Balberan, Jan Maxin R.             ITETHIC                                 March 20, 2008

ETHICS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE

Michael J. Quinn

Chapter 7: Computer Reliability

“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot go possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.”

-Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Computers are part of large systems, and ultimately it is the reliability of the entire system that is important. A well-engineered system can tolerate the malfunction of any single component without failing.

Two sources of failure are date-entry errors and data-retrieval errors. While it’s easy to focus on a particular mistake made by the person entering or retrieving the data, the system is larger than the individual person.

A well engineered system does not fail when a single component fails. In the case of hardware, this principle is easier to apply. When it comes to software, the goal is much harder to meet. A software bug that causes one computer to fail will cause both computers to fail.

Imagine what it would take to provide true redundancy in the case of software systems. Should companies maintain two entirely different systems so that the result by one system could be double-checked by the other? On the other had, redundancy seems much more feasible when we look at data-entry and data-retrieval operations. While it may be infeasible to provide redundant software systems, safety-critical systems should never rely completely upon a single piece of software. Finally, systems can fail because of miscommunications among people.

Computer simulations are used to perform numerical experiments that lead to new scientific discoveries and help engineers create better products. For this reason, it is important that simulations provide reliable results. Simulations are validated by comparing predicted results with reality. If a simulation is designed to predict future events, it can be validated by giving it data about the past and asking it to predict the present. Finally, simulations are validated when their results are believed by domain experts and policymakers.

Chapter 8: Work and Wealth

“Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vices, and need.”

-         Voltaire

The chapter has explored a variety of ways in which information technology and automation have affected the workplace. Automation increases unemployment. That is what automation means: replacing human labor with machine labor. Industrial robots, voice mail systems, and a myriad of other devices have replaced millions of workers in the past fifty years. However, a deeper look reveals how automation can create jobs, too. When products are less expensive, consumers have more money left to spend, which increases the demand for other products. Finally, some people are involved in creating and maintaining the machines themselves.

Productivity has more than doubled since World War II. However, the length of the work in the most highly industrialized nations has not decreased by half. Instead, productivity has been used to increase the standard of living. This choice is understandable, since our society defines success in terms of wealth and material possessions. People in some “primitive” cultures choose to work much shorter hours. The amount of time spent at work in ancient and medieval society was less than it is today.

Information technology has transformed the way business organize them. Rapid and inexpensive communications allow many more information channels to open up within organizations, which can spend processes and eliminate middleman. Evidence of more flexible organizational structures includes that rise of tele-work and multinational teams. Improvements in information technology have also given management unprecedented access to the moment-by-moment activities of employees. Workplace monitoring has become the rule, rather than the exception, in large corporations.

As modern information technology has spread around the world, corporations form tightly connected networks and sell their products and services in many markets. This process is called globalization. Advocates of globalization claim it creates jobs for people in poorer countries and increases competitions, resulting in lower prices and a high standard of living for everyone. Critics of globalization say it forces workers in highly developed countries to compete with people willing to work for a fraction of the pay.

Chapter 9: Professional Ethics

“We have come through a strange cycle in programming, starting with the creation of programming itself as a human activity. Executives with the tiniest smattering of knowledge assume that anyone can write a program, and only now are programmers beginning to win their battle for recognition as true professionals.”

-         Gerald Weinberg, the Psychology of Computer Programming, 1971

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The Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice is based upon eight general principles related to the following subjects: the public, client and employer, product, judgment, management, profession, colleagues, and self. Each of these general principles contains a list of clauses related to specific areas of potential moral concern for the practicing software engineer. You can use the Code of Ethics as a practical guide to help you weigh moral choices that you may face as practicing software engineer. Good judgment is still needed, however. In many cases there is a conflict between two or more of the relevant clauses. At these times you must determine which of the clauses is most relevant and /or most important.

The Code of Ethics ask software engineers to ponder if their actions are worthy of the ideal professional. The ethics of virtue or virtue ethics is based on the imitation of morally superior role models. One of the strengths of virtue ethics is that it makes clear how good deeds are motivated by friendship, loyalty, dependability, and other praiseworthy attributes of a good person. Another strength of virtue ethics – at least according to its supporters – is that it does not demand that every action procedure the maximum benefit, solving the problem of impartiality that plagues Kantianism, utilitarianism, and social contract theory. On the other hand, virtue ethics does not provide a formal process for moral decision making: using virtue ethics alone, it is not always clear what a person is supposed to do in a particular situation. For this reason some philosophers argue that virtue ethics should be used as a complement to another theory, such as utilitarianism, rather than as a stand-alone ethical theory.