I have felt disengaged with the curriculum. But, my attention has been grabbed and captivated through attending talks on topics I have no background in. In particular, I have become transfixed on cybersecurity and technology issues pertaining to law. I find the issues and questions stemming from cybersecurity to be parallel to the questions philosophy attempts to address.

For example, one of the essential philosophical questions Kant tries to answer is: how can we obtain cognition of objects that are things in themselves, which do not lend themselves to an a priori comprehension? The question is important to Kant because it sets out to address how we come to know the objects we consider ourselves familiar with and helps in further resolving antinomies. What is at stake for Kant is more fundamental than resolving philosophical dilemmas and it is much deeper than simply assisting in the progression of the intellectual development and expansion of his field of philosophy. But, rather, his investigation is important for understanding our shared human experience, something that is of relevance and concern not only for those steeped in the profession and field of philosophy, but also for lay people. I feel cyber security problems are deeply steeped in understanding our modern human experience. The intellectual development created and response to these issues will profoundly shape the lives of countless individuals.

I would like to be a privacy and data security lawyer, because I have a strong interest and fascination with cyber security, cryptocurrency, and Artificial Intelligence issues and challenges. Before starting at Columbia, I found cyber issues to be incredibly entertaining, complex, and even somewhat mysterious. My interests were peaked due to the plethora of unanswered questions and questions that have yet to be asked.

My generation is unlike any other in regards to our relationship to technology. We have always known computers and the Internet due to our early exposure. I feel this exposure places us in a very unique position in human history, in which although we have always interacted with the world in a technological way, this is the first time humans have been posed with pressing social questions stemming from these scientific and technological advancements. Such as, who is responsible in an accident involving a self-driving car, is it ethical to use AI to engage in battle, who should be accountable when a malfunction occurs, or how will cryptocurrency impact the traditional global financial market? These are just a few of the questions I feel deeply passionate about understanding and feel becoming a privacy and data security lawyer would allow me to explore these issues with more depth and expose me to those who are creating and shaping the literature addressing these problems.

A key reason why I am so intrigued with these matters is when I have attended lunch talks on the issues of cyber security, cryptocurrency, and AI overwhelming the professionals giving the talk conclude by admitting they themselves do not know the answer and that many of the most pressing issues still have no clear cut answer. This truly and genuinely excites me. These relatively new questions compose something almost like a Wild West of knowledge, where there is no clear-cut dominant consensus or order, and anything is possible. These questions are hard and challenging, but even more so, there are other questions waiting on the horizon that we have yet to ask either because the technology hasn’t been created or simply someone hasn’t thought to ask the question. I want to be a part of the problem solving. I want to engage with these pressing complex matters in search of the answers that would shape this Wild West like field into a more easily navigable environment.

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