Due: 15 November 2016 – “Ethics” assignment

Due: 15 November 2016 – “Ethics” assignment

You are asked to provide a response to the following ethics question. The raw material for your answer will come from your reading of:
Kidder, Chapter 1
Ford, Chapter 11
Our class discussion of the topic
Other readings posted to Canvas

Your ethics essay should be 1½ single-spaced pages (or 3 double-spaced pages). Be specific and use examples from the readings or from your own experience. If you would rather write about an ethics topic or event of more immediate concern to you, please do so.

I hasten to point out that this essay should not be considered ‘technical writing’.

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We as professionals in the field of engineering are seen as the guardians of technology. That is, we are the ones who are the experts and who create the designs that are at the heart of the social and cultural norms that define day-to-day life in our era. With every design, we endeavor to apply the most advanced expression of our ability as a species now to brighten and extend our lives and our capabilities. As guardians, we are also the ones who ultimately decide which endeavors are worthy of our attention (and our heritage). With this …power…, comes a responsibility to make sure that technology is used in ways that are worthy and not wasted in nefarious, self-serving or greedy applications that ultimately go against our best interest as a species. In this exercise, you are asked to consider where we as a people should devote our efforts at technological enhancement and what areas should be beyond our tampering? That is, what are the limits of technology? Are there areas of human endeavor to which an application of technology would be inappropriate or unethical? Support your reasoning with links to your closely-held values.

In addressing this question, there are a number of sub-themes that you might develop:
1. How do we assure that “genius” technical ability is firmly tethered to moral and ethical accountability?
2. How do we protect ourselves from the harsh judgment (or sanction) of those who see a looming crisis or who are advocates of a point of view, however well-meaning?
3. As designers, how can we assure that our designs are used as intended and not “corrupted” for purposes that we feel are unethical? Once delivered, do we have a responsibility for the use of our designs? Or, do we (must we) cast them off and leave it to others to apply them ethically?

The following case studies might help you to focus on the topic of “What, if any, are the limits of where technology should or should not be applied to human endeavors?”

Case 1 Accountability: Tom Lehrer penned a memorable line in one of his protest songs of the 1960’s, in which he said, “ … and where they come down/Is not my department, said Werner VonBraun.” Werner VonBraun is a controversial figure. He was the superb rocket pioneer who developed most of the rocket technology of the late 20th century, including the Saturn 5 which took us to the moon. He began his career by developing the “V” rockets that the Nazis used to terrorize London. The song protests the atom bombs delivered on rockets and flippantly examines who is responsible for the destruction that would result. Is it the rocket-builder? The bomb maker? The politician who presses the button? Who of these can deny responsibility?

Case 2 Privacy: Ross McNutt and his team came up with an idea. He was an Air Force engineer and had been asked to dream up a method to combat IEDs in Afghanistan. His ideas was that with a small plane and a 44 mega-pixel camera, he figured out how to watch an entire city all at once, all day long. Whenever a bomb detonated, he and his team could use those snapshots to zoom into that site of the explosion and then scroll back in time and see – literally see – who planted the explosive. After the war, Ross McNutt retired from the Air Force, and brought this technology back home with him…. (For the story, look here.) He has tried to sell his system to US cities and towns as a way to catch criminals. It works! But do we … do you … want to be the subject of such surveillance? Is that the kind of society we want to be? Who gets to use these files and for what purposes? If you were a mayor of a city, like Baltimore, would you see this as a tool for keeping the city safe? Or an invasion of the privacy of the citizenry? Which would you choose? Should military tools or weapons be introduced into civilian contexts?

Case 3: For a long time, I did not own a cell phone because I did not trust AT&T with a record of my whereabouts. I have nothing to hide, still I find it creepy that AT&T can and will tell the US government the intimate details of my life without telling me. Should I trust the government to interpret my motives based on my position?

Case 4 Humanity: Many of the leading minds of our time (including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill Gates) have expressed the opinion that the leading threat to humanity is NOT global warming, nor is it any political issue. Rather, it is artificial intelligence (AI). If safeguards are not put in place, they have said, there will come a moment when we will teach machines to improve themselves and they will do so at a rate much faster than we biological beings are able to evolve. At that moment, we will have given up our free-will. We will become the tools of technology, instead of the other way around. Our destiny, as a species, would then be merely an adjunct to the destiny of machines. You might say, “We can always turn off the power.” But if that would mean our own destruction as a species ….

Case 5 Humanity: This from the Guardian (8 November 2016):

US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance mental skills of staff, in research that aims to boost the performance of air crews, drone operators and others in the armed forces’ most demanding roles. The successful tests of the devices pave the way for servicemen and women to be wired up at critical times of duty, so that electrical pulses can be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high-pressure situations.

Now it is your turn: “What are the limits of technology? Are there areas of human endeavor to which an application of technology would be inappropriate or unethical? Support your reasoning with links to your closely-held values.”