3 ms·

Nicely written! You may also want to take a look at ACM's Software Engineering Code of Ethics[1]. [1] http://www.acm.org/about/se-code http://www.acm.org/about

• weland 13y ago
  Aye, I was about to point this out as well. Many of us realize only fitfully that we are at the same forefront of technology that those who created the atomic bombs were. I, for one, have frequent clashes of ethic with my colleagues, and often wonder how long I'll be able to keep working in the industry. We should reflect on our obligations to mankind more often than we do.
  • gjm11 13y ago
    > we are at the same forefront of technology that those who created the atomic bombs were If the point you're making is that software developers should be as suspicious of harmful consequences of their work as the people at Los Alamos should have been of theirs -- well, it seems to me that the biggest hint of possible harmful consequences of the Los Alamos work probably wasn't the fact that they were working with new technology, so much as the fact that they were (explicitly, by design) working on more powerful devices for killing and destroying than the world had ever seen. I'm pretty sure all the scientists at Los Alamos had a pretty good idea they were developing things that might do harm. That was what they were for.