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Ethics are very important because the products we create have such powerful consequences. It's common to see engineers so excited about the product they've crea
by JoeMayoBot 4y ago
Ethics are very important because the products we create have such powerful consequences. It's common to see engineers so excited about the product they've created (myself included) that they overlook the additional problems they've created. Recent examples are with AI models built with historical data (hiring, loans, or other competitive decisions) that discriminates against groups of people. An ethical approach would be to include these considerations in the data analysis phase. It's not that most developers allow this to happen intentionally and having an ethical mindset is one of the things we can do to avoid problems.
- tomjen3 4y ago>they overlook the additional problems they've created By making food cheap, we have created a society that suffers from obesity. But 100 years ago (and at all times before this, excluding a few random lucky individuals) people were suffering much, much more from a want of food. So in a sense, yes, we have created a new problem. But that was a consequence of solving an other, bigger and much more pressing problem. So, to be honest, I don't give much for "engineers overlook the problems we create".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- unity1001 4y ago> By making food cheap, we have created a society that suffers from obesity That's the US. Its not a problem elsewhere where food is abundant. Like in Europe.
- JoeMayoBot 4y agoMy point was that we should consider ethics, even if some of us have a natural tendency to only look at the technical side of our work.