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"Engineering ethics" is a fallacy as it implies that engineers have high level influence on the goals set by organizations. If lockheed martin trained all of it
by tehsauce 6y ago
"Engineering ethics" is a fallacy as it implies that engineers have high level influence on the goals set by organizations. If lockheed martin trained all of its missile engineers in ethics would they suddenly start building bombs that burst with flowers? Obviously not. Engineers are paid to design things against a very specific set of requirements. If an average engineer pushes back on ethical grounds they will simply be replaced.
- matz1 6y agoEthics are subjective and always evolving. I think Engineering ethics is not to tell you what to build or not to build but rather to tech you what is the likely outcome if you decided to build x or not to build x. Based on that its up to you to decide whatever to do or not do it.
- tehsauce 6y agoI'm not sure what your engineering experience is, but I'm pretty certain that >80% of engineers are not in a position to refuse to work and quit their job without a severe impact on their career. And the same goes for managers and directors, all the way up to the top. Fail to explore a new technology your competitor is already working on? You've just damaged your company and all your employees. The only way to deal with these kinds of issues is regulation. Classic tragedy of the commons.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- matz1 6y agoOf course every decision in life will always have its own trade off. Sure it can have severe impact on their career but its still a choice whether to do or not to do, quit or not to quit
- UK-Al05 6y agoThe same thing would have applied to doctors at some point. Doctors still have line management.