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Summary

When you make stuff, make it well (follow correct procedures, and give credit where due) and make sure it is beneficial to the public and maintains public safety

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Readings

• Lecture </aside>

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Keywords -

• Maxim: A rule of conduct

• ACM code of ethics </aside>

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Introduction

• personal ethics
• professional ethics
• societal ethics </aside>

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Is technology neutral?

argument for:

“This moral neutrality is based upon viewing technology purely as a means (providing tools for society to use) with the ends (the actual usage of technology) lying beyond and outside the realm of engineering;

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Kranzberg’s Law (argument against neutrality)

TO be innocent we must be powerless

1.“Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”

technology’s interaction with the social ecology is such that technical developments frequently have environmental, social, and human consequences that go far beyond the immediate purposes of the technical devices and practices themselves, and technology can have quite different results when introduced into different contexts or under different circumstances

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Ethical principles vs Law

• An action can be ethical and not lawful
• An action can be legal but not ethical
• Ethics can be used to critcise and evalutate existing laws and in creating new laws

The value of a single life

A generally approved maxim (rule of conduct) is that to let 2-10 actually guilty people free of conviction is better than falsely convicting ONE actually innocent person.

Case: Airbags

People were dying from airbags incorrectly being deployed

• Controlled lab vs Real life scenario

Technology Ethics vs Science Ethics

Tech:

• Guide regulation and oversight
• protect Privacy and confidentiality

Science:

Honesty and integrity

assure that scientific knowledge is unbiased and trustworthy

Software as a Medical device

• Medical software can be FDA approved(US) TGA Approved/ Medical grade
• Ethical concerns revolve around data collection and storage.
• Software is a medical device if it fits within the definition described in the Therapeutic Goods Act

Values, Principles, Responsibility, Purpose

Values - What is important?

Principles - used to translate values in to responsibilities - How to act on the values

Code of Ethics Vs code of conduct: Code of ethics represent the value, code of conduct outlines how to achieve ethical practices

Beneficence vs maleficence | Beneficence & non-maleficence

Do good vs Do no harm | Do good & do no harm

• You can argue that you are doing good. “Do no harm is more encompassing”

If you focus on doing good then you can potentially fall into a utilitarian mindset that you are doing good for the majority.

The Nuremberg Code (1947)

The Nuremberg Study - putting people in gas chambers to study the effects of different gases in the name of science

• Not ethical
• influenced the Nuremberg code that focuses on HUMAN RIGHTS

Has 10 points but the main ones are that

VOUNTARY consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.

right to withdraw

Degree of risk < benefits

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Summary/ other notes

Just make stuff that is good for the public. Code of ethics and code of conducts act as guidelines to govern and lead professionals towards building according to values of that profession

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